The New People’s Army (NPA)-South Central Negros announced yesterday, November 4, the renaming of its command from the Mt. Cansermon Command to the Romeo Nanta Command, through the directive of the Negros Island Regional Party Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines. Nanta, also known as Ka Juanito Magbanua, was the martyred spokesperson of the NPA-Negros Regional Operational Command.

Marcos regime forces arrested and extrajudicially killed Nanta on October 10, 2022, in Sitio Medel, Barangay Carabalan, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental. He dedicated almost 30 years of his life to the struggle for national and social liberation of the Filipino people.

Nanta joined the Kabataang Makabayan in the 1980s and was recruited to the Communist Party in 1983. A few years later, he became part of a partisan unit and decided to join the people’s army in 1994.

He belonged to the BHB unit that implemented the Second Great Rectification Movement in South Central Negros from the late 1990s to the early 2000s. During that time, he became the commander of the guerrilla front.

“Red fighters along with Ka Juaning arduously aroused, organized, and mobilized the masses to advance the protracted people’s war in the area after the shortcomings and errors of the revisionist line during the previous years,” NPA-South Central Negros spokesperson Ka Dionesio Magbuelas said.

Due to his perseverance and revolutionary attitude, Nanta was appointed to the Regional Military Staff as head of training and ordnance. He became the NPA regional command (Apolinario Gatmaitan Command) spokesperson from 2010 until his martyrdom. During that time, he was also appointed as a member of the Regional Party Committee in the island.

As the NPA spokesperson in Negros, and one of the leading Party cadres in the island, Nanta tirelessly promoted the interests of the workers and peasants in the island’s haciendas. He effectively represented the NPA and the Party in many media interviews.

Magbuelas said the renaming of their command after Nanta will serve as a reminder of his countless contributions to the Philippine revolution. “In the area where he started as a Red fighter and was martyred, he will forever be remembered,” the spokesperson added.