Kerima Lorena Tariman (Contributed photo)
MANILA, Philippines — The Armed Forces of the Philippines maintained on Monday that poet Kerima Lorena Tariman was not the heroine she was being projected to be by communist rebels.
Maj. Gen. Edgardo de Leon, deputy chief of staff for operations (J3) of the AFP, claimed on Monday that Tariman lured students to the New People’s Army (NPA) and that her death helped protect the youth from being radicalized and recruited.
“The communist NPA terrorist leadership has acknowledged that Kerima Tariman is a red fighter or was a red fighter. So she was an armed combatant,” he pointed out.
De Leon said the NPA propaganda “would want to show that the late Kerima Tariman was a hero. She was not.” Col. Ramon Zagala, spokesperson for the AFP, claimed that Tariman was a “leading cadre” in Negros.