Through the directive of the Negros Island Regional Party Committee (NIRPC) of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the New People’s Army (NPA) guerilla front in South Central Negros is officially renamed as the Romeo Nanta Command (RNC-NPA). This is to honor the late spokesperson of the Regional Operational Command of NPA-Negros (who was also a former commanding officer of the aforementioned guerilla front), who was martyred in Sitio Medel, Barangay Carabalan, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental last October 10, 2022 at the hands of the 94th IB despite being hors de combat.
Romeo Nanta, or known to comrades and masses as Juanito Magbanua or simply ‘Ka Juaning’, had a vivid and comprehensive revolutionary life for almost 30 years in the NPA. Before that, he joined the Kabataang Makabayan and eventually the CPP in 1983. A few years later, he became part of the Urban Partisan Unit until he joined the NPA in 1994.
Ka Juaning was part of the NPA unit that painstakingly undertook the rectification movement particularly in South Central Negros from the late 90s to the early 2000s, where he also became a front commanding officer. Red fighters along with Ka Juaning arduously aroused, organized, and mobilized the masses to advance the protracted people’s war in the area after the shortcomings and errors of the revisionist line during the previous years.He would eventually be part of the Regional Military Staff, particularly in charge of training and ordnance. He then became the spokesperson for the Apolinario Gatmaitan Command (AGC-NPA) in Negros Island since 2010 until his martyrdom 12 years later. Ka Juaning became a member of the Regional Party Committee during this stint.
For more than a decade, Ka Juaning became the public face of the NPA who faced the malicious black propaganda of the ruling class and their attack dogs in the AFP, PNP, and NTF-ELCAC. He was tireless in exposing the atrocities of the pseudodemocratic Aquino and outright fascist Duterte and Marcos Jr. regimes against the people, particularly farmers and workers who bear the brunt of the crisis of the semi-colonial and semi-feudal system. He would articulate every statement, interview, and other propaganda materials to make sure that the voice of the oppressed be heard and resounded. Up until his last breath, Ka Juaning will always be remembered in saying, “Mabuhi ang masang pigos!” (“Long live the oppressed masses!”).
Thus, it is with great revolutionary honor and optimism that the South Central Negros Guerilla Front be named as the Romeo Nanta Command, to remember Ka Juaning’s countless contributions to the revolution not only in the guerilla front but also to the entire Negros Island. In the area where he both started as a Red fighter and martyred as well, Ka Juaning’s name will forever be etched in the annals of history as one of the genuine revolutionaries who fought and sacrificed even their lives for national democracy and lasting peace.
This act will also serve as an inspiration to his successors in the NPA and the masses in South Central Negros. Ka Juaning and the other revolutionary heroes and martyrs in Negros Island have sprouted into countless more Party cadres, Red fighters and commanders, and revolutionary masses who are ready to expand and consolidate their ranks. At the precipice of an inter-imperialist war and feuds between the ruling class amid the worsening socioeconomic and humanitarian crisis, it will only become more obvious to Negrosanons that the current conditions necessitate armed revolution to topple exploitation and oppression for good.###
