Chad Booc is a New People’s Army (NPA) leader and recruiter who is responsible for luring children, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) said.
The NTF-ELCAC said this is according to Rurelyn Bay-ao, a former student of Booc in Salungpungan and Bakwit schools. Bay-ao said divulged that contrary to what left-leaning groups have claimed, Booc is not just a teacher but a leader in the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army – National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).
Bay-ao, who is also a member of an Indigenous People (IP) tribe in Talaingod, Davao, said she was taught by Booc in Saver’s School Network, a community-based learning scheme used by the Communist Terrorist Group (CTG) to lure IP children and train them to become NPA warriors.
She added that in 2020, she was with Booc, including the time when they were at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City as a member of the so-called Bakwit School where Booc taught and indoctrinated them through “PaDaPa” (Pambansang Demokratikong Paaralan) on how to fight and overthrow the government.
Booc was slain with four other NPA fighters after a 15-minute firefight with the 1001st Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army in Purok-8, Barangay Andap, New Bataan, Davao de Oro on Thursday, February 24.
Capt. Mark Anthony Tito, spokesperson of the 10th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army, said the encounter was part of the brigade’s relentless operations launched since last year to track down and finish the CTGs and eventually free communities from their terroristic activities.
This was seconded by Gov. Tyron Uy, Governor of Davao de Oro, who belied claims that Booc and the other slain NPA fighters were ambushed by the military troops.
“I’d like to validate the occurrence of the encounter,” Uy said, pointing out that information from civilian witnesses confirmed the presence of armed men in the area before the firefight. Those information about the fierce encounter came from civilians in the affected hinterland villages, Uy added.
The Youth for Peace Movement in Bataan also attended the press briefing and read their statement confirming their knowledge of the encounter that killed NPA fighters that included Booc.
The group backed the Army’s claims as they insisted that the people in the area are law abiding citizens who have already condemned the CTG for operating Lumad Schools to recruit NPAs.