This is a story on how radicalization nearly wasted a young man’s sense of duty and love for the country.

In a recent meeting of the Laguna Peace and Order Council, Private 1st Class Rey Christian Sabado gave a first person testimony how he ended up with the New People’s Army.

He said an accountancy student in the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) in Sta. Mesa, Manila when he  became a member of the League of Filipino Students in 2016. 

He said he was very passionate in his advocacy to help the masses, however he got indoctrinated with the thought that the only way to reform the nation is through an armed revolution. 

In just a year after joining the LFS and got immersed in teach-in sessions, he found himself getting involved in left-leaning activities and eventually joining the ranks of the New People’s Army as an armed partisan.

“The drive of a youth wanting to serve the nation is in me. I am also raised to be vigilant, to care, and to have compassion for others. This is also what the Communist Terrorist Groups and their front organizations capitalized to deceive us when they recruited students to their organizations that present themselves as patriotic and advocating for the rights of every Filipino. The truth is, they are the ones who ruin our country by fighting our government and its people,” Sabado shared.

In 2019, he was arrested by police in Northern Samar and was charged with illegal possession of firearms.

Later rescued by her family and by the soldiers from the 20th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army, the NPA immediately went after him and his family. This pushed him to join the Army for added security and to continue his duty as a patriotic Filipino unswayed by death threats and radicalization.

Sabado believes in the agenda of the Philippine Army of incorporating National Security Awareness lessons to the schools, colleges, and universities as a way to curb the recruitment of students by the NPA and its front organizations.

“If only we knew the right information and the harmful agenda of these organizations, we could have avoided them. Maybe many students who were lied to could have finished their studies or many of them are still alive if not for [NPA].” 

Currently, Pvt. Sabado is stationed at the 802nd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army in Northern Samar where he provides public information dissemination through social media and fora aimed to counter the influence of the communist terrorist groups.

Sabado said: “I personally went many times to rebel bases to visit those I have organized before. I show them that my love for my country remains unchanged, but I do it in a good, legal way. I also participate in the Serbisyo Caravan where government agencies visit these communities, distribute their assistance and social services to those in need as a testament that our government is not blind and hears their comments or criticism of the government.”

He reminded students to be mindful of their actions and that armed resistance will not bring any good to the country.