NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Philippines — RJ Nichole Ledesma, a poet, human rights activist, and journalist, met a tragic death during a clash between communist rebels and government forces.

Ledesma, a 30-year-old correspondent-slash-coordinator of the People’s Alternative Media Network (Altermidya) in the Negros Island Region, was among the 19 people killed in a bloody incident that took place in remote Sitio Sinugmawan, Barangay Salamanca, Toboso town, on Sunday, April 19.

When Ledesma was named as one of those who were killed, many — even members of the legacy media in Bacolod — did not believe that it was the same person, until Felipe Gelle of Human Rights Advocates Negros (HRAN) spoke about Ledesma’s demise.

Gelle, in an interview with Rappler, described Ledesma as dedicated to writing community stories, particularly on the sufferings of the poor.

He was very serious in embracing community journalism, Gelle said.

During the six years that they were together in community development works and missions, Gelle said Ledesma was very meticulous in accomplishing his assigned stories.

Gelle said Ledesma can best be remembered with his anti-palm oil plantation crusade in Candoni town in southern Negros Occidental.

Beyond environmental advocacies, Ledesma, a psychology major from University of St. La Salle (USLS)-Bacolod, was also known for researching, documenting, and writing unique stories of the vulnerable sectors within Negros communities.

A former editor-in-chief of The Spectrum, USLS-Bacolod’s students’  publication (2017-2018), Ledesma was a regular fixture at local press conferences.

Fellow journalists observed that he was quiet or rarely asks questions.

“He was gentle and softspoken, with a keen, incisive, and investigative mind, who always had a heart for the least among us and who stood by his principles,” Jeneatte Patindol, The Spectrum moderator, said of Ledesma in her Facebook post.

“The memories of him that quickly come are of his initiating the peer-mentoring of the staff on campus journalism topics during free activity periods or Saturdays, insisting that staff take turns in delivering the talks, because as he pointed out that we learn best when we are forced to teach it,” Patindol added.

Patindol’s fondest memory of Ledesma was when USLS-Bacolod faculty member allegedly maligned a Muslim student. That faculty member ablatantly lied to their faces, twisting facts, but Ledesma showed him the truth, complete with receipts and recordings.

That story became The Spectrum cover story and won Ledesma the Graciano Lopez Hall of Fame Award in the annual Philippine Information Agency’s College Press Conference contests in Western Visayas.

“RJ was a humble young man with powerful gifts and a huge heart. who had the potential to impact so many more with his brilliance,” Patindol said.

Fellow Negrense writer Ian Rosales Casocot said in a Facebook post that Ledesma was really focused on amplying voices from marginalized sectors.

Ledesma was a fellow for poetry at the Silliman University National Writers Workshop, and for the 9th Amelia Lapeña-Bonifacio Writers Workshop.

After college in 2020, he led Paghimutad-Negros, an alternative media outfit focused on human rights reporting and grassroots storytelling.

Altermidya Network mourned Ledesma’s death.

“We give the highest honor to our colleague RJ, who until his last breath served marginalized communities by immersing and reporting on their stories. Together with his family and colleagues, we demand justice for RJ Ledesma,”  Altermidya said.

But for La Sallians, social media influencers, and even some of the members of the local press who know Ledesma, his death is a reminder that journalism in the Philippines remains a dangerous calling. – Rappler.com