THE RECENT arrest of Ka Nikki, identified as the secretary of the Communist Party of the Philippines-Southern Mindanao Regional Committee, has prompted a reflection from a former high-ranking New People’s Army officer, who revealed her personal role in her recruitment into the armed struggle.
Arian Jane Ramos, former Secretary of Guerrilla Front 55 (GF 55) under the SMRC’s Sub-Regional Committee (SRC) 5, in her social media post following Nikki’s apprehension on June 13, 2025, in Bunawan, Agusan del Sur.
Ramos, who was then the Political Officer of NPA Sub-Regional Guerrilla Unit (SRGU) 5 in 2017, detailed how she personally selected Nikki from a list of young activists.
“My task was to help identify, from among young activists, those who would undergo ‘revolutionary integration (RI).” RI is a process of immersing student leaders into the daily realities of the poor and marginalized communities within the guerrilla mass base of the New People’s Army,” she said.
“The names on that list were not just entries on paper. They represented sparks—restless minds and committed hearts, driven by questions and a deep desire to make a difference,” she added.
Ramos recalled that Nikki, then the national chairperson of the League of Filipino Students (LFS) and a fellow alumna of the University of the Philippines, arrived exhausted but committed after a 12-hour trek to Sitio Bato, Barangay Dagohoy, Talaingod, Davao del Norte.
Ramos shared the daily struggles of the Lumad communities, including the nascent shadow government, the Salugpongan schools, and the lack of access to healthcare.
𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞
“We met in Sitio Bato, Barangay Dagohoy, in the mountain called Salagapunon of Talaingod, Davao del Norte. After a 12-hour-long trek, she arrived exhausted but smiling. Over a 3-in-1 Kopiko brown coffee, I told her about the realities in Talaingod. Our striving shadow government, the Salugpongan schools for children, mothers giving birth beside the river without access to healthcare, and Lumad communities caught between neglect and conflict. I was not sharing a concept. I was describing what we lived every day,” she detailed.
“She cried. And she decided to stay as a full-time NPA member,” Ramos stated, highlighting the emotional impact of the community’s plight on the young activist.
Ramos emphasized that Nikki’s story is not isolated.
Nikki was arrested on June 13, 2025, in Bunawan, Agusan del Sur. She now faces serious charges as the identified Secretary of the Southern Mindanao Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
She cited the recent death of another former student leader, Jhon Isidor Supelanas, alias Dalia, who once led the UP Cebu Student Council and was affiliated with Kabataan Partylist, and was killed in an armed encounter a few weeks back.
Ramos sees these as a “deeper pattern: passionate youth leaders becoming vulnerable to recruitment by armed movements,” not due to naivety, but because existing institutions “have not moved fast enough or deep enough to meet their idealism with real avenues for action.”
“She had once led the UP Cebu Student Council and was affiliated with Kabataan Partylist. Two strong women. Both passionate about change. Both drawn into a protracted conflict,” she said, adding that “There are no villains here. Only failed bridges.”
“These stories are not isolated. They reveal a deeper pattern: passionate youth leaders becoming vulnerable to recruitment by armed movements. This is not because they are naïve. It is because our institutions have not moved fast enough or deep enough to meet their idealism with real avenues for action,” she further said.
“This is not a call to erase their choices. It is a call to understand why those choices were made, and how we, as a society, can provide better ones,” the former rebel said.
Listen to respond
Ramos, now an advocate for peace and reintegration, made a direct appeal to lawmakers, urging them to “listen, not to punish, but to respond.”
“We need policies that actively protect young people from being lured into armed struggle. Not by suppressing their activism, but by providing them with meaningful participation in nation-building.
“We need education that does not merely teach history, but helps the youth understand systems—how power works, how society functions, and how they can shape it through democratic means.
“We need support systems in schools that recognize when students are in distress, whether mentally, politically, or emotionally, and know how to intervene with care rather than suspicion.
“We need stronger development programs for indigenous communities and conflict-affected areas. These are communities that, for too long, have lived between the cracks. And in that in-between space, they have learned to depend on groups like the one I once served,” she said.
She called for policies that protect young people from being lured into armed struggle by providing meaningful participation in nation-building, rather than suppressing activism.
Her recommendations include education that helps youth understand systems and how to shape society through democratic means, stronger support systems in schools for distressed students, and robust development programs for indigenous and conflict-affected areas.
Crucially, Ramos asserted that “legislative action must recognize these links and ensure that democratic platforms are not exploited to radicalize, militarize, and endanger our youth.”
She specifically named the League of Filipino Students, Anakbayan, Gabriela, and Kabataan Partylist, claiming they have “become breeding grounds for recruitment into the New People’s Army.”
She said the country needs laws to address the legal infrastructure that the CPP exploits to expand and sustain the armed movement.
“What happened to Nikki, to Dalia, and even to me is not a coincidence. It is a pattern. Legislative action must recognize these links and ensure that democratic platforms are not exploited to radicalize, militarize, and endanger our youth,” she said.
She said society needs pathways for reintegration, which means opening doors not only through prisons or rehabilitation centers, but through real second chances that value life experience, transformation, and service.”
“This is not about forgetting the past. It is about choosing not to repeat it,” she added. I do not say this out of regret. What we did then, we did because we believed in it. And in many ways, that belief came from a place of love for the people. But belief must evolve, just as the nation must.”
“Let the stories of Nikki and Dalia stir us—not into anger, not into fear, but into action. Let their lives remind us that the youth are never the enemy. They are the signal fire. And it is our responsibility to build a nation where their brilliance does not have to burn out on the battlefield, but instead shine in the halls of learning, service, and peace,” Ramos concluded in her post. “So that no more daughters of the people will have to walk the same path just to be heard.”
