NPA to give military honors to Fidel Agcaoili tomorrow
The New People’s Army (NPA) ordered all its units to render military honors to the late National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Negotiating Panel chairperson Fidel Agcaoili on the occasion of his 76th birth anniversary tomorrow, Saturday.
“On August 8, Day of Remembrance and Tribute to Ka Fidel, all units of the NPA are directed, wherever they may be encamped, to go on formation at the break of dawn, hoist the banners of the Party, NPA and the NDF, present arms, and sing The Internationale as a way of remembering and giving Ka Fidel our snappiest Red salute,” the guerrilla army’s National Operations Command (NOC) said.
Agcaoili died of pulmonary arterial rupture in Utrecht, The Netherlands where the NDFP International Office is based last July 23.
He was cremated after a solemn tribute ceremony in Utrecht last July 31. His ashes will be eventually flown home to the Philippines in accordance with his family’s wishes.
In a statement Thursday, August 6, NPA spokesperson Jorge Madlos said they were deeply shocked and saddened by news of Agcaoili’s untimely death and extended the guerrilla army’s heartfelt sympathies to the wife, children, grandchildren, friends and colleagues of the late chief negotiator.
“Ka Fidel was a respected and beloved leader of the Filipino people and revolutionary movement. He upheld the interests and cause of the toiling masses and all the oppressed classes in Philippine society,” Madlos said.
The rebel spokesperson said Agcaoili had always marched along the straight path of revolutionary struggle from his youth until his senior years for more than five decades.
“Although he came from a well-off family, Ka Fidel chose the path of simple living and all-out and dangerous struggle. Ka Fidel’s life, his militance, commitment and determination to advance the revolutionary struggle for national freedom and social liberation will forever serve as inspiration for all Red fighters of the NPA and for the Filipino people,” Madlos added.
Madlos recalled that wherever Agcaoili was assigned and whatever the task given him by the revolutionary movement his desire to see an end to “the oppression and exploitation of the Filipino people, as well as all the peoples of the world was always foremost in his mind.”
“It is clear that Ka Fidel was imbued with the communist spirit of selfless service to all oppressed and exploited,” Madlos said.
“The NPA recognizes and expresses its gratitude for the leadership and all the contributions of Ka Fidel, from the period of nationwide building of the Party and people’s army, to the struggle against the Marcos dictatorship, to helping develop international anti-imperialist solidarity of all the oppressed classes, and in ably representing the entire revolutionary movement in various stages of peace negotiations,” he said.
“The NPA upholds the highest tribute of the Party’s Central Committee to Ka Fidel and recognition as a hero of the Philippine revolution,” Madlos ended. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
