Hannah Jay Cesista has been advocating for human rights as a part of Kabataan Partylist - UP Cebu since her time as a political science student at UP Cebu. After passing the Bar in 2022, she dedicated her time offering free paralegal services to communities in Visayas.
But last Friday, she and four other individuals became the latest victim to the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) trail of blood in Visayas.
According to a statement from the National Union of Public Lawyers (NUPL)-Cebu, Cesista was with members of the New People’s Army (NPA) Perlito Historia, Marlon Omosura, and Alberto Sancho, and Domingo Ompoc in Sitio Matin-ao 2, Brgy. Campagao in Bilar, Bohol when forces of the 47th Infantry Battalion and 21st Special Forces Company, and Bohol police tortured and later killed them.
The military maintains that the operation was legitimate, saying that the five were killed in an encounter. However, according to witnesses' testimonies, Cesista and her company were forced out of their lodging and made to crawl in the mud before being shot.
Underground revolutionary organization Kabataang Makabayan’s chapter in Negros Island confirmed on Saturday that Cesista was a member of the NPA, adding that she “offered her expertise and intellect to strengthen the revolutionary ranks of the NPA in Bohol, serving the people wholeheartedly.”
NUPL-Cebu, where Cesista was a volunteer, condemned the killing of Bilar 5.
“Killing Hannah and her companions is one of the many state-sanctioned efforts to harm activists, human rights workers, and dissenters–as part of their futile attempt to conceal the harsh realities of poverty and inequality in this country,” NUPL-Cebu wrote.
In an acquired photo, Compoc, 60, can be seen being held by the back by a soldier without a shirt, despite being reported of suffering from arthritis and stripped of his shirt. Moments later, he was also tortured by the military in front of locals from Matin-ao 2 who said that it could have been a scare tactic.
NUPL-Cebu called for an investigation into the nature of the death of Bilar 5, adding that they have received reports of possible violations of the International Humanitarian Law. Under the law, Cesista should have been spared from hostilities and her companions should have been unharmed given that they were not in combat or armed.
The Bilar 5 follows the pattern of killings in the Visayas. Just last year, two revolutionaries were also slain in Bohol. In 2021, revolutionary Kerima Tariman was also killed in Negros, before her husband, National Democratic Front consultant Ericson Acosta, and activist Joseph Jimenez were slain in 2022.
“Hannah, the lawyer turned revolutionary, alongside many other comrades may be victims of the system, but their fight to be free against tyranny has set the sparks which will burn down the palaces of bourgeois greed,” Anakbayan-Cebu wrote. ●
This article has been updated to correct attribution errors.
