Ka Maria Malaya: a Portrait of the Foremost Filipina Communist Leader
Ka Maria Malaya: a Portrait of the Foremost Filipina Communist Leader
Ka Maria Malaya, whose real name is Myrna Sulatre, is one of the world’s most important female militant leaders and propagandists, but outside of the Philippines she is hardly known. She is often referred to as “Ka Oris’ wife,” as she is a recent widow of the well-known communist New People’s Army (NPA) figure, Ka Oris (whose real name was Jorge Madlos). Ka Oris was killed by the Philippines’ military in October 2021 (Philstar Global, October 31, 2021). However, through her talent and commitment, she has fulfilled a wide range of roles within the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), National Democratic Front (NDF), and NPA. Further, her abilities enabled her to climb to a prominent position within the national communist movement and, consequently, to become a top target of the Philippine government and military (Mindanao Times, November 1, 2021).
Malaya’s status within the communist guerrilla forces is acknowledged by the government and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), which forecasted that she would likely succeed Ka Oris due to her pedigree and decades of experience. After Ka Oris’ death, Maj. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., commander of the 4th Infantry Division (4ID), stated “there are still other [NPA] commanders, especially Malaya who is now operating in Caraga [a region in northeastern Mindanao]” and he noted that Malaya “is [currently] the highest officer in Caraga” (Philippine News Agency, October 31, 2021). Likewise, Armed Forces Eastern Mindanao commander Lt. Gen. Greg Almerol confirmed that “Only [Malya] is left among the NPA leaders who have the stature like” Ka Oris (Mindanao Gold Star Daily, November 2, 2021).
Despite the scarcity of accessible information on Malaya’s personal history, the story of how she reached such heights within the armed communist resistance can be pieced together through documentary, media, government, and CPP/NDF sources. This is performed in this article for the first time and will almost certainly be done once again by the CPP only when she passes, as is customary for the group.
Revolutionary Teacher, Propagandist, Communicator, and Judge
Malaya has been in the communist movement since at least the 1980s when she appeared as a young revolutionary in the documentary “A Rustling of Leaves” (Canada Wild Productions, 1988). She practiced strict operational security and told the documentary producer that she had “more than 10 codenames,” but the production still offered a rare glimpse of her duties at the time. In the 1988 documentary, she was filmed with an NPA group in the Mindanao countryside with NPA legend and her future husband Ka Oris, among others. Her duties ranged from menial tasks, such as serving food, to the more fundamental responsibilities of teaching and indoctrinating local children in communist revolutionary ideology on top of managing NPA media and communications networks.
According to the documentary, Malaya studied agricultural engineering at a local Mindanao university in 1980, and by 1988 she was organizing revolutionary local governments in villages behind guerrilla lines (Canada Wild Productions, 1988). When being interviewed by the producer, she was building a makeshift conference facility by using logs, branches, and a tarp for 30 ranking revolutionaries from the city to retreat to for the purposes of planning and strategizing. As government teachers stopped coming to the area controlled by Malaya and her comrades, the NPA took charge of educating the youth themselves. Malaya was personally in charge of training local girls to be teachers in her revolutionary schools (Canada Wild Productions, 1988). She stated that “the students are important” as “these children will also be our future comrades and cadres.”
Malaya and Ka Oris were also in charge of writing, sending, and receiving messages from the NPA leadership and other branches (Canada Wild Productions, 1988). They oversaw their group’s radio communications and would also write directives and notes on small pieces of paper called “chicklets,” which could be eaten if the messengers were searched at a roadblock. This involved dispatching the messengers and planning their travel routes to best avoid detection and interdiction. In particular, they tasked farmers, city workers, and guerrilla soldiers with carrying these messages.
Malaya was also a part of the “People’s Court,” which oversees the NPA-imposed legal system in areas controlled by the NPA. In the documentary, for example, she was on the judiciary panel that issued a death sentence via bullet to a fellow guerrilla, who the panel convicted of a capital offense, according to NPA-imposed laws.
A Family in Conflict
Malaya has been deeply committed to the communist cause for decades, and her family has paid a great price for it. In October 2021, her husband Ka Oris, who was the commander and spokesperson of the NPA’s national operations command and spokesperson of the National Democratic Front in Mindanao, was killed by Philippine soldiers in Bukidnon Province (Philippine News Agency, October 31, 2021). Malaya disputed the government’s account of his death and claimed her husband was ambushed while unarmed on his way to receive medical treatment (Manila Bulletin, October 31, 2021). Speaking to her status within the movement and throughout the broader international communist movement, condolences and statements of solidarity addressed to her poured in, including from Marxist–Leninist Communist Party (MLKP) Turkey/Kurdistan, which is an armed Turkish communist group allied with the PKK (MLKP International Bureau, November 4, 2021).
