Authorities discovered that the NPA ‘child-warrior’ who was killed in an encounter in Butuan City on Monday, December 2, was only a grade six pupil.
The 16-year-old victim was identified by his older brother and is a resident of Barangay Malinao in Gingoog City.
The young NPA rebel was a grade six student at Sitio Sioan Elementary School and had not come home since February.
Read: NPA ambush Eastern Samar: 6 soldiers dead, 20 others injured
Eastmincom Commander Lt. Gen. Felimon Santos Jr. condemned the NPA and said this a proof that the rebel group continues to use and violate the rights of children.
The military recovered two Ak-47 rifles, two M16 rifles, and five backpacks containing subversive documents and personal belongings of the killed NPA ‘child-warrior’ during the encounter in Barangay Manila de Bugabos.
In a report in October by Inquirer, Brig. Gen. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos Jr., commander of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division, condemned the alleged recruitment of “child-warriors” by the communist New People’s Army (NPA).
“We condemn in the strongest sense the NPAs’ evil act of violating our children’s innocence,” Burgos said.
He also said, “there are written and unwritten rules in warfare” that protect women and children in armed conflict.
“No form of explanation will justify this dastardly act of putting Filipino minors in harm’s way,” Burgos added.