TACLOBAN CITY – Parents who grouped together to fight the “deceptive recruitment” of the New People’s Army (NPA) on Wednesday denounced the left-leaning groups’ misleading information related to the recent arrest of five young suspected rebels in this city.
The group Hands Off Our Children, in a press briefing, said leftists should not label the arrest as a crackdown against the government’s staunch critics because those detained are former student activists who eventually joined the armed struggle of the NPA in Eastern Visayas.
