THE father of the deceased NPA lawyer, Hanna Jay Cesista, expressed his resentment towards the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) after his daughter’s tragic death in an encounter.
“I can only say that I hope my daughter is the last— the final victim,” said Eutropio Cesista, father of Hanna Jay.
This was the message from Eutropio Cesista, father of Hanna Jay Cesista, a lawyer who was killed in a recent encounter between the military and the communist terrorist group CPP-NPA-NDF in Bilar, Bohol.
In an interview, Hanna Jay’s father revealed that he tried to dissuade his daughter from joining the leftist group National Union of People’s Lawyer or NUPL, but she insisted.
“In the group she joined— I tried to stop her, but she insisted to join NUPL. I agreed for her to join because they explained that they are lawyers, and her colleagues are lawyers, so I agreed, and I told her to be careful,” Cesista added.
Cesista admitted that no words can express the pain and grief upon learning about their daughter’s death. They did not expect that their daughter’s involvement with the NUPL would lead to her to this.
“It’s so painful, unbelievably painful, because we did not expect that to be the end for my dearest daughter,” Cesista stressed.
“She completed her education, passed the bar, seemed to be at the peak, then suddenly died,” he added.
Hanna Jay passed the 2022 bar examination. She was a student at UP Cebu, and became a member of Anakbayan, Anakpawis, and later became the secretary-general of NUPL-CEBU before joining the New People’s Army in 2020.
It’s worth noting that the encounter between soldiers and the NPA in Bilar, Bohol, took place on February 23, 2024, resulting in the death of Hanna Jay Cesista.
NTF-ELCAC challenges NUPL to explain Hanna Jay Cesista’s death as NPA member
Meanwhile, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) strongly condemns NUPL’s statement alleging that soldiers tortured the slain NPA members.
NTF-ELCAC Executive Director Usec. Ernesto Torres Jr. asserts that the encounter in Bilar, Bohol, was legitimate.
“The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) strongly condemns an attempt by the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) to distort the facts about the legitimacy of the recent Bohol encounter which resulted in the death of at least five communist terrorists and a brave policeman,” Usec. Ernesto Torres Jr., Exec. Dir., NTF-ELCAC said.
The NTF-ELCAC is challenging the communist group NUPL to answer why one of its members was affiliated with the NPA and why their colleague, an attorney, was present at the encounter site.
“We challenge NUPL to explain to the legal community, in particular, and to the Filipino people, in general, why one of its members was a communist terrorist. The burden of proof rests on them.”
“There is no amount of disinformation and deception to obfuscate the evidence that one NUPL member died during a legitimate encounter between government troops and the NPA,” National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) stated.
