- Known as Kumander Dante in the Philippine revolutionary movement.
- The founder of the New People's Army (NPA), the military wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines. From a group composed of about 35 members with only 10 rifles between them, the NPA grew and spread throughout the Philippines, challenging the regime of then dictator Ferdinand Marcos during the Martial Law years. He was captured in September 1976 at age 32. He was released 10 years later - in March 1986 - when Corazon Aquino assumed the presidency following a people's power.
- One of eight children born to impoverished tenant farmers in Capas, Tarlac. His mother died due to tuberculosis while his seven-year-old sister died of meningitis.
- He was put up for adoption after his father could not support the children following their mother's death.
- His first work as a teenager was a cane cutter, earning 18 pesos for a six-day week. He led a small uprising to force the landowner to increase their wages. He was later recruited into the Communist Party of the Philippines at age 17.
- Together with some militant leaders, he formed the Partido ng Bayan (PnB) in 1987. Buscayno ran for senator but did not win.
- Survived an assassination attempt in 1987. He was hit by shrapnel from a grenade when armed men attacked. Two of his companions in the car died while the other two were wounded. Buscayno himself still has three pieces of shrapnel in his back up to the present.
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