For revolutionaries, death is a common occurrence as an antithesis of life. However, while some deaths are lighter than a feather, some are heavier than Mt. Kanlaon, especially lives who have been spent in revolutionary struggle against the ruling class and the rotten status quo they represent and defend.
The Armando Sumayang Jr Command (ASJC-NPA) alongside all revolutionary forces in Southwest Negros commemorates the martyrdom of Reniel”Ka Randy”Cellon, Maryjane “Ka Shonie” Magquilat, Charity “Ka Mayang” Amacan, Glenda “Ka Glendyl” Tinio Mejares, Johnrey “Ka Jai” Mejares, Dee “Ka Dahlia” Supelanas, and “Ka Pitong” Bagacay, collectively known as the “Tapi 7” or “Kabankalan 7”. They were martyred in an encounter last April 27, 2025, at the hands of the fascist AFP in Purok Maghirupay, Barangay Tapi, Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental.
Their contributions to the protracted people’s war as Red fighters and Party cadres deeply and intricately tied to the masses of farmers, farm workers, fisherfolk, indigenous peoples and other marginalized sectors are etched in the annals of history. As the genuine soldiers of the poor, their commitment to lay their time and lives for the revolutionary cause cannot be overshadowed by the trivial celebrations of the enemy who mistake their deaths as the end.
In fact, as the people’s army, their staunch stance in defending the people against the big landlords and corporations who continue to legitimize and systematize exploitation are now passed on to those who remain and continue their integrated tasks of armed struggle, agrarian revolution, and mass base building. The masses remember the Tapi 7 as Red fighters who stood with them against the palm oil project in Candoni, destructive mines and quarries in Sipalay City, and the fascist military who are paid mercenaries that terrorize them to defend such projects; aided them in their demands for meaningful wages, farmgate prices, and land for tilling all over the CHICKS (Cauayan, Hinobaan, Ilog, Candoni, Kabankalan City and Sipalay City) area, among others.
Honoring our martyrs cannot be encompassed and expressed through words alone, but more meaningfully through the continued persistence of the revolutionary mass movement in the guerilla front despite relentless attacks of the US-Marcos II terrorist regime. Their deaths serve as inspiration and guiding light of revolutionaries as we continue to fight tooth and nail against the worsening exploitation and oppression of the semicolonial and semifeudal ruling system. Our collective grief is transformed to rage, perseverance, and optimism as we continue to build organs of political power in the countryside until our eventual victory.
The commemoration of their deaths, alongside our mourning for our other recent martyrs Ka Amik, Ka Joem, Ka Gorting, Ka Makoy, Ka Cairo, and the Toboso 19, are meaningfully transformed in our renewed commitment to advance the people’s war to greater heights. While the reactionary state and its brutal henchmen in the AFP celebrate and exaggerate their deaths as trophies, the entire revolutionary forces in the guerilla front are decisive in seeking justice and treating our martyrs as guiding lights as we tread the spiral path of the struggle for genuine and lasting peace and democracy.
Despite the ruthless tactics and consistent (yet dim-witted and blatantly falsified) propaganda of the enemy more and more of the poor and marginalized suffering under the humanitarian and socioeconomic crisis, especially the youth. Daily, the collective sorrow and anguish is converted into more Red fighters, ready to take up the arms and tasks of the fallen, and commit their lives to dismantle the very system that enables their suffering, and replace it with a future absent of exploitation and oppression.
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