By Priam Nepomuceno
MANILA – A ranking official of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) on Friday said the US Embassy in Manila’s security alert warning its citizens against the dangers posed by the New People’s Army (NPA) is a recognition that Americans are drawn into violence by organizations linked to the communist insurgents.
“This is perhaps the first direct and explicit recognition by the United States government that its own citizens are being drawn into violence by organizations linked to the CPP-NPA-NDF (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front),” NTF-ELCAC executive director Undersecretary Ernesto Torres Jr. said in a statement.
The US Embassy in Manila’s security alert for May 1 informed its nationals of “recent intensified operations by the Armed Forces of the Philippines against the NPA.”
“We advise Americans in the Philippines and around the world to abide by local laws and to avoid situations with elevated security risk,” the US Embassy in Manila security alert read.
The advisory further identified areas of heightened concern, particularly rural and mountainous regions of Leyte, Mindoro, Negros, and Samar, where recent fatal encounters between government forces and the NPA have been recorded.
Torres said this advisory is both timely and significant as it states that the “NPA is designated a foreign terrorist organization by the governments of the United States and the Philippines.”
The official said the warning highlights a “critical reality” that has long been denied or downplayed which is “foreign terrorist organizations actively recruit Americans to participate directly in terrorist activities and/or provide financial support.”
“This acknowledgment affirms what Philippine authorities have consistently exposed—that the insurgency is not merely a domestic security concern but part of a broader transnational network of recruitment, radicalization, and terrorism,” the official said.
Torres expressed the NTF-ELCAC’s appreciation to the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) for its statement on the loss of lives, including of US citizens Lyle Prijoles and Kai Dana-Rene Sorem.
Torres said the group’s call for clarity, justice, and a deeper understanding of the circumstances surrounding these deaths resonates with their own commitment to truth and accountability.
“This development strengthens the shared commitment of the Philippines and the United States to combat terrorism in all its forms. It also sends a powerful signal to those who continue to enable, justify, or obscure the activities of the CPP-NPA-NDF: the international community is taking notice, and the truth is becoming undeniable,” he added. (PNA)
