From InterAksyon (Aug 3): NDF Southern Mindanao hails ‘martyred’ UP grad, Collegian editor
The National Democratic Front in Southern Mindanao has confirmed the death of University of the Philippine alumnus and former Philippine Collegian news editor Wendell “Ka Joaquin” Gumban, who was one of two New People’s Army guerrillas slain in a clash with government troops in Compostela Valley on July 23.
Gumban, 30, was “martyred” along with Sario “Ka Glen” Mabanding in the firefight with troops of the Army’s 66th Infantry Battalion in Sitio Pong-pong, Barangay Andap, New Bataan town, Rubi del Mundo, NDF-Southern Mindanao spokesperson, said in a statement paying tribute to the UP graduate.
A former information officer of the Kilusang Mayo Uno, Gumban joined the NPA in Mindanao in late 2011, Del Mundo said.
There, she said, “he became a valuable part of the (Communist) Party’s consolidation work in the Red bases and expansion work in the guerilla zone” and eventually became political instructor of an NPA unit.
“As a communist, Ka Joaquin wrestled with his petty bourgeois origin and struggled to live in the spirit of simple living and hard struggle. He overcame the limitations of his frail frame, weak eyesight, even an unfamiliar dialect, to serve the Lumads and peasants of Southern Mindanao,” Del Mundo said.
“Brilliant and daring, Ka Joaquin is an inspiration to the intellectual youth. He chose not the life of comfort that he could have otherwise led, but the life of selfless service and sacrifice at the bosom of people’s war,” she said.
http://interaksyon.com/article/131057/ndf-southern-mindanao-hails-martyred-up-grade-collegian-editor
Once again the recruitment of cadre at the University of the Philippines (UP) for the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), its front organizations, and its underground military wing, the New People's Army (NPA) comes to the fore.
ReplyDeleteThe career path of Wendell “Ka Joaquin” Gumban is not uncommon for students indoctrinated/recruited at the UP and other educational institutions. The commies try to control student government and university/college publications. Gumban's position as editor of the Philippine Collegian, his transition to the job of information officer for the main CPP-affiliated labor front, the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU-May One Movement) and his eventual link-up with the NPA as a political officer certainly fits that mold.
In Manila, the UP Diliman and the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) have historically been the hotbeds for leftist organizations and for CPP recruitment.