Family refuses remains of slain Negros ex-student leader

By Glazyl M. Jopson

BACOLOD CITY — The Army’s 302nd Infantry Brigade is persuading the parents of Vince Francis Dingding to bring their son’s remains home to Cebu City after he was killed in an armed encounter between government troops and suspected New People’s Army rebels in Cauayan, Negros Occidental, on May 16.

The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict announced Tuesday that Dingding’s family would no longer claim his remains in Negros Occidental.

In a handwritten letter dated May 18, signed by both parents and shared by the anti-insurgency council on social media, the couple formally appealed that all matters relating to their son’s death be coursed through their barangay captain to spare the family from further distress.

In the same letter, they said Dingding’s mother is battling colon cancer and had been strictly advised to avoid stress to help her recovery.

“P.S. We decided that we will no longer claim his remains in Negros Occ.,” the letter stated.

The NTF-ELCAC expressed grief over the tragedy, which it said was not only a story about a young life lost in armed conflict, but also a painful story of a son lost to a movement that gradually pulled him away from home, family and the people who loved him most.

The NTF-ELCAC was created under Executive Order No. 70 in 2018 to implement the government’s whole-of-nation approach to ending local communist armed conflict.

Brig. Gen. Jason Jumawan, 302nd Infantry Brigade commander, said they are reaching out to Dingding’s parents to claim his remains.

“After all, he’s still their son and it’s painful for the parents,” Jumawan added.

Jumawan said they are willing to shoulder the transportation cost and coordinate with the local government for other assistance.

Jumawan said the family had been aware of Dingding’s decision to enter the armed struggle since 2017.

His parents had tried to convince him to surrender many times, but he refused, according to Jumawan.

Dingding, alias “Poy,” was a former student leader and an alumnus of the University of the Philippines-Cebu.

He was a resident of Cebu City and was identified by the Philippine Army as an alleged political instructor of the dismantled South East Front-D from 2022 to 2024 and as deputy secretary of the SEF.

According to a Facebook post by the official school publication Tug-ani, Dingding was a graduate of UP Cebu Computer Science.

Dingding previously served in the UP Cebu University Student Council as vice chairperson in 2015, councilor in 2014 and second-year representative in 2013.

He was also affiliated with the mass organizations Nagkahiusang Kusog sa Estudyante and Kabataan Partylist Cebu and was known for campaigns centered on student rights, education and human rights advocacy.

The NTF-ELCAC cited reports that he had participated in various campaigns and political activities.

Before allegedly joining the armed movement, he reportedly became involved in Kabataan Cebu, the task force said.

By 2017, he had allegedly entered the armed underground and remained within NPA structures in Negros for nearly a decade, the NTF-ELCAC said.

Through the years, he reportedly assumed political and organizational functions within various units before later operating in different fronts in Negros, it added.

The path of Dingding, according to the NTF-ELCAC, reflects a disturbing pattern that has surfaced repeatedly through the years, and his case is not isolated.

“Even in the middle of mourning, a family was already struggling to survive another painful battle,” it said.

The NTF-ELCAC said no movement that repeatedly leaves mothers grieving and fathers broken can claim moral victory.

The tears of families left behind tell a far more painful truth, it added.

Jumawan said that if the parents would not claim Dingding’s remains, the local government of Cauayan will facilitate the burial.

Meanwhile, the family of Alex Languita, alias “Axel,” an alleged member of the dismantled South East Front-D from Sta. Catalina, Negros Oriental, claimed his remains Tuesday.

In a radio interview, Languita’s sister said they had no idea that her brother had joined the armed struggle.

She added that it had been four years since they last saw him.

She said her brother witnessed the alleged killing of their father in 2018, which they speculated may have pushed him to join the revolutionary movement.

It was also from that time that her brother suffered mental health issues, she said.

Jumawan said the allegations by families of slain suspected rebels about reported military abuse were purely allegations and were expected.

But he stressed that the Army is bound to protect communities and not harm them.

Aside from Dingding and Languita, Rolando Dantes Jr., an alleged commanding officer of the Southwest Front-D; Jobert Casipong, an alleged SWF member; and Gilbert Tingson, an alleged member of SWF, all residents of Sipalay City, Negros Occidental, were also killed in a series of clashes in Barangays Abaca and Poblacion in Cauayan over the weekend.