The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) said on Monday, April 27, that the recent incidents in Negros Occidental and Samar show a troubling shift in the recruitment practices of the New People’s Army (NPA)
The task force said the increasing involvement of foreign nationals and minors in active combat is a development that raises serious concerns regarding the trajectory of the armed movement.
Undersecretary Ernesto C. Torres Jr., NTF-ELCAC Executive Director, said that during an armed encounter in Toboso on April 19, two American nationals—Lyle Prijoles and Kai Dana-Rene Sorem—were among the 19 NPA combatants killed.
“Their deaths underscore how individuals from outside the country are now being drawn into local armed hostilities,” Torres said.
The Philippine National Police investigation, validated by claimant-relatives, also identified two minors among the casualties in Toboso: 16-year-old Jolinda Jimena and 17-year-old Dexter Patoja. “Their presence in a combat environment highlights the grave risks faced by young individuals who become involved in armed conflict,” Torres noted.
In a separate incident in Samar on April 17, another minor, identified by the alias “John Paul,” was killed during an encounter reported by the 8th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army, he said.
These cases bring the total number of minors killed in combat this April to three. “Taken together, these cases present a pattern that cannot be dismissed,” Torres said.
“The involvement of foreign nationals alongside minors points to a widening recruitment scope that extends beyond traditional local bases and into more vulnerable sectors,” he added.
Torres emphasized that the recruitment and use of minors in armed conflict constitute serious violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL).
Such actions also violate Republic Act No. 11188 (Special Protection of Children in Situations of Armed Conflict Act), Republic Act No. 7610, and the Philippines’ obligations under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (OPAC).
“Those responsible, particularly elements of the CPP–NPA–NDF, must be held accountable for these transgressions of both domestic and international law,” Torres said.
“These laws exist to ensure that children are protected from exploitation and exposure to violence”, he said.
Torres added that the presence of foreign nationals suggests that recruitment efforts have expanded beyond Philippine borders, exposing the diaspora to the dangers of ground-level armed confrontation.
“These developments suggest increasing pressure on the movement to sustain its ranks, reflected in a shift toward drawing from sectors that are either geographically distant or inherently vulnerable,” he added.
Torres called for heightened awareness and vigilance among families, communities, school administrations, and organizations—both in the Philippines and abroad—to ensure that individuals, particularly the youth, are not placed in life-threatening circumstances.
“A movement that draws 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.*
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