MANOLO FORTICH, Bukidnon (PIA)—Each rebel's journey began with a single recruiting that led them to take up arms and fight the government. The hardships that young people face daily paved the path for them to be recruited for a greater cause: to protect the poorest of the poor and uphold equality.

How did a student end up carrying books to take up arms?  Here is the transition from being a student to being a member of the New People's Army (NPA). Let us walk the path of a rebel to see and know how he became a member of the communist group. Let us walk the path of Ka Amihan.

Joy Sadino, also known by his rebel code Ka Amihan, was an ordinary student of the University of the Philippines (UP) Visayas in Iloilo City.

In 2007, he was recruited by a legal organization named League of Filipino Students (LFS) during the height of the increase in school fees in the UP Visayas Campus and the entire UP System.

"Before I became NPA, I started in a legal organization while attending college at the University of the Philippines-Visayas in Iloilo City in 2007. I was recruited by the League of Filipino Students, and that was the year when the UP Visayas and the entire UP system raised school fees," Ka Amihan explained.

With that single event, he supported the group's call to block and stop the tuition fee increase. He thought that the group was right since UP is a state university thus, it should provide an affordable and high-quality education for all.

In his third month as an active group member, the LFS assigned him to various activities both within and outside the school, such as urban poor community immersion, transport strike participation, farmer community visitation, and more. Until then, NPA talks emerged, and he was asked about his views on NPA. He was also recruited as a member of the underground group Kabataan Makabayan. He was then asked to run for student council and later became the group's spokesperson.

Ka Amihan also served as an organizer in the 2010 election for a group seeking a seat in Congress.

"I became an organizer during the electoral campaign last 2010 for the Makabayan Coalition in Panay Island," he said.

In the later part of 2010, he was imprisoned due to protest action, an experience that had traumatized his mental state; thus, he requested to lie low from the group activity. Instead of granting his request, he was offered a redeployment near his family in Zamboanga.

Ka Amihan then became a spokesperson of the Anakbayan Zamboanga in 2011—the same year he was invited to one of the activities inside the NPA for two weeks regarding the group's idealism. By then he decided to stay and be part of NPA in December 2011. He was agitated and believed in the doctrine of the NPA, believing that the group is the soldiers of the poor, the same reason why he was inspired to be one of them.

For six years, from 2011 to 2017, Ka Amihan realized that the doctrines and idealism used to recruit and convince people to join the underground mass movement did not match reality.

"I didn't see the NPA working to help the farmers; in fact, I saw that the farmers' situation was worse because of our presence in their community, especially when the army and government had been monitoring our presence; the masses would be filled with terror and fear because their lives were deeply entwined with ours," he recalled.

In 2017, he witnessed the NPA's deceptions. It is identical to what they were taught before recruitment and the actual situation within their ranks. Women are being harassed, minors are being recruited, and their fellow rebels are abusing them.

"The organization's plan is not to save and change people's lives. They are happy to see people suffering and losing their livelihoods because that will be their basis for recruitment and instilling in people's minds that the government is the enemy," Amihan wryly said.

The described deceptions served as his reason and motivation for leaving the group. It made him realize that he no longer sees himself in the group, and the idealism he once held, such as helping and serving the people, has vanished.

After leaving the group, Ka Amihan had not immediately surrendered to the government because he was still afraid that the soldiers would beat and torture them, as the rebel group had told them. The same fear drove him to seek refuge in Cotabato and Cebu City, hoping to live a normal life. But, in the end, he felt unsafe not only from the soldiers but also from his fellow rebels, because a rumor spread that he was an intelligence [asset] who had swindled half a million pesos from the group.

In 2019, he heard about the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and was intrigued by the government's new counter-insurgency program. He looked into the government's program and discovered that many rebels, including Front 20—the group to which he belonged—had surrendered. He was overwhelmed by the massive influx of surrenderees, including those from their stronghold areas.

He emphasized that he is seeing improvements within the Sitios (sub-villages), with governors and mayors now traveling to remote areas to meet and discuss with residents.

"With NTF-ELCAC, I saw the government's sincerity in ending this ongoing conflict that has lasted more than 50 years," he added.

Amihan also specified that the EO 70 is a program that lives up to its name by ending local communist armed conflict through a Bayanihan approach that prioritizes the development of the community's outlying areas, giving them the feeling that the government cares.  One of the elements that previously failed but is now present in the NTF-ELCAC is bringing the government closer to the people.

"The NTF-ELCAC is the reason I surrendered, not only to surrender but also to actively support the government so that the insurgency problem will end. With this, there will be no more recruited youths, broken families as a result of the NPA’s falsehood, and an end to the deceptions that they are instigating on the people," he narrated.

Ka Amihan, now a part of and working for the government, encourages his former comrades in arms to surrender. He reiterated that they (NPA rebels) are not his or the government's enemies, but rather victims of the reds’ false promises. The solution to the country's current problem he said is not to join them, but to unite, help, and love one another, rather than to turn against the government.

He also reassures the remaining insurgents that surrenderees are already living in decent conditions, leading normal lives, and reuniting with their families. (JAKA/PIA-10)