The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines paid the highest tribute on April 22 to Aprecia Avarez Rosete (Ka Lalay), revolutionary leader and CPP cadre who was martyred on April 27 in Barangay Malagad, Dumingag, Zamboanga del Sur. At the time of her death, Ka Lalay was a member of the Party’s Central Committee and was secretary of the Party’s regional committee in Western Mindanao.

Ka Lalay is a loyal cadre who fully devoted herself to the Party since she joined in 1990. She became the secretary of the sub-regional committee under the Southern Mindanao Regional (SMR) Party Committee, chaired its education committee and became member of its executive committee.

Based on her excellent record in the SMR, she was appointed in 2016 as the secretary of Western Mindanao, and spearheaded efforts to overcome military conservatism that hinders the advancement of armed struggle in the region. That same year, she was elected as a member of the Central Committee during the Second Party Congress.

On February 27, she was traveling on a motorcycle from Dumingag to seek treatment for her illness. The 53rd IB intercepted and captured her on the way. Instead of recognizing her rights as a prisoner of war or even legally as an accused, soldiers and police holding her in custody extrajudicially killed her. The next day, the military announced that she had been killed in an encounter in the area. The fascists displayed her lifeless body at an “encounter site” they staged for a media presentation.

Ka Lalay was born on December 2, 1968 to a family of impoverished Manobo farmers in Loreto, Agusan del Sur. At a young age, she escaped the traditional feudal and patriarchal structure that limited women’s development. She took on various jobs to support her studies through elementary and high school. She became a scholar and enrolled at the University of San Carlos in Cebu City, where she took a course in social work.

She soon became involved in social issues when she gained a deeper knowledge of her fellow Lumads’ suffering and oppression. Despite opportunities for a better life, Ka Lalay chose a life of service to others by organizing and helping to empower them.