The communist New People’s Army confirmed that Kerima Lorena “Ka Ella” Tariman and a certain “Pabling” were killed in an encounter with the Philippine Army’s 79th Infantry Battalion in Silay City, Negros Occidental on Friday, August 20.
In a statement, the NPA’s Apolinario Gatmaitan Command said Tariman was a revolutionary artist, writer, and poet. She was also a leading party cadre of the Roselyn Jean Pelle Command-New People’s Army.
The 3rd Infantry Division of the Philippine Army likewise confirmed that Tariman and Pabling were killed, adding that Private First Class Christopher Alada was also a fatality in the 35-minute gun battle between the NPA and the 79th Infantry Battalion.
“The troops were conducting combat operation in response to the reported presence of armed CNTs in the area when they encountered more or less 10 fully armed remnants of Northern Negros Front (NNF) at the vicinity of Hacienda Raymunda, Barangay Kapitan Ramon of the said city,” read the military’s statement.
An M16 rifle with a bandolier; and a backpack containing cellphones, a hammock, and ponchos were recovered from the scene of the gunbattle.
In another statement, 3rd Infantry Division spokesperson Major Cenon Pancito III said that they are also “saddened by the death” of Tariman and Pabling.
He added that they honored the sacrifice of Alada, who hailed from Badiangan, Iloilo.
However, Pancito insisted that Tariman was no hero, and she was in Negros “to sow terror and chaos and exploit the Negrenses.”
“She is the cause of people’s hardship in the area,” said the Army officer.
According to an article in the Philippine Collegian’s February 8, 2021 issue, Tariman was a former managing editor of the UP Collegian.
Meanwhile, Tariman’s father, Pablo, mourned the death of his daughter in a Facebook post.
“Another daughter attended the state university, worked in the university newspaper, and just a couple of years before graduation, she disappeared,” he said.
“She was soon found in the jungles of Isabela figuring in an armed encounter with military troops which then claimed to have found several Armalites in her possession. I lost my second daughter the other day in Silay City,” he added. — DVM, GMA News
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