The remains of Bar passer Hannah Jay Cesista, who was among four other casualties of the New People’s Army (NPA) during an encounter with military and police forces in Barangay Campagao, Bilar last Friday were claimed by her father.

The body of Cesista, which was temporarily held at a funeral parlor in Tagbilaran City following the bloody gun-battle between state troops and communist rebels, was then brought by her relatives to their hometown in Catubig, Northern Samar.

Military intelligence units have confirmed that Cesista, who took the aliases “Maya” and “Lean” in her leftist and underground activities, finished her preparatory course for law at the University of the Philippines – Cebu, graduating in 2018 with flying colors as a cum laude.

Cesista then went on to take up law at the University of San Carlos (USC) in Cebu City. Even while she was studying law, Cesista was active in various school organizations and also worked as a paralegal, assisting lawyers engaged in human rights work.

The alleged rebel had been an active member of Anakbayan-Cebu and later the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL). She became a full-time member of the CPP-NPA in 2023, according to military intelligence sources.

The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) expressed deep sadness over the loss of Cesista saying this was not the first time that members of the legal front of the CPP-NPA have become casualties of armed conflicts with the military.

Cesista passed the Bar examination in 2022 but her name does not appear in the Supreme Court’s Roll of Attorneys as she has reportedly not taken the lawyers’ oath.

Passers of the Bar exam become full-fledged lawyers when they take their oath and sign the Roll of Attorneys. (Kit Bagaipo)