Philippines: Actions and Statements in Tribute of the Fallen Comrades
Featured image: Ka Rida Source: Philippine Revolution Web Central
We hereby share statements and tributes made to honor comrades martyred in a series of battles between the New People’s Army (NPA) and 403rd IBde troopers in Barangay Bakingking, Esperanza, Agusan del Sur, on September 12. One of fallen comrades was a leading cadre, Julia Cagadas-Lastimosa (Ka Rida). Fallen alongside her were Rocha Mae Bihag (Ka Maki), Tiloy Basahon (Ka Doydoy) and Ringo Lindayo (Ka Kikoy). *Ka = Comrade.
Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Central Committee made a statement in tribute to Ka Rida published by Philippine Revolution Web Central on September 16.
Advancing the people’s war is the highest tribute to Ka Rida
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines bestows the highest honors to Julia Cagadas-Lastimosa, revolutionary leader of North Central Mindanao Region (NCMR). The thousands upon thousands of workers, peasants and Lumad people knew her as Ka Rida, Ka Toyang, Ka Kayuka, Ka Tanya―whom they deeply loved for her simplicity, determination and dedication to serve all the oppressed and exploited.
Last Saturday, September 12, Ka Rida, 66, breathed her last. She fell in combat along with three other Red fighters of the New People’s Army, in an armed encounter with the fascist troops of the 26th Infantry Battalion, in Barangay Bakingking, Esperanza, Agusan del Sur.
We extend our heartfelt condolences to the children, relatives and loved ones of Ka Rida. We also offer our sympathies to the friends and families of Ka Maki (Rocha Mae Bihag), Ka Doydoy (Tiloy Basahon) and Ka Kikoy (Ringo Lindayo). For having dedicated their lives to the cause of national liberation and true democracy, they are all heroes of the Filipino people. Their names are now forever etched in the walls of the people’s pantheon.
We extend our deepest condolences to the revolutionary forces of NCMR, many of whom crossed paths with Ka Rida as she mentored and guided countless young revolutionary activists and cadres. Ka Rida was among the leading cadres of the Regional Party Committee who led the growth of the revolutionary movement in NCMR over the past two decades.
Ka Rida hailed from a middle-peasant family in Barangay Bugo, on the outskirts of Cagayan de Oro City. She finished secondary school. She joined the Party in 1979 at age 19, and served as an organizer among workers and student youth. She later served as secretary of an armed partisan unit during the 1980s.
She was twice imprisoned by the enemy, but never for one moment bowed before the oppressors. In August 1989, she was arrested during the height of workers’ struggles in the country. Less than two months later, she joined others in a jailbreak, and swam across the mighty Cagayan River to freedom. She was arrested again by the enemy in 2003. She spent two years in the enemy’s prison, organizing fellow detainees to fight for their rights. She gained freedom as trumped-up charges against her were dismissed one after another.
Ka Rida firmly upheld the Second Great Rectification Movement in the 1990s to correct errors of military adventurism and urban insurrectionism. She later assumed the role of secretary of a front committee, and later served as secretary of a subregional committee (covering Misamis Oriental and parts of Agusan provinces).
In the early 2010s, she was elected to the Regional Committee and its Executive Committee. Along with other cadres, she conscientiously studied Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and assiduously applied it to revolutionary practice. It was during this time that the revolutionary forces in the region grew steadily, reaching historic levels of strength.
In 2016, she attended the Second Congress of the CPP. She was elected to the Central Committee and subsequently participated in its inaugural plenum. In October 2023, she assumed the position of secretary of the North Central Mindanao Regional Committee. In 2024, she was designated as a member of the CC’s Political Bureau.
Over the past decade, the revolutionary forces in NCMR and other regions across the country suffered losses as a result of internal weaknesses and shortcomings, amid a sustained armed offensive of the reactionary armed forces since 2017. As in the 1990s, Ka Rida firmly upheld the call for a rectification movement to correct errors and shortcomings.
