appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Agence France-Presse

Two US citizens were among 19 people killed in a raid on an alleged communist stronghold in the Philippines that has sparked a probe by the country’s rights commission, a government task force said.
More than 300 residents in the Toboso municipality of Negros Island fled their homes on April 19 as gunfire rang out in the remote sugar cane-farming region, the municipal disaster management office told reporters last week.
The number of people killed in the firefight, in which only one soldier was wounded, sparked calls for an investigation.
The two Americans, identified as Lyle Prijoles and Kai Dana-Rene Sorem, arrived in Negros Occidental province about a month before they were killed, the task force said in a statement late Saturday.
“The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict [NTF-ELCAC] notes with serious concern the confirmation that a second American national was among those killed in the April 19, 2026, armed encounter,” the statement said.
“This brings to two the number of US citizens … who died in the same incident,” it added, identifying all 19 killed as “combatant” members of the New People’s Army (NPA), which has been fighting a long-running insurgency for nearly 60 years.
Prijoles’ name had been released shortly after the clash.

The US embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
‘Not a massacre’
“The military operations carried out by the Philippine Army’s 79th Infantry Battalion … warrant an urgent investigation,” Congresswoman Leila de Lima said on Saturday.
She pointed to the deaths of a young student and a community journalist in the raid.
In a separate statement, local rights monitor Karapatan said the “sheer number of those killed triggers significant questions and conclusions on the conduct of the [Armed Forces of the Philippines] operations”.
The Philippine military, which handed out medals to a number of soldiers involved, said the raid was “a legitimate armed encounter, not a massacre”, noting the seizure of 24 firearms.
Addressing a probe launched by the country’s Commission on Human Rights, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala told reporters on Sunday the military was “open to investigation and the evidence will speak for us”.
The military told reporters last week it had been fighting “remnants” of the NPA near the Toboso municipality.
Dema-ala said the area was “one of the more active remnants of the [guerrilla] front in the central Philippines”.
The military estimates the rebel group has fewer than 2,000 armed members left.


Why younger Filipinos are warming to China despite maritime tensions

Why Brunei prefers ‘quiet diplomacy’ over confrontation in South China Sea

Marcos’ ‘existential battle’ with Sara Duterte intensifies in Philippines

Philippines races to turn Pax Silica into reality before political changes derail dreams

The Philippines

2 US citizens killed in raid on Philippines communist stronghold

Masked protesters during a rally to commemorate the 49th anniversary of the New People’s Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, near the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila, Philippines, in 2018. Photo: AP

Jaime ‘Ka Diego’ Padilla (centre), spokesperson of the Melito Glor Command of the New People’s Army (NPA) raises his fist alongside his comrades during their 50th founding anniversary celebration at an undisclosed location in the mountains of Sierra Madre, Philippines, on March 31, 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE

ICC chamber rules case against Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs killings to proceed

Relatives of victims of ex-Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly drug war campaign react after watching a broadcast of the International Criminal Court at a gathering in Quezon City on Wednesday. Photo: EPA

A family member of a victim of the deadly war on drugs carried out during ex-Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s administration cries on Wednesday in Quezon after a live stream of the ICC’s rejection of Duterte’s legal challenge. Photo: AP

Relatives of victims on the war on drugs carried out during ex-Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s administration watch an ICC live stream in Quezon on Wednesday. Photo: AP

Can Philippine opposition find ‘saviour’ after Robredo declines 2028 presidential run?

Leni Robredo gives a post-election statement from her home in Magarao, Camarines Norte, on  May 10, 2022. Photo:  Office of the Vice President/AP)

Leni Robredo campaigns against Ferdinand Marcos Jnr in Pasay City on April 23, 2022. Photo: AP

Senator Kiko Pangilinan (third right) joins others in raising a “Hunger Games”-inspired three-finger salute as they launch the “Tindig Pilipinas” movement in Manila in September 2017. Photo: AFP

Senator Risa Hontiveros (right) is accompanied by coastguard spokesman Jay Tarriela during a visit to Philippine-occupied Thitu Island on February 21. Photo: Reuters

Philippines pushes for South China Sea code by year end: ‘we owe it to the world’

A Chinese coastguard vessel (right) fires its water cannon at the Philippine BRP Datu Pagbuaya near Philippines-occupied Thitu island, locally called Pag-asa island, at the South China Sea last October. Photo: Philippine coastguard via AP

Philippines’ Foreign Minister Theresa Lazaro speaks at a press conference during the Asean foreign ministers’ meeting retreat in Cebu on January 29. Photo: AFP

US President Donald Trump gathers with several Asean leaders for a group photo before the Asean-US summit in Kuala Lumpur in October. Photo: AFP

Can a US-governed ‘Pax Silica’ hub turn Philippines into a chip powerhouse?

An employee of a semiconductor company in Manila displays computer chips manufactured in the Philippines in 2008. The country has long been confined to the lower-value work of chip assembly, testing and packaging. Photo: AFP

Officials hold documents at an event in Washington launching the US-led Pax Silica in December. Photo: Getty Images/AFP  

US President Donald Trump meets Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr at the White House in July last year. Photo: Getty Images/TNS

Workers pictured on an automated assembly line for semiconductors in Laguna, the Philippines, in 2003. Photo: AFP

Philippine lawmakers examine gap in Sara Duterte’s bank statements, declared wealth

Protesters call for the impeachment of Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio outside the House of Representatives in Quezon City, Metro Manila, last month. Photo: AFP

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio attends a press conference at her office in Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, in February. Photo: EPA

Members of the Philippine clergy filing an impeachment complaint against Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio at the House of Representatives in Quezon City in February. Photo: AFP/Mamamayang Liberal Partylist

News

Asia

Southeast Asia

The two Americans, Lyle Prijoles and Kai Dana-Rene Sorem, arrived in Negros Occidental province about a month before they were killed


The two Americans, Lyle Prijoles and Kai Dana-Rene Sorem, arrived in Negros Occidental province about a month before they were killed.


2 US citizens killed in raid on Philippines communist stronghold

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The two Americans, Lyle Prijoles and Kai Dana-Rene Sorem, arrived in Negros Occidental province about a month before they were killed

The two Americans, Lyle Prijoles and Kai Dana-Rene Sorem, arrived in Negros Occidental province about a month before they were killed