"P.S. We decided that we will no longer claim his remains in Negros Occ."
This was contained in a letter from the parents of Vince Francis Dingding, 30, a former student leader at the University of the Philippines Cebu turned rebel, who was killed in a 15th Infantry Battalion encounter with the New People’s Army (NPA) in Cauayan, Negros Occidental, on Saturday, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) said Tuesday.
Dingding was the secretary of the Southwest Negros Guerrilla Front, the NPA confirmed in a statement also on Tuesday.
The handwritten letter from Romulo and Rica Dingding, addressed “To whom it may concern” and dated Monday, May 18, asked that all matters related to their son's death be coursed through their barangay captain in order to spare the family from further distress.
In the same letter, they revealed that Vince’s mother is battling colon cancer and had been strictly advised to avoid stress to aid her healing and recovery.
Dingding was a prominent student leader at the University of the Philippines Cebu from 2014 to 2015 and an activist with Kabataan Cebu before disappearing into the armed underground in 2017, the NTF-ELCAC said.
The task force said that Dingding’s nearly decade-long estrangement and subsequent death reflect a systemic recruitment pattern that transforms promising youth into armed combatants at the expense of ordinary families. It is a “heartbreaking reminder that the CPP-NPA-NDF does not merely destroy lives on the battlefield—it destroys families, fractures relationships, and leaves emotional wounds that continue long after the guns fall silent,” the NTF-ELCAC said.
“It is a painful story of a son lost to a movement that gradually pulled him away from home, from family, and from the people who loved him most. Beyond reports, operational accounts, and organizational affiliations lies a far more devastating reality: a family now carrying unimaginable grief,” it added.
Dingding’s case is not isolated, the NTF-ELCAC said, “Similar painful stories have surfaced before. Similar grieving families have spoken before. Similar tears have been shed before”.
Meanwhile, Ka Maoche Legislador, spokesperson of the Apolinario Gatmaitan Command – NPA Negros Island Regional Operational Command, said they offer their highest salute to the five valiant red fighters of Armando Sumayang Jr.-NPA, Southwest Negros Guerrilla Front, “who sacrificed their lives in the cause of liberating the Negrosanon masses from severe exploitation and oppression”.
They were martyred during the third encounter in Barangay Abaca, Cauayan, Negros Occidental, around 5 p.m. on Saturday, Legislador said.
He said Dingding, alias Ka Poy and Moymoy, was born in Cebu City to a lower petty-bourgeois family. He served as the Secretary of the Southwest Negros Guerrilla Front, Legislador said.
“A graduate of the University of the Philippines Cebu with a degree in BS Computer Science, Ka Moymoy was already deeply socially conscious during his college years. He consistently kept his pulse on the struggles of the marginalized, participating in basic masses integration across various communities in Cebu,” Legislador added. Disillusioned by the meager wages of the corporate tech sector, Ka Moymoy walked away from his job at a foreign company. In 2018, he initially chose the path of a Tour of Duty (TOD) before committing himself as a full-time Red fighter two months later, Legislador said. “In the communities he lived with, he spent his days teaching both children and agricultural workers how to read and write, raising local literacy rates. He was also fiercely hands-on in resolving feudal disputes wherever his deployment took him,” Legislador said.
“To his comrades, his greatest strength lay in his brilliant political acumen; he had a knack for selecting specific revolutionary texts that directly addressed the concrete ideological and practical issues the unit or individuals were facing. He was also a talented poet who contributed numerous creative works to the cultural movement,” he added.
Dingding’s leadership rose rapidly. In 2018, he served as a political guide. By 2019, after displaying exemplary ideological and political work, he was elevated as a member of the Front Committee (Komite sa Larangan) of the unit he was part of. He later served as part of the core leadership of the Regional Sentro de Grabidad (RSDG) until the third quarter of 2022, Legislador said.
He was then deployed as Deputy Secretary of the Southeast Negros Guerrilla Front, and by 2025, became the Secretary of the South Central Negros Guerrilla Front. His final deployment was as the Secretary of the Southwest Negros Guerrilla Front, Legislador added.
Legislador said the other fatalities in Cauayan were: *Rolando “Ka Anyo” Dantes Jr., 39, who was the commanding officer of the NPA-Armando Sumayang Jr. Command. He was born to a peasant family and was the eldest among his siblings. *Jobert Casipong alias Ka Robi, 23, joined the NPA in the first quarter of 2021, taking on the role of squad medical officer, while occasionally serving as a team leader. *Gilbert Tingson alias Ka Kolintong/Ka Downy was a full-time member of the NPA and served as a Finance and Logistics Officer (FLO). *Alex Languita alias Ka Kaya was a 25-year-old Red fighter from Sta. Catalina, Negros Oriental. He was a team leader of ASJC-NPA.
Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson reiterated his call for members of the NPA to lay down their arms to prevent further loss of lives, and the provincial government will assist them in their transition back to mainstream society. Lacson also called on schools to be vigilant regarding the activities of their students inside campuses.*
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