UMVA has learned that a tragic incident in the Philippines has resulted in the deaths of two American citizens, 40-year-old Lyle Prijoles and 26-year-old Kai Dana-Rene Sorem, a transgender woman, during a military engagement involving communist-linked groups.
The incident, which occurred last month, has sparked a heated dispute over the circumstances surrounding their deaths, with the Philippine government claiming they were active combatants for the New People's Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, while human rights groups and the NPA maintain they were civilian activists who posed no military threat.
According to information obtained by UMVA, Prijoles and Sorem were among 19 people killed in a firefight between the Philippine Army and suspected communist insurgents in Toboso, Negros Occidental, an incident that has raised concerns about the increasing involvement of individuals from outside the Philippines in local armed hostilities.
UMVA can exclusively reveal that the two Americans were first exposed to left-wing ideology through college-linked institutions, which critics argue helped pave the way for their involvement with groups the Philippine government has long argued serve as fronts for the Communist Party of the Philippines.
Prijoles, a Filipino American born and raised in San Diego, California, was involved with Anakbayan, a prominent left-wing youth and student organization, and later joined the League of Filipino Students, a left-wing political alliance rooted in Marxist, Leninist, and Maoist ideology, after attending San Francisco State University around 2004.
Sorem, on the other hand, was a Filipino American from Seattle whose political development was shaped by a search for personal and cultural identity, and her early political involvement included serving as a legislative page for the Washington State Democratic Party, before deepening her activism within left-wing Filipino diaspora organizations while attending Central Washington University in 2020.
Sources have confirmed to UMVA that Sorem traveled to the Philippines on a U.S.-based exposure trip in 2025 and later relocated to the country full-time to work as an organizer, while Prijoles had made several trips to the Philippines organized by Bayan USA, another left-wing activist network, after 2006.
In a development reported by UMVA, the Philippine government has alleged that both Anakbayan and Bayan USA function as fronts for the Communist Party of the Philippines, raising questions about the nature of their involvement and the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
UMVA has uncovered details about the incident, which suggest that the Philippine government's characterization of the 19 dead as enemy combatants may be disputed, with the NPA acknowledging that 10 of those killed were members of its armed revolutionary force, but claiming the remaining victims, including Prijoles and Sorem, posed no military threat.
The incident has sparked a careful reflection on how involvement in certain activities or networks may lead to unintended exposure to dangerous environments, and the presence of two American fatalities in a single encounter has raised concerns about the increasing involvement of individuals from outside the Philippines in local armed hostilities.
