SURIGAO CITY (MindaNews / 01 Nov) – A sibling of Jorge “Ka Oris” Madlos, the slain top New People’s Army (NPA) leader in Mindanao, went to Bukidnon province Sunday night to claim his remains, another sibling said Monday.
Retired engineer Vicente Madlos, Jorge’s elder brother, told MindaNews in a phone interview that his younger brother, Rito Madlos, traveled to Bukidnon to get the remains of Jorge, the seventh of nine siblings.
Vicente said they are planning to hold the wake of Ka Oris at a basketball court in Villa Corito, a private subdivision in Surigao City.
Ka Oris, the face and voice of the communist insurgency in Mindanao, will be interred at the Surigao Memorial Park here, he added.
Vicente said the arrangements have been agreed by the Madlos siblings and their other relatives.
“We have agreed to hold the wake here in Surigao City than on Siargao (Island) since majority of our close relatives live in Surigao,” Vicente said.
The 72-year-old, Siargao-born rebel leader was killed on Friday, October 29, along with an aide, in what the military claimed to be a clash between rebel and government forces in Sitio Gabunan, Barangay Dumalaguing, Impasug-ong, Bukidnon. The military said their bodies were recovered the following day.
The NDF refuted this claim, saying the ailing Madlos and his medical aide, identified by the military as Eighfel Dela Peña, were killed in an ambush on Friday night.
According to Ka Oris’ wife, Maria Malaya, National Democratic Front spokesperson for Northeast Mindanao, Madlos and Dela Peña were on a motorcycle on their way to get medical treatment, and never reached the highway.
Malaya has called on the government to allow the family to hold a wake for Ka Oris, so the people who knew him can pay their final respects to the long-time communist leader. (Roel Catoto / MindaNews)