Three suspected New People’s Army rebels, including a young combatant, were killed in a clash with army soldiers at the hinterlands of Carmen, Surigao del Sur Sunday afternoon.
Capt. Francisco Garello Jr., Civil Military Operations Officer Jr. of the Army’s 402nd Infantry Brigade, initially identified the young rebel as Gaelan Jimenez, 24, while the identities of the three others remain unknown.
But moments later, Jimenez’s parents surfaced and said that the rebel’s real name was Dylan Ghem Padilla Jimenez, 18, who they said left his family on October 2018 when he was still 17 years old.
Garello Jr. said that Jimenez was among the 10 CPP-NPA terrorists that soldiers from the 36th Infantry Battalion encountered in a 15-minute gunbattle in Brgy. Cancavan, Carmen town, which resulted to the wounding of the young rebel.
Garello Jr. said that the other rebels escaped, leaving Jimenez at the encounter site.
As the troops were clearing the battle site, they found Jimenez seriously wounded but still alive.
“In the hope to save his life, around 6:15 in the evening, troops successfully extricated the wounded CPP-NPA terrorist along with his three dead comrades and was rushed immediately to Madrid District Hospital but unfortunately he was pronounced dead on arrival by attending physician, Dr. Mary Michelle Paganpan,” Garello Jr. said.
Recovered from the encounter site were three AK47 Russian assault rifles, two M16 rifles, two long magazines for armalite rifles, three cellular phones, assorted ammunitions and documents.
“The death of Dylan is another story of recruitment of minors of the CNTs who prey on their innocence and weaknesses and a clear violation of the International Humanitarian Law. Dylan could have been someone in the society someday if the CNTs spared him from the life of violence and let him be educated in schools,” Garello Jr. said.
Jimenez was the second young rebel the soldiers encountered, after the same troopers earlier treated a wounded NPA cadre—Jernel Regulada, alias Alfred, then 17, after his comrades left him behind following a brief firefight in Brgy. Tubo-tubo, Cagwait, Surigao del Sur last July 2016.
Also, two students from the University of the Philippines who joined the rebel movement were killed in two separate encounters with troops in Batangas and Laguna recently.
“The NPA leadership must be made accountable for IHL violation of recruiting and involving minors in the armed atrocities against the government. Appropriate complaint or charges will be filed against the NPA for this utter disregard on the life of the minor,” said Col. Maurito Licudine, commander of the Army’s 402nd Infantry Brigade.
He also called on the Commission on Human Rights and other concerned agencies to condemn “this irresponsible acts of the NPA.”