The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said it gives with the family of Bayan Muna Representative Eufemia Cullamat after her daughter, Jevilyn Campos Cullamat, was killed encounter in Surigao del Sur.
AFP spokesman Major General Edgard Arevalo insisted that Filipinos’ killings, allegedly “espoused and propagated by Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria [‘Joma’] Sison,” must end.
“We grieve deeply with the Bayan Muna representative and her family as we would for many Filipino families —including soldiers’— who have lost a father, a mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, or kin who died in this more than five decades of fighting,” Arevalo said.
“We can only pray for the many youth whose lives have been wasted by Sison’s deception and lies —including that of the daughter of the representative and other sorrowful mothers whose children have died or are now in the ranks of the NPA (New People’s Army),” he added.
The AFP official urged those who continue to fight or advocate for the “meaningless battle” to return to obeying the law and help the Philippines attain unity and peace.
“There should not be another Jevilyn Cullamat or another Congresswoman Cullamat to suffer another loss for a senseless cause,” Arevalo said.
AFP grieves with Bayan Muna Rep. Cullamat over daughter’s death
On Sunday, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana claimed that the death of Jevilyn Cullamat was a result of “fruitless armed conflict” perpetrated by “communist terrorists.”
“Let this incident bring to the fore the duplicity of the communist terrorist movement, whose members in the higher echelons pit Filipinos against fellow Filipinos,” Lorenzana said in a statement.
Nine former rebels identified and confirmed that Cullamat died during a 45-minute encounter in Barangay San Isidro in Marihatag, Surigao Del Sur, special forces’ data said.
Reports said Jevilyn served as NPA’s medic and allegedly belonged to the Communist NPA Terrorist’s Sandatahang Yuniy Pampropaganda Platoon of the Guerilla Front 19, Northeastern Regional Committee (NEMRC).
Special forces recovered five high-powered firearms in the clash, including one M653 5.56 caliber rifle, three AK-47 rifles, and one M14 rifle. The military also seized Five backpacks with “war material and subversive documents” inside.