Hundreds of residents participated in Roger Fabillar’s funeral on Thursday, braving probable military surveillance and possible retaliation as the late New People’s Army (NPA) leader was laid to rest in Toboso, Negros Occidental.
Dozens of large-sized vehicles, including trucks, and even more motorcycles formed a long motorcade that accompanied Fabillar’s remains to its final resting place at the Toboso Municipal Cemetery.
A report by Sagay City-based radio station DYAG Hapi Radio FM and posted by the Neils Albert Ferry Brown Facebook page said that while exact figures were hard to determine, “the turnout reflected strong community participation.”
The burial was peaceful and “attended by a large number of supporters and relatives,” the station’s report added.
Other netizens posted viral videos of the motorcade online showing hundreds of participants in the funeral of the Communist guerilla who had a P1 million bounty on his head.
Fabillar, also known as Ka (Comrade) Jhong among his comrades and farmers’ communities in Negros Island, was among “a small squad of revolutionary fighters” who engaged the 79th Infantry Battalion in the 12-hour gun battle in Barangay Salamanca, Toboso town last April 19.
The Apolinario Gatmaitan Command of the NPA, the regional center of the revolutionary army in the island, said it offers its highest tribute to the martyrs of Sunday’s bloodbath.
“Their names are now etched into the long history of the struggle for land and justice on this island,” it said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
