The New People’s Army Operation Regional Command-Cagayan Valley (Fortunato Camus Command) and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Regional Committee paid tribute to Comrade Ariel Arbitrario (Ka Karl/Ka Ned), 54, in a statement last September 17. Ka Karl, a member of the Regional Committee secretariat, was martyred along with two others on September 11 in Barangay Baliuag, Peñablanca, Cagayan.

The Regional Committee recognized him as a valiant communist leader and towering pillar of the Philippine revolution. “All NPA commanders and fighters raised their weapons in highest Red salute and tribute to his illustrious life and heroism,” it said.

A native of Davao, Ka Karl was born in November 1969 and came from a middle-class family. He took up BS Civil Engineering at the Ateneo de Davao University. From being an activist, he became a member of the Party in 1986 and devoted his full time to the Party from 1988.

He led various Party committees at different levels in Southern Mindanao and throughout Mindanao from 1988 to 2008. He was captured by state forces in February 2008. He was released in 2016 and served as one of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines consultants in the peace negotiations.

Following the US-Duterte regime’s termination of the peace negotiations and subsequent order to re-arrest the consultants in November 2017, Ka Karl worked in Cagayan Valley where he was appointed Provincial Party Committee secretary for Cagayan starting August 2018 and became Regional Committee Executive Committee member, eventually acting as Regional Committee Secretariat in 2021.

“The death of Ka Karl, who stood as a guide and foundation of the revolutionary movement not only in Cagayan Valley but in the entire country, is a great loss to the Party and the masses,” the Committee said. However, they stressed that despite the loss of the Party leader, the historical materialist view stress that leaders are indeed important but it’s the masses that change history.

The Committee also expressed its condolences to the bereaved family, children, relatives, friends, and acquaintances of Ka Karl. His spirit and memory will not be forgotten and his life and struggle will be honored forever, it said.

It also called for justice for the possible violations of international humanitarian law committed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines in the killing of Ka Karl. “There is strong basis to believe that he was incapable of fighting when he was captured by the butchers, subjected to severe torture and interrogation which eventually killed him,” it said.

Meanwhile, in separate statements, the Regional Committee honored Orlando Sagsagat (Ka Jorly) and Danielle Marie Pelagio (Ka Seed), comrades of Ka Karl who were killed by the military.