From the College Editors Guild of the Philippines
The College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) offers its highest commendation to the late Rochamae Bihag, people’s journalist and heroine of Northern Mindanao. Rocha to colleagues, she hails from the Mindanao Varsitarian of the Mindanao State University–Marawi Campus. She was elected as Vice President for Mindanao in 2014 and was re-elected to a fresh term in 2016. She served in her post until the 77th Congress in 2019. Rocha was instrumental in the consolidation of Mindanao-based student publications for campus press freedom and the campaign for the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act (UAQTE). Rocha was a strong voice among fellow student journalists who exposed and denounced the Pork Barrel Scandal under Noynoy Aquino and the bloody War on Drugs under Rodrigo Duterte. She led local youth movements in solidarity with people’s issues, particularly destructive mining and Indigenous people’s rights, which have hounded generations of Lumads in Northern Mindanao. She also campaigned with fellow Mindanaoan youth against Duterte’s declaration of Martial Law in Mindanao. She advocated for just and lasting peace in the war-torn island after the Marawi Siege.
Rocha was slain in a military operation in Esperanza, Agusan del Sur, on September 12, 2026, along with fellow revolutionaries. Until her last breath, she remained a people’s servant in the tradition of Antonio Tagamolila, Emmanuel Lacaba, Evelyn Pacheco, Maria Lorena Barros, and other Guilders who left the comforts of their privileged lives to trek the road less traveled.
The Guild recognizes Rocha’s selfless service to the Filipino people, honed by years of witnessing the realities of the people’s hardships and struggles. Her choice to deepen this commitment by offering her life to the last-mile communities of Mindanao is an exemplary practice of serving the people—more than the spark of words, she mobilized people to assert their rights to land and life.
No state or military propaganda can diminish the legacy of Rocha’s service to the people. Her name will forever be etched in the memory of fellow student journalists she stood by, the Lumads she fought for, and the Filipino youth grateful for her dedication to the people’s struggle.