GAMU, Isabela – The Philippine Army has been to locate the relatives of Justine Bautista, and turn over the remains of the New People’s Army (NPA) rebel whose body was hastily buried by her comrades in a shallow grave three years ago,
Bautista, also known as Ka Aira, was killed in an encounter on June 25, 2017 when she joined the NPA in raiding a military camp in San Jose, Baggao, Cagayan.
Her remains were turned over to her aunt Pilar Bautista and other relatives in Baggao, Cagayan, on Tuesday, January 26, by representatives of the Fifth Civil Military Operations Battalion (5th CMOBn), Fifth Infantry Division (5th ID), Cagayan Police Office, and Baggao Municipal Police Office.
The military and police also assisted Bautista’s relatives in transporting her remains back here, which is their hometown.
Pilar Bautista expressed her gratitude to the military for its effort in looking for the remains of her niece after the revelation made by a former rebel.
Earlier, soldiers from the 501st Infantry Brigade (501st IB) and police personnel from the Philippine National Police (PNP) Region 2 were led to the burial site of Justine Bautista, by a former comrade.
Aira, a former student of Cagayan State University and former member of the Kabataan party-list and College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), was a medical officer and political guide of the Northern Front Region-Cagayan Valley Committee.
The informant revealed that Aira’s comrades hastily buried in a shallow grave after she was killed in an encounter on June 25, 2017 in an NPA raid on a military camp in San Jose, Baggao.
The military and police are still trying to locate the remains of Aira’s mother, also an NPA rebel, who was killed in another encounter last year.
Meanwhile, MGen Laurence E Mina PA, Commander, 5ID sympathized with the family of Ka Aira and conveyed his condolences to the bereaved family.
“Ka Aira is one of the victims of the deceptive recruitment of the CPP-NPA-NDF. Again, I call on the remaining members of the CPP-NPA to lay down their arms and resist to become the next victim.” MGen Mina said.
(Liezle Basa Inigo)
Caption :Troops of CMO Battalion together with the 501st Infantry Brigade, 77th Infantry Battalion and the Cagayan Police Provincial Office assisted them to transport the remains of alyas Aira in their hometown in Gamu, Isabela on January 26.