NDF-Negros honor former Cebu journalist slain in Binalbagan

The various revolutionary mass organizations and the broad masses of Negros convey its deepest sympathies and condolences to the bereaved family of Nikka “Ka Chai” de la Cruz killed by 94th IB and other fascists troops of the US-Marcos II regime along with other three NPA hors de combat last July 6, 2022 in the hinterland of Binalbagan.

Her death further accentuated the executioner and terrorist character of 94th IB and that of the AFP in general. Soldiers captured Ka Chai and her comrades alive without a firefight due to their medical condition.

A number of residents in the area tried to help the ailing Red fighters, but soldiers opened fire and lobbed hand grenades at community wells claiming other NPAs might be hiding there. Moments later they were summarily executed akin to a firing squad. Then their corpses repositioned for photo op to make it appear they died in battle.

NDF-Negros honor the memory of Ka Chai as a young revolutionary intellectual who with great vigor and determination responded to the call to work in the countryside and enlist in the people’s army.

She died as a beloved people’s warrior and proletarian cadre who embodied the cardinal revolutionary principle of serving the people. Her proletarian revolutionary consciousness developed by stages as student activist, journalist and urban poor/vendor organizer.

As a student activist, she came to grasp society’s basic ills and the necessity of revolutionary change though study circles, mass actions and integrating with the basic masses.

After finishing a degree in journalism at University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R), she worked as a news reporter for dySS (a GMA-7 radio station) tackling stories from the grassroots and the usually unreported issues of the masses in the mainstream media. She remained steadfast in her commitment for social justice and fundamental change. Afterwards, she joined the alternative media outfit Aninaw productions.

But Ka Chai did not confine herself to writing and reporting people’s issues. She immersed herself in their practical struggles. She advocated for the rights and welfare of Cebu’s urban poor, vendors and other semi-proletarians.

She contributed and played an important part in the anti-privatization struggle of Carbon Public Market vendors in Cebu City and that of the workers and urban poor communities across Mandaue City especially at the height of the pandemic.

Because of her unwavering commitment and incessant advocacies for the masses, she was persecuted by the reactionary state that forced her to work underground where she helped further strengthened the urban revolutionary underground, especially among the students and intellectual youth.

Her decision to join the NPA is not a product of sheer “romanticism or idealism” as the reactionaries would like to paint it to be, but based on concretely grounded principles born out in the life and death struggle of the masses.

The extreme socio-economic crisis and the intensifying political repression and state terrorism under the illegitimate Marcos II regime will only drive more people towards the path of armed struggle. Youth in their greater numbers will continue the unfinished mission of Ka Chai and the countless martyrs of the revolution. ###

NDF-Negros honor former Cebu journalist slain in Binalbagan