One month prior to Ka Oris’ death, on September 3, 2021, Malaya’s son and her daughter-in-law, who were both NPA members, were killed by the Philippine Army’s 8th Infantry Battalion (8IB) in Kapitan Bayong village, Impasug-ong town, Bukidnon Province (Davao Today, September 6). Malaya released a statement on the incident that once again challenged the government’s telling of events. She alleged the couple was captured and then executed while in custody (PRWC, September 6). She also issued a personal statement on the death of her son that reiterated her commitment to the cause. Malaya noted that “[f]or a revolutionary mother, one cannot cry over their deaths, because one cannot cry with raging anger at their executioners, one cannot cry over sadness that has been transformed to courage. Turn grief into courage, as they say” (Twitter/@prwc_info3, September 14).
The Hunt for Malaya
After killing her husband and son, the Philippine government explicitly stated their intention to intensify efforts to find Malaya. Legally, this was based on pre-existing charges against her as well as the presentation of a new case accusing her of being the main suspect in the execution of five people in northeastern Mindanao (Twitter/@TeamAFP, October 31). The victims were reportedly discovered in a shallow grave and were reportedly “CAFGU members and innocent civilians.” CAFGU refers to the “Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit,” which is an irregular auxiliary force that the AFP tasked with anti-terrorism and counter-insurgency efforts against the NPA (Manila Times, November 6).
Malaya is officially listed on Philippine Revolution Web Central as Spokesperson of NDF-Northeast Mindanao. Her importance to the regional insurgency and in shaping communist narratives about events in the area is further indicated by the reward issued by the government in the amount of Php 5.6 million ($97,890 USD) for her alleged crimes of murder, multiple murder, and frustrated murder (Twitter/@pro13caraga, August 5, 2019). Her “Wanted” poster details her official position as secretary and spokesperson of the NPA’s Northeastern Mindanao Regional Command (Philippine News Agency, November 7, 2021). More confirmation of her role came on October 31 when the AFP remarkably described “Maria Malaya [as] the top ranking CPP cadre in Mindanao” (Twitter/ @TeamAF, October 31).
Malaya, due to her high profile as well as her militant and propaganda pedigree is a top-tier target of the Philippine government, AFP, PNP, and associated forces. Taking her off the battlefield would be a huge victory for the government due to her decades-long ties to the region, her roots in the local communities, and the high level of respect she holds in the movement. AFP Maj. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. stated the AFP will continue offensive operations in the area where she operates until she is killed or captured. He demanded she surrender or face the same fate as her husband and promised “we will go after the wife of [Ka Oris]. That’s my marching order to the soldiers” (Mindanao Times, November 1, 2021).
Conclusion
Malaya’s network in Mindanao is coming under increased pressure as the new Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administration and freshly-appointed AFP chief of staff Lt. Gen. Bartolome Vicente Bacarro have issued a directive to all Philippine military commanders to ramp up the “operational tempo” against the communist fighters (Philippine News Agency, August 10; PRWC, August 11). The Mindanao networks, in particular, are feeling the heat under this increased pressure as AFP operations produce arrests, surrenders, and eliminate communist forces in the field (Philippine News Agency, September 27). Consequently, Malaya has been occupied by writing tributes for guerrilla martyrs eliminated by government forces and contesting government accounts of the related killings (PRWC, November 7).
Malaya is nevertheless still playing a key role in the information war unfolding in the region as NDF spokesperson and is tasked with pre-empting and countering government and military narratives about the conflict (PRWC, September 6). She frames the government and security forces as beholden to U.S. imperialism and as being “terrorists” who are guilty of war crimes, such as extrajudicial killings and abusing local populations. However, she also shapes discourses and provides CPP/NPA/NDF rebels with a message of hope and achievable victory. She states, for example, that “for 52 years the seven past Philippine presidents failed to annihilate us, Marcos and Cory died – the NPA continue to persist to advance under the absolute leadership of the CPP” (PRWC, March 29, 2021).
As the most wanted communist insurgent leader in all of Mindanao, Malaya is facing a heightened risk of being killed or captured by military, police, and paramilitary forces, as evidenced by the fact that the AFP was able to locate and kill her husband and son in the span of just over a year. Yet, for now, she continues to resist the state even as its security apparatus seemingly closes in on her with growing determination.
