Secrets of time management

Ormoc City – Two members of the New People’s Army (NPA) who were both minors were rescued by the military  in Leyte.

Lt. Col. Lope Dagoy, commanding Officer of the 19th Infantry Battalion based in Kananga, Leyte identified the first NPA guerrilla as Ka Christy, 17, pregnant and a resident of Leyte, Leyte.

The other minor combatant who surrendered to Mayor Dela Victoria was identified as Ka Roy, 17, of Albuera, Leyte.

The two were presented to the media yesterday.

Dagoy said the rescue of the two minors is contrary to the claim  of NDF-Eastern Visayas spokesman Father Jose Salas that the NPA’s are not recruiting minors. 

Ka Christy, according to Dagoy, is among the new recruits of the NPA who, in 2005,  started as an observer in NPA and military encounters but was later appointed as a member of the medical team of the 3rd Sector of the Northern Leyte Front of the NPA covering the 3rd District of Leyte.

A surrenderee Melody Leyson a.k.a Ka Bryan fingered Ka Christy as one of the members.

In an interview, Ka  Christy denied  that she is a member of the NPA. She said she only helps her parents work in the rice fields and copra making. She said that she sometimes leaves her home to work in other places like  Capoocan, Leyte, Kananga, and even in Ormoc City.

She said that the father of her unborn child is a co-worker in one of the places she works and whom she only identifies as Teting. 

Her parents also denied that she was a member of the communist armed group and questioned why their daughter was in military custody. They claimed she was taken from their house on  Sunday evening.

Ka Roy, for his part, disclosed that he joined the NPA for adventure because he has nothing to do at home. He started as an errand boy by the NPA’s in one of the barangays in Albuera, Leyte and later became a runner.

After several weeks,  a firearm was entrusted into him.