Mt. Cansermon Command – New People’s Army (MCC-NPA) expresses its revolutionary salute to Anthony “Ka Bal” Ariola, 21, who was shot dead during an encounter between MCC-NPA fighters and troops of the 94th Infantry Battalion last August 10, 2022, around 9 in the morning, at Sitio Bulasot, Barangay Buenavista, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental.

Ka Bal was known as a responsible son; at a young age, he started working to support the needs of his family and along the course, Ka Bal gradually understood the real condition of the country. It did not take long before he joined the NPA at the age of 19. His capabilities were of great use in the advancement of the national democratic revolution.

In his two years of serving the people, comrades have witnessed his tireless execution of both political and military responsibilities. During battles, he was an exemplary soldier of the people, bold in facing the fascist military troops. While striving to give justice to all the victims of state-sponsored attacks and defend the people’s rights, he became a martyr.

The Marcos Jr.-Duterte regime is wrong to assume that the incident will weaken the revolutionary movement. The death of a Red fighter only exposes the ill-intentions of the reactionary goverment in destroying the revolutionary movement that aims to topple the status quo that oppresses the Filipino people.

Ka Bal’s death and the rest of the martyrs will also serve as a “single spark that will start a prairie fire.” Amidst the continuing crisis and intensifying violence experienced by the Filipino people at the hands of the reactionary government, there will be more Filipino who will choose to take the path of armed struggle to seize the political power of the ruling class. The brewing rupture of the social volcano becomes more unstoppable so long as the reactionary government continues its tyrannical rule.