By FROILAN GALLARDO
Senior Correspondent
THE Xavier University honors student who left everything to fight with the communist rebels has finally come home to his hometown in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental.
Leonido Nabong (not Leonardo as earlier reported) was laid to rest at the Tagoloan cemetery Friday morning after his townmates, classmates, and former rebels held a “parangal” in his honor at their house.
Nabong or better known for his nom de guerre “Ka Charo or Otik” was killed in an encounter with Army troops in Tampilisan town, Zamboanga del Norte on Nov. 13.
The military tagged him as “Leonardo Nabong” in the Armed Forces of the Philippines order of battle and offered a reward of P6.15 million for his capture, dead or alive.
The remains of Nabong arrived in his hometown Wednesday morning with the help of Misamis Oriental Gov.Yevgeny Emano, his family said.
His townmates, classmates, and former rebels held a “parangal” in his honor at their house Thursday where stories of his childhood; his life in the New People’s Army, and how he died, were shared.
Nabong graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Agriculture from Xavier University in 1971.
A third of the brood of eight children, Nabong has been a consistent honors student and paid his way through college being a scholar.
“He was the favorite of our parents because he was very intelligent. He always gets the biggest share of the food on the table, a gesture that Nido resents very much,” his younger sister Chona shared during the “parangal.”
His classmates from Xavier University sent flowers and in their Facebook posts, they admired the difficult path he took to change society.
“I won’t forget him and at the same time, I will always know where he was,” Arthur Guerzon, Nabong’s best friend, said.
A fellow Atenean, Raymond Toledo, wrote “To lay down one’s life for one’s principles and for the least of God’s brothers and sisters. Only a giant would be capable of such an act. The Xavier / Ateneo community should honor him. Salamat kaayo, Ka Charo.”
Because of Covid-19 restrictions, only a handful of Nabong’s former comrades came to the tribute.
With a wreath from the National Democratic Front, his former comrades described him as “the rock star of the guerrilla movement.”
“The children would be very excited when Ka Charo would come to our village. They always wanted to talk to him because he was always nice to them,” a former rebel said.
According to the former rebels, Nabong was reassigned from Misamis Oriental to Front Monterosa, a guerrilla front that straddles Mount Malindang in the tri-boundaries of Misamis Occidental, Zamboanga del Norte, and Zamboanga del Sur after the peace talks with the late President Corazon Aquino failed.
A former rebel who went to get his remains said Nabong was the only one killed in the 10-man NPA unit that the soldiers engaged in Barangay ZNAC, Tampilisan town, last Friday.
He said Nabong who was known as “Ka Otik” was already suffering from arthritis, swelling in his joints and have to be attended to by a nurse.
“He could not run anymore. That is why I was not surprised he was the only casualty in his squad. He probably ordered everyone to leave him when the soldiers came,” he said.
He said they transferred the remains of Nabong from an ordinary coffin into a white coffin where he was cleaned and bathed.
In a white streamer on the white coffin, his family wrote: “Welcome home manong.”
