A top Philippine anti-insurgency official said Monday that recent deadly clashes in the Visayas reveal a “troubling shift” in New People’s Army (NPA) recruitment, citing the deaths of two American nationals and three minors in active combat.
Undersecretary Ernesto C. Torres Jr., executive director of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), said the developments suggest the armed movement is under “critical strain” and expanding its recruitment to vulnerable and foreign sectors to sustain its ranks.
According to Negros police, two US citizens — identified as Lyle Prijoles and Kai Dana-Rene Sorem — were among 19 NPA combatants killed during a 19 April encounter in Toboso, Negros Occidental.
“Their deaths underscore how individuals from outside the country are now being drawn into local armed hostilities,” Torres said.
The same encounter resulted in the deaths of two minors, 16-year-old Jolinda Jimena and 17-year-old Dexter Patoja.
Their identities were validated by relatives following a Philippine National Police (PNP) investigation. A third minor, identified only as “John Paul,” was killed in a separate 17 Aprilclash in Samar, according to the Philippine Army’s 8th Infantry Division.
Torres stressed that the use of child soldiers violates International Humanitarian Law and several Philippine statutes, including the Special Protection of Children in Situations of Armed Conflict Act.
“A movement that draws in children and foreign nationals into armed conflict is not demonstrating strength — it is revealing a critical strain that comes at the cost of human lives,” Torres said.
In response to the clashes, PNP chief Police General Jose Melencio C. Nartatez Jr. ordered increased police visibility and community patrols in the Negros Island Region and other high-risk provinces.
Nartatez said insurgent recruitment has become more subtle, shifting largely to social media platforms to target idealistic youth through misinformation and “ideological narratives.”
“Recruitment is becoming more subtle, and it includes community immersion and cause-oriented messaging,” Nartatez said, noting that such methods make early detection difficult.
The PNP plans to launch an information campaign in schools and villages to expose social media radicalization tactics. Nartatez urged parents to monitor their children’s online activities, stating that youth “curiosity and idealism are being exploited.”