Ex-NPA warrior finds new life

He was only 14 when he was recruited by the communist New People’s Army to join the ranks of the NPA’s "child warriors."

Now 20, Levi Malana will graduate from an elementary school in Samar this March.

Malana, according to Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Civil Relations Service (CRS) group commander Maj. Michael Samson, was rescued by the military in December 2000. After his rescue, Malana was turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) so that he could start a new life.

Samson said the DSWD noted that there are other minors who are continuously being used by the NPA as regular fighters.

"These minors spend their childhood years holding guns and bullets instead of pencils and books. They are raised to a life of hatred and killing by the communists," Samson said. "Fortunately, some of these child recruits have been rescued by our troops."

Despite continuous denial by the NPA that it is training and using children as combatants, former rebels yesterday confirmed that the NPA has been recruiting minors as regular combatants — something that military officials claim is a desperate move by the rebel movement.

Five NPA rebels, three of them minors, were believed to be behind the daring attack on the construction site of the New Bacolod International Airport. These NPA rebels were captured by the military in mid-October.

Army spokesman Maj. Ernesto Torres identified the captured rebels as Ruel Tapio, Nathaniel Alisgar and three teenage boys aged 15, 16 and 17, whose names have been withheld.

Capt. Reynante Besa, spokesman for the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division said the five suspected insurgents were captured on the strength of intelligence information provided by the residents of Barangay Tilin in Calatrava town, Negros Occidental.

At a recent press conference, a self-confessed NPA child combatant admitted to military authorities that he was part of a failed attack on the Nawacat detachment of the 61st Infantry Battalion in Siaton, Negros Oriental on Oct. 1.

Torres said the 15-year-old NPA fighter, who is now in the custody of the DSWD, revealed during tactical interrogation that he was part of a group composed of 50 heavily-armed rebels who tried to stage an attack on the Nawacat detachment.

He said the teenage boy admitted that, prior to his capture, he was a member of the 2nd squad, 2nd platoon of Local Guerrilla 5 Komite sa Rehiyon Negros under a certain alias Bok.

At another recent press conference at Camp Aguinaldo, a former rebel identified only as "Ka Carmi" said she was recruited by the NPA when she was 14 years old.

"Ka Carmi" said the NPA took advantage of her youth and convinced her to join the rebel movement in 1998, where she stayed until her surrender in 2002.