AN official of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict yesterday said that two armed New People’s Army leaders who clashed with patrolling Army troops in Baggao, Cagayan last February 13 were student “activists” from the University of the Philippines and De La Salle University.
According to Prosecutor Flosemer Chris Gonzales, spokesperson for the ELCAC’s Legal Cooperation Cluster, one of the two rebels killed in the encounter in Bgy. Margarita in Baggao municipality was identified as Paolo Macaraeg alias “Tobby,” of Cavite.
Macaraeg, a former student of UP-Diliman, was described as an NPA finance officer,
The second slain suspect was identified only as alias “Tisoy,” a native of Talaingod, Davao del Norte.
Gonzales said a third casualty in the Baggao encounter identified as Orion Yoshida alias “Brown” was a former student of DLSU.
“He was left behind by his companions after he was wounded. He was given proper medical attention. Army soldiers saved his life,” said Gonzales.
The NTF-ELCAC official said Macaraeg and Yoshida were members of the Kabataang Makabayan, an underground communist terrorist student organization that was openly admitted by the late Ka Joma Sison as an organization affiliated with the CPP-NDF-NPA.
Yoshida was said to be a former political science student of DLSU before joining the underground movement in 2015.
UP-Diliman and DLSU are yet to comment on the statement of Gonzales.
