Slain ex-student leader buried in Cauayan

By Glazyl M. Jopson

BACOLOD CITY — Thirty-year-old Vince Francis Dingding, who was among the five New People’s Army rebels killed in an armed encounter with the military in Cauayan, Negros Occidental, on May 16, was laid to rest in the town on Sunday.

Brig. Gen. Jason Jumawan, commander of the Army’s 302nd Infantry Brigade, confirmed Dingding’s burial at a public cemetery in Barangay Isio, Cauayan.

Jumawan said the burial was facilitated by the municipal government and local police.

This was despite efforts by the military to persuade Dingding’s parents from Cebu City to claim his remains and bring them to his hometown.

“Ayaw talaga ng parents, kahit ako kinausap ko din sila, pero ayaw na talaga,” Jumawan said in a phone interview Monday.

Jumawan said Dingding’s parents only asked to see their son’s interment through a video call.

“Iyon lang ang hiniling nila,” he added.

The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict earlier said Dingding’s parents, through a handwritten letter, would no longer claim his remains in Negros Occidental to spare the family from further distress as his mother is undergoing healing and recovery from an illness.

The family also appealed that all matters related to their son’s death be coursed through their barangay captain.

Some people who knew Dingding went to Cauayan last week to see his remains, but they claimed authorities barred them.

Jumawan said that under the law, only the immediate family can view and claim the remains.

“Who are they? Only the family is allowed,” he stressed.

In a media interview, Barangay Capitol Site, Cebu City, village chief Kelly Quijada confirmed the statement from Dingding’s parents, saying he was the one who talked to them and asked for written consent regarding their son.

“They did it willfully,” he said.

Quijada said Dingding’s parents were not threatened to write and sign the statement.

He added that he even asked them for their opinion or suggestion.

Quijada said the presence of two Armed Forces of the Philippines personnel some distance from Dingding’s house was only to secure the family, considering the insurgency issue.

Meanwhile, some progressive groups, friends and colleagues of Dingding held a candlelighting and vigil in Cebu City over the weekend to honor his memory.

A donation drive was also launched to pay tribute to Dingding, which the military questioned for reportedly using the dead.

Jumawan said he has not seen it but was informed about it.

“Nakakahiya. Tigilan na nila iyang ginagawa na pagkakaperahan pa ang paglilibing. Nasira na nga ang pamilya, tapos namatay na, pagkakaperahan pa nila. Mali iyang ginagawa nila,” he added.

The Communist Party of the Philippines earlier confirmed Dingding’s link to the NPA, saying he had served as secretary of the Southwest Negros Guerrilla Front after being a political guide in 2018 and later becoming a full-time Red fighter.

Dingding, alias “Poy,” was an alumnus of the University of the Philippines Cebu.

The remains of the four other rebels killed in the Cauayan clash have been claimed by their families.