BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — A UP Cebu student group accused soldiers, police and local officials of obstructing and intimidating mourners who traveled from Cebu to Cauayan, Negros Occidental, to visit the remains of slain former student leader Vince Francis “Ding” Dingding.
Nagkahiusang Kusog sa Estudyante (NKE) said mourners who brought flowers and candles were blocked from entering a funeral home, monitored, photographed and intimidated by armed personnel. The group said the funeral home had been placed “under military watch,” turning what should have been a private moment of grief into a site of surveillance.
Dingding was among five alleged New People’s Army members killed in a May 16th encounter with government troops in Cauayan, according to authorities. His death came weeks after the April 19 Toboso operation, where 19 people were killed. The military has insisted that all those killed in Toboso were communist rebels, while a fact finding mission led by human rights groups confirmed that some were civilian journalists and community organizers. Multiple civil and rights groups have called for independent probes into possible international humanitarian law violations in Toboso and Cauayan.
Athena Romulo of NKE said about 20 people, including Dingding’s friends, colleagues, members of Panaghugpong Kadamay and NKE, and paralegals from Karapatan Central Visayas, arrived in Cauayan on May 19th after learning that Dingding’s remains would no longer be brought home.
Romulo said the group first went to the Cauayan mayor’s office before proceeding to R&S Funeral Homes, where a worker confirmed Dingding’s body was inside a coffin. They were not allowed to enter, while the group noticed a heavy presence of AFP and PNP personnel “camping” in the funeral home yard.
The mayor later told the group that the 15th Infantry Battalion had Dingding’s documents and was coordinating with a barangay official in Cebu City. Dingding’s family had previously denied giving consent for the body to be transported to Cebu.
On May 20th, Romulo said the group found Dingding’s body placed inside a wooden crate, apparently for travel.
“We asked the funeral home worker about this crate. They don’t know where it is going,” Romulo said. “The order was to put him in a crate, instructed by the AFP-PNP.”
The group held a prayer vigil outside the locked and heavily guarded room after the funeral home owner allowed them to pray, Romulo said. Soldiers and police reportedly tried to drive them away, photographed them and refused to clearly answer where Dingding’s remains would be brought. The authorities present at the area also refused to clearly answer where Dingding’s remains would be brought.
“As of May 21, when we got back to Cebu, we still didn’t know Ding’s burial status,” Romulo said. “He was still in the funeral home. It would be five days of his body being unburied.”
Karapatan Central Visayas also received reports that men who identified themselves as AFP Visayas Command personnel visited Dingding’s family home on May 18.
NKE called for an independent investigation into the Cauayan killings and urged the Commission on Human Rights to intervene, saying authorities must ensure the family’s decisions are free from military pressure.
Paghimutad 