MANILA – The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) on Thursday welcomed reports that US law enforcement authorities are looking into the possible involvement of American citizens and organizations supporting communist insurgency in the Philippines.
This was after claims by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is now investigating the family of Gabe Pasion, an Anakbayan activist detained in the Philippines.
Pasion said his family had received repeated calls, home visits, and workplace inquiries from FBI personnel and the US Embassy in Manila.
His sister, Christina, was taken into custody in July following a raid on a suspected communist safehouse in Laguna.
The reported FBI inquiries come months after the US Embassy in Manila issued a security advisory in May warning American citizens against NPA recruitment and involvement in armed insurgency activities.
“This should come as no surprise to communist front organizations in the United States. When American citizens become involved with a foreign terrorist organization like the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army (CPP-NPA), they should expect scrutiny from federal authorities,” NTF-ELCAC spokesperson Liza Fidelis Cañada said in a statement.
The CPP-NPA has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) by the US State Department since Aug. 9, 2002 due to its history of violence that included the assassination of American servicemen in the country.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Anti-Terrorism Council separately designated the CPP-NPA in 2020 and the NDF in 2021 as terrorist groups under Republic Act 11479.
Under Section 2339B of Title 18 of the United States Code, “knowingly providing material support or resources to a designated FTO constitutes a federal offense carrying serious criminal penalties.”
Cañada said these legal provisions “underscore the importance of a thorough, evidence-based investigation by American authorities into credible allegations of unlawful recruitment, financing, or operational support for the CPP-NPA, while fully respecting constitutionally protected political expression, peaceful advocacy, and due process.”
“The allegations reported by the NDFP reinforce the need to investigate whether organizations operating under the banner of human rights and social justice are being exploited as recruitment and support networks for the CPP-NPA,” she added.
Several US citizens have been apprehended or killed in various instances in the Philippines, Cañada said.
Among them is Filipino-American Chantal Anicoche of Maryland, who was seized near an armed encounter in Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro in January.
She subsequently acknowledged traveling to the Philippines intending to join the NPA and staying in an insurgent camp before her repatriation.
Christina Pasion, who had traveled with Anicoche, remained with the communist movement for several more months before being apprehended alongside a wanted NPA rebel in July.
In April, Lyle Prijoles and Kai Dana-Rene Sorem, both linked to Anakbayan-USA, were among those killed during an armed encounter in Negros Occidental. (Priam Nepomuceno/PNA)
