The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) paid tribute to National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP)-Northeast Mindanao Region spokesperson Maria Malaya who died in a fierce battle with the Philippine Army in Barangay Pianing, Butuan City last February 12.
The CPP said Malaya (born Myrna Sularte) was a member of its Central Committee and Political Bureau, the Mindanao Commission and served as secretary of the Northeast Mindanao Regional Party Committee.
She was 71.
Malaya was the widow of New People’s Army (NPA) spokesperson Jorge Madlos (Ka Oris) whose death she announced in October 2021.
READ: NDFP in Northeast Mindanao confirms Oris’ death
“The leadership and entire membership of the (CPP), all Red fighters and commanders of the New People’s Army (NPA), and all revolutionary forces of the Filipino people, raise their clenched fists and pay tribute to Ka Maria Malaya,” the CPP said last Friday, February 14.
“[Malaya was] one of the leading cadres of the Party and beloved warrior of the oppressed masses of workers, peasants and the Lumad people of Mindanao,” it added.
Military cadre par excellence
The CPP said Malaya was an excellent military cadre, crediting her for helping the NPA develop comprehensively in northeast Mindanao.
“Under Ka Maria’s unwavering leadership, the NPA and the people waged an unyielding struggle against the destructive and exploitative mining companies, plantations and ecotourism projects which drove the toiling masses away from their communities and devastated the environment,” it said.
The CPP said Malaya grew up in relative comfort and was an agro-technology graduate in college.
“She, however, chose the path of simple living and difficult struggle dedicated to the oppressed and exploited masses. Not for one moment did her commitment to the revolutionary cause waver,” the CPP said.
The CPP said Malaya joined the CPP in 1977 during the darkest moments of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s martial law.
Malaya also survived cancer aside from battling government forces, the group added.
The CPP said Malaya was a passionate admirer of orchids and other wild and rare flowers, often exclaiming about their vibrant colors amid the green forest of guerrilla camps.
Malaya’s legacy to continue
The group said the military is mistaken in thinking that Malaya’s death has created a leadership void among revolutionary forces in Northeast Mindanao.
“In reality, the region has no dearth in veteran and young cadres who are more than capable of picking up the mantel of Ka Maria’s leadership and carrying forward her legacy. The Party has a well-established system of succession in place, ensuring continuity and stability of Party committees,” it said.
“As the blood of revolutionary heroes once flowed through Ka Maria’s veins, so does her blood now flow in the veins of a new generation of Party cadres and Red fighters,” it added.
Malaya, the CPP said, inspired and helped organize the resistance of the Manobo lumad masses in defending their ancestral lands, and preventing the further aggression of so-called development projects in Mindanao.
“For this, she earned the ire of the big bourgeois compradors and multinational corporations, who contributed funds to arm and train units of the enemy armed forces and paramilitary groups to fight the NPA, and ‘neutralize’ Ka Maria,” the CPP.
Those that she inspired are as determined as Malaya to advance the people’s war to victory,” the CPP said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
