Arrested, not abducted: Former rebels set record straight on 2023 capture

In a move described as "courageous," two former New People’s Army (NPA) fighters have come forward to publicly reject what they called a “false narrative” about their arrest in late 2023. Job David and Alia Encela, once active cadres of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the NPA, have issued formal letters to both the Visayan Daily Star and the human rights watchdog Forum-Asia, asserting that they were neither abducted nor tortured by government forces, but were lawfully arrested as combatants.

In their letter to Forum-Asia, David and Encela asked that their case be removed from the 2023–2024 Defending in Numbers report, which had incorrectly categorized them as victims of abduction and red-tagging. The report regarding them read, "An illustrative case is that of Job Abednego David, Peter del Monte Jr., and Alia Encela. On 23 September 2023, the three indigenous peoples’ rights defenders were abducted in Malaglag village, Barangay Lisap, Bongabong town of Oriental Mindoro, Philippines, supposedly by soldiers."

“We were not abducted. We were not tortured. We were not forced to say anything,” they also wrote in their Letter to the Editor for The Visayan Daily Star, a Bacolod City-based paper that covers news in Negros Island.

The two former rebels, now engaged in legal civilian life and advocacy work, clarified that while they were defenders of indigenous peoples’ rights, they were also, at the time of arrest, armed and operational members of the NPA.

"While we understand how unverified labeling poses serious dangers to legitimate activism, we want to be clear that this narrative does not apply to us," David and Encela wrote to Forum-Asia. They say that at the time of their arrest, they were not misidentified or unjustly labeled. "We were, in fact, cadres of the [CPP-NPA]."

“It’s painful to see narratives that erase our voices and twist our decision into something it’s not,” they said about their decision to surrender to the government, but realizing their situation is still being used to characterize state repression. “We know our truth.”

A repeating pattern

“Job and Alia’s public clarification sheds light on a pattern of misinformation being committed by the CPP and its legal organizations,” says Arian Jane O. Ramos, legal affairs head of Buklod Kapayapaan. Her organization is the national federation of former rebels and people's organizations. In an interview with Kontra Kwento, Ramos said that this tactic has been repeatedly used to discredit government arrests and support the narrative of "state repression."

Meanwhile, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) has welcomed David and Encela's effort, calling it "brave and commendable." “They are not victims of state abuse, but survivors of ideological deception,” said Usec. Ernesto C. Torres Jr. in a statement.

Torres also sounded the alarm that the CPP is ‘weaponizing the same playbook’ in the case of the eight NPA members who were arrested at a checkpoint in Bunawan, Agusan del Sur on the night of June 13.

"Yet their narrative is unraveling," Torres said. "From the original ‘Agusan 8,’ there are now only six. It is only a matter of time before the remaining 6 others, like David and Encela, step forward with their truths, which are understandably hard, painful, but honest."

Move forward without misinformation

David and Encela now advocate for peace, development and reintegration, with full acknowledgment of their past. Their appeal is simple: don’t let political narratives rob them of their agency. “Our only wish is that people allow us, former rebels, to move forward without being dragged back by assumptions and misinformation.”