Members of Kabataang Makabayan (KM)-Kira Mindoro launched a protest at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) campus in Sta. Mesa, Manila today, May 29, to commemorate the first anniversary of the martyrdom of Red warrior Arc John Varon (Ka Hunter). Along with Bunso Mangubat (“Ka Mamay/Ka Liza), Ka Hunter was killed in a battle between the New People’s Army (NPA)-Mindoro (Lucio de Guzman Command) and 68th IB on May 30, 2023 in Sityo Pasugui, Barangay Malisbong, Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro.

Ka Hunter is a former PUP student taking BS Chemistry. When he entered the university, he became aware of the true condition of the Filipino youth and the entire society. He experienced mounting repression within his school, in addition to the worsening state of the public education system in the state universities and colleges (SUCs). Here he was organized into a national-democratic youth organization.

Soon, Ka Hunter joined the Kabataang Makabayan and integrated with the NPA in the Mindoro island in 2019 in time with the anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). In this short time, Ka Hunter firmed up his plan to join the NPA. Three months after his first visit, in March 2020, Ka Hunter returned to a guerrilla zone in Mindoro to immerse himself and later joined the NPA in October 2020.

“Apart from his political skills, Ka Hunter is a valiant fighter. He participated in the few successful tactical offensives launched by the NPA during the revolutionary movement’s six-year challenge to the US-Duterte fascist regime and the first year of the illegitimate, fascist, puppet and oppressive US-Marcos II regime,” the last year’s tribute of the Party Committee on Mindoro island said.

The Committee said in three years of being an exemplary NPA official and Party cadre, he was appointed as a Party Committee regular member in Mindoro island. “The emergence, forging and recruitment of a young cadre in the person of Ka Hunter in the Party is testament of the unfailing infusion of new blood and new generation of youth, of the freshness and vitality of the Communist Party of the Philippines, of the New People’s Army and the Filipino revolution,” the tribute said.

The KM rally called on fellow youths and the country’s scholars to emulate Ka Hunter’s heroic example. It challenged the youth to unite to continue Ka Hunter’s dream and join the NPA as its fighters and commanders. They also distributed a pamphlet introducing Ka Hunter’s life and decision to join the people’s army.