In recent years, she personally led the revolutionary forces in conducting mass work to deepen and expand the reach of the Party and NPA. Under her leadership, the NPA conducted political education and propaganda to rouse the people to wage revolutionary struggles amid heightened fascist attacks and threats of imperialist war and plunder.
For close to a decade, the Armed Forces of the Philippines has spent billions of pesos on widespread armed offensives in NCMR, occupying peasant and Lumad communities and placing these under military rule. Employing its armed minions, the Marcos regime has subjected the local population to psywar and disinformation, surveillance and harassment, and carried out combat operations combined with relentless aerial bombardment. The objective of the AFP and the puppet Marcos regime is to crush the people’s resistance in order to pave the way for the entry of foreign capital.
Gloating over their killing of Ka Rida and believing they have succeeded in snuffing out the armed revolution in NCMR, AFP officials proclaimed that “development can now begin,” publicly and explicitly saying that mining companies can now expand their operations in the region. In doing so, they are inadvertently teaching the Filipino people that their revolutionary armed resistance has for many years preserved the country’s wealth and patrimony, and protected it from foreign plunder.
The declaration comes at a time when US imperialism is pushing aggressively to seize control of Philippine critical mineral and other resources. It is funding the AFP to intensify its counterinsurgency drive and establishing military rule in areas where mining companies operate or plan to operate. The killing of Ka Rida and other NPA fighters is now being offered by the Marcos regime and its armed forces on the altar of the Pax Silica, the economic and military scheme of US imperialism.
The Marcos puppet regime, its armed forces and their US imperialist masters believe that killing Ka Rida will halt the people’s armed resistance. They are utterly mistaken. The sacrifice of Ka Rida and other revolutionary fighters will only strengthen the resolve of the Filipino people to wage a just war in defense of their land and the country’s patrimony, and to attain their aspiration for genuine national freedom and democracy.
Long live the memory of Ka Rida and the martyrs of Agusan del Sur!
Carry forward the protracted people’s war!
Defend the country’s patrimony and fight for national freedom and democracy!
Long live the New People’s Army!
Long live the Communist Party of the Philippines!
Long live the Filipino people!
The CPP North Central Mindanoa Regional Committee also issued a statement in honor of the fallen comrades.
Long live Ka Rida and the martyred comrades in Agusan del Sur!
With deep sorrow, we convey to the people of the North Central Mindanao the news of the death of our beloved comrade Ka Rida or Julia Cagadas-Lastimosa, alongside 3 other comrades, in an encounter in Barangay Bakingking, Esperanza, Agusan del Sur on September 12, 2026.
We extend our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the martyred comrades.
Ka Rida was one of the leading cadres of our region since the early 1980s. Hailing from Bugo, Cagayan de Oro City, she came from the working class. She was capable in various fields of revolutionary work, having served the people in NCMR as an organizer of youth, workers, urban poor, and rural peasants, then as a Party cadre, and as an officer of the NPA. She is unforgettable to the people of Misamis Oriental as Ka Rida, to the people of Agusan del Norte as Ka Toyang, and to the people of Bukidnon as Ka Kayuka. She was also called “Manang” (older sister) by allies and friends, and “Lola” (grandmother) by young revolutionaries.
As a communist and a woman cadre, Ka Rida stood firm for the liberation of women, the forging of the revolutionary family, and the fight against the bourgeois and feudal culture that oppresses Filipino women. She became a model for revolutionary mothers to nurture their children so they may fully serve the people by joining the New People’s Army. As a wife, alongside her husband Ka Karyas (Benjamin Lastimosa) who was martyred in the revolution, they forged their marriage simultaneously with their loyalty to the revolution.
Until the final moments of her life, Ka Rida never bowed to the enemy. Enemy prisons could not weaken her stand. The masses will forever remember her as one of two women who daringly swam across the 150-meter-wide Cagayan de Oro River in the dead of night after escaping from the Cagayan de Oro City Jail in the late 1980s. Upon her second arrest, she was unforgettable as a militant leader inside prison in the struggles to improve the conditions of prisoners, fight the abuses of prison administrators, and stand up for human rights in the reactionary courts. After these periods of imprisonment, she wasted no time in returning to the countryside to continue participating in the people’s war.
