Army exhumes remains of alleged NPA fighter in MisOr

From the Philippine News Agency (May 4, 2022): Army exhumes remains of alleged NPA fighter in MisOr (By Franck Dick Rosete)

COMBATANT'S REMAINS. Soldiers from the Army’s 58th Infantry Battalion, together with the police’s Scene of the Crime Operatives and village officials, recover the skeletal remains of a communist New People’s Army rebel in Barangay Mimbuntong, Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental, Monday (May 2, 2022). A former NPA guerrilla revealed the location of the shallow grave. (Photo courtesy of 58IB)

Troopers from the Army's 58th Infantry Battalion (58IB) exhumed the skeletal remains of a communist New People’s Army (NPA) combatant buried in the hinterlands of Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental, a military official said Wednesday.

In a statement, Lt. Col. Ricky Canatoy, 58IB commander, said they recovered the remains in Barangay Mimbuntong Monday together with provincial police counterparts.

Canatoy said village officials first discovered the gravesite after a former rebel revealed its location.

According to the former rebel, NPA regular Romy Ayuma was killed in an encounter in December 2019.

The surrenderer disclosed that Ayuma is a member of Pia, Paking, Hari, NPA Guerrilla Front 4B, Sub-Regional Committee 1, North Central Mindanao Regional Committee.

He added that Ayuma was buried in a shallow grave by his comrades before fleeing the encounter site.

Canatoy, the 58IB commander, said they also discovered that the shirt on the skeletal remains had been hit by a bullet on the abdominal part.

Ayuma "could be one of many NPA members abandoned by the armed group to die alone in the hinterlands," Canatoy said.

He said it was typical for NPA rebels to have no regard for human life, as evidenced by their practice of leaving wounded comrades to die in the hinterlands.

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.

The National Democratic Front (NDF) has been formally designated as a terrorist organization by the Anti-Terrorism Council on June 23, 2021, citing it as “an integral and inseparable part” of the CPP-NPA created in April 1973.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1173607