TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, October 14 (PIA) -- The Commanding Officer of the 302nd Brigade of the Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division has confirmed the identity of a certain Rogelio Jorillo as that of Sulong Kalipunan ng Mga Katribu’ng Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (Katribu) tribu partylist’s third nominee and leading human rights activist Kerlan Fanagel.

Fanagel was among the six armed communist terrorists slain after a three-hour gunfight during the government troop’s peace and security operations in Sitio Ilaud, Brgy. Campagao, Bilar Bohol on September 7, 2023.

This was confirmed by Philippine Army Brigadier General Joe Escanillas during a Peace and Security Press Conference held at the Capitol’s Ceremonial Hall.

Escanillas’ confirmation was corroborated by a former New People’s Army (NPA) cadre who, like Fanagel, allegedly used the lumad communities and tribal schools of Southern Mindanao as a seedbed for dissent and prime recruitment for young communist terrorists.

Reports also indicate that Fanagel sits as the secretary general of the Pasakaday Salugpungan Kalimudan (Confederation of Lumad Organizations in Southern Mindanao) and the Regional Urban Committee of NPA in Southern Mindanao as well as Katribu member.

Datu Jumorito “Ka Jumong” Guaynon, who keeps key positions in all legal fronts that the Communist Party of the Philippines New People’s Army National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) is using to run its legal offensives, worked with Fanagel since 2004 in planning all armed and legal offensives against the government in Mindanao.

Guaynon was then a secretary of the peasant bureau of the north central Mindanao Regional Committee and vice chairman for Kalumaran Mindanao and council member of Sulong Katribu, a national federation of indigenous peoples.

He said that while he was the first nominee of the Sulong Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (KATRIBU), Fanagel was the third nominee.

They were both working as spokespersons for these groups, said Guaynon.

From Mindanao plenum to national gatherings of indigenous peoples’ until the Manilakbayan Mindanao, Guaynon said he and Fanagel worked hand in hand, bringing around 2,000 Lumads to stage rallies at the Liwasang Bonifacio and at the University of the Philippines in Diliman from Mindanao to Manila.

In 2017, with then President Rodrigo Duterte declaring Martial Law in Mindanao, Fanagel hid in Cebu as he had warrants of arrests, including those he got from bringing IPs of Talaingod to Davao where they brought bakwits to Haran Evacuation Facility in Davao.

Prior to the elections, both Fanagel and Guaynon, founding members of the Rebolusyonaryong Organisasyon sa mga Lumad, were already members of the national cadre of the CPP NPA NDF.

Because of these warrants for kidnapping and serious illegal detention, Fanagel was kept hidden in Cebu.

But in 2015, with the NPAs last plenum, Bohol was targeted as an NPA expansion to recover and organize the NPA and take the stalemate in the Visayas.

Fanagel, being an expert in tactical white area organizing, could have been among those cadres deployed in Bohol, Guaynon said.

After several years of slipping through the government’s dragnet, Guaynon negotiated for his surrender and rejoined mainstream society while Fanagel disappeared and only reappeared when reports of his death surfaced.

Fanagel’s cadaver  was later identified and claimed by his brother. (RAHC/PIA-7 Bohol)