As a true communist, Ka Rida was among those who sincerely and firmly stood for the correct line during the Second Great Rectification Movement and the current rectification movement. By standing up for what is right in ideological struggles, criticism and self-criticism, and proving its correctness through diligent practice, Ka Rida became an inspiration to comrades to face and overcome obstacles no matter how difficult.
The comrades who were martyred alongside Ka Rida also have their own extraordinary histories.
Ka Maki or Rocha Mae Bihag was a lesbian and former student of MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology in Iligan City. She decided to join the revolution because she saw that discrimination against the LGBTQ+ would only disappear along with ending the semi-feudal and semi-colonial social system.
Ka Doydoy or Tiloy Basahon was from Gingoog City. He joined the revolution when a certain Quinisala attempted to grab the land his family tilled. Goons and the CAFGU used their guns against them, but they fought back with gunfire despite having fewer arms. The land grabbing only stopped when the NPA punished the leader of Quinisala’s goons and settled the problem. However, their family continued to experience harassment. He then continued to defend their right to land by uniting fellow peasants.
However, he was among those arrested after the enemy raided and planted evidences in the office of their legal peasant organization. He was imprisoned for a few years on charges of illegal possession of explosives. After being released from prison, at the age of 40, Ka Doydoy joined the people’s army. He said he was overjoyed that the Army accepted him. He thought he wouldn’t be accepted anymore because he was already old. He added that it is good in the people’s army because we have arms to fight back against those who oppress us.
Ka Kikoy or Ringo Lindayo came from a revolutionary family. His two siblings were also martyred in the revolution. Ka Kikoy was humble, unassuming, and worked quietly. He was also good at taking care of comrades. As Ka Rida’s close-in security, he chose to remain within the revolutionary movement after his wife passed away. He endured being separated from his only child. As a true comrade, Ka Kikoy steadfastly carried out his duties until the last beat of his heart.
During these times when the military intervention of US imperialism in our country and in our region is intensifying through the establishment of three EDCA sites, when people are suffering in crisis while bureaucrat capitalists scramble to steal the people’s funds, in this time when land grabbing has worsened, and when the crisis of the global capitalist system has grown more ferocious, it is a great pride for us in the NCMR that there are revolutionary heroes like Ka Rida, Ka Maki, Ka Kikoy, and Ka Doydoy who are ready to sacrifice their lives for national liberation and democracy.
The Communist Party of the Philippines-North Central Mindanao Region gives its highest salute to the martyred comrades Ka Rida, Ka Maki, Ka Kikoy, and Ka Doydoy. We urge all Party organs, Army units, mass organizations, allies, friends, and sympathizers in the NCMR to hold memorial services for them.
Let us show the enemy that we are not shaken and not afraid amidst the loss of our beloved cadres and comrades. Let us hold the martyred comrades as our models to complete the rectification movement and further advance the revolution.
The enemy believes that the revolution can be extinguished by killing revolutionaries. Yet history has proven, time and again, that the deaths of revolutionary martyrs and heroes awaken the people and all the more sets the revolution ablaze.
Long live the martyred comrades!
Long live the Communist Party of the Philippines!
Long live the New People’s Army!
Long live the National Democratic Front of the Philippines!
Complete the Rectification Movement and Further Advance the Revolution!
The College Editors Guild of the Philippines honored former officer Rochamae Bihag, who fell during combat on September 12. A former writer for Mindanao Varsitarian and CEGP vice president for Mindanao, Bihag advocated press freedom, free education, indigenous rights, opposition to destructive mining, and peace in Marawi.
The CEGP said she helped unite campus newspapers across Mindanao and criticized corruption, the war on drugs, and martial law. After working in the legal democratic movement, she joined the New People’s Army. The group remembered her as a people’s journalist, hero, and dedicated servant of the people in Mindanao.
