Revolutionary women in Central Negros founded a local chapter of Makabayang Kilusan ng Bagong Kababaihan (Makibaka, or Patriotic Movement of New Women) on June 12 amid the 62nd IB’s intense combat operations in the guerrilla front. They held the activity together with women Red fighters of the New People’s Army (NPA)-Central Negros (Leonardo Panaligan Command).

The gathering formally opened with the singing of the Internationale. Discussion followed on the life of struggle, and the experiences and contributions of Juliana Arculo Gemodo as a local organizer, Party member, and Red fighter.

Makibaka-Central Negros named its spokesperson Ka Inday Gemodo in her stead. The NPA rendered a 21-gun salute for Gemodo and other martyrs of the front. Comrades also sang songs.

Gemodo, 63, was martyred when 47th IB soldiers deliberately killed her on January 31, with her husband and fellow fighter Pedro. The two were wounded, captured, and shot in Sitio Agpapataw, Barangay Binobohan, Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental following an enemy attack.

Soldiers rained bullets on the couple while they were resting in a hut in Sitio Agpapataw. They were wounded by the shooting but managed to withdraw. Sustaining wounds, the two were no longer capable of fighting or classifiable as hors de combat. The couple was killed instead of respecting their rights and treating them as prisoners of war when the soldiers re-located them.

History in the struggle

Gemodo was born on June 19, 1963 to a poor peasant family. Being from a religious family, she joined the Gamay nga Kristianong Katilingban (GKK, or Small Christian Community), which promoted social change based on the church’s pastoral program in the 1980s. She also joined Kabataang Makabayan (KM).

Gemodo actively participated in meetings and revolutionary study that further awakened her to social conditions. She fully grasped the correctness of the people’s democratic revolution at a young age. The military’s bombing, hamletting, and human rights violations in the late 1980s drove her family and the entire community to evacuate.

As an organizer and activist, Gemodo helped build GKK groups in Negros Oriental during this period. She eventually became an active organizer of the Kapunungan sa Gagmay’ng Mag-uuma sa Oriental Negros (Association of Small Farmers in Oriental Negros)–Guihulngan Chapter. She experienced the military’s intimidation and harassment as an organizer.

Gemodo also joined revolutionary organizations the Pambansang Katipunan ng mga Magbubukid (PKM, or National Peasant Association) and Makibaka. The Party recruited her in 1987 and became Party branch secretary in her locality one year later. She contributed significantly to advancing the Second Great Rectification Movement in her area.

Gemodo and her husband started experiencing relentless harassment and threats from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) following an encounter in Sitio Agpapataw on June 2010. The AFP and National Task Force–Elcac personnel repeatedly forced them to “surrender” in 2017 even though they were civilian farmers.

These conditions drove the couple to join the NPA in 2017. Gemodo served as a political instructor of a Section Guerrilla Unit (SGU) of the NPA, and joined the unit’s executive committee in 2019.

With the founding of the new Makibaka chapter in Central Negros, the women in the neighboring towns pledged to emulate the life of sacrifice and courage of Gemodo.