It has been long since Ka Rolly got in touch with Red fighters since his family relocated to a remote area in the mountains. He used to farm in the plains but decided to move to the hinterland along with the whole community to escape soldiers who were then conducting Oplan Habol Tamaraw in the area during the time of the butcher Jovito Palparan.

After hearing news about the encounter between the New People’s Army (NPA) and military in a nearby village, he immediately went to a riverbank where he expected the Red fighters to pass. Along with his children, they waited for the NPA unit for two days. They brought sweet potatoes and bananas for the Red fighters and cautiously guarded the area.

“This was the task given to me by comrades long ago,” he said. Although he has not been able to visit or talk to them for a long time, he performed his task to protect and support the NPA unit during enemy attacks.

When the unit arrived, he looked for familiar faces. “There were many new faces,” he said. He found out that many of those who used to operate in the area were deployed to other units. Despite this, he warmly welcomed the Red fighters, many of whom he just met for the first time. He expects to once again get in touch with former comrades.

The Red fighters were extremely thankful for Ka Rolly’s support to their platoon which struggled for three days to break through the area of operations of the enemy. He allowed Red fighters to temporarily rest at his banana farm. The comrades decided to leave after three days. They were accompanied by Ka Rolly until they could get in touch with other farmers.