Remains of ex-NPA member exhumed

The skeletal remains of a former New People’s Army member killed in encounter 21 years ago were exhumed Tuesday afternoon in barangay Kalunsing, Tuburan by a team from the Philippine Army’s 78th Infantry Battalion and the police.

Wilfredo Senarlo, alias Ronnie and Ka Aler, a native of Asturias town, was buried by an NPA supporter after he was killed during an encounter with the military in 1987. 

When they were exhumed, Senarlo’s remains, which were examined by Philippine National Police Regional Crime Laboratory medico legal officer Benjamin Lara, were still wrapped in a plastic table mat. 

A former rebel leader, Myrna Romero, also known as Ka Magda, guided the team and some local officials of Tuburan in locating her former comrade’s grave.

Romero, who was granted amnesty in 1994, said she and Senarlo were members of the Front 1 of the District Guerilla Unit of the NPA.

According to Romero, Senarlo died from wounds he sustained during an encounter with members of military’s 61st Infantry Battalion in the morning of September 13, 1987.

Romero said during the encounter, their comrades only brought Senarlo’s firearm and left him dying with wounds in their way to escape.

“Mao na gyud na ang NPA kung wala na kay gamit biyaan na lang ka,” she said.

The following day, she contacted a supporter, Pablo Aresco, and asked him to locate Senarlo’s body and bury it. After her surrender, Romero promised to give decent burial of her dead comrades.

Aresco, presently a barangay councilman in Kalunsing, Tuburan, said he buried Senarlo’s body in his farm since nobody claimed it after the encounter.

Saying he personally known Senarlo, Aresco stressed that even his 69-year-old mother, Matilde, would always light candles at Senarlo’s gravesite during All Soul’s Day.

Senarlo’s family and relatives wept during the unearthing of his remains because they never expect that his body can still be found.

His older brother, Julito, felt a sigh of relief seeing his body and thanked the people behind the exhumation.

Julito confirmed that his brother was a member of the NPA. Julito said he advised his brother not to join the rebel movement but the younger Senarlo did not heed to his advice.

Julito planned to bury his brother’s remains in a public cemetery in Asturias.

Lt. Colonel Raymundo Banares,Jr., commanding officer of the 78th IB, said with Romero’s help, he believed that there are more graves of NPA members to be unearthed.

He said NPA rebels do not value human lives because they just leave their wounded comrades to die in bushes, just like what happened to Senarlo.

Banares said the local government support is vital to the solution of insurgency because the unaddressed problem on basic services could lead the masses to join the rebel movement  — Edwin Ian Melecio/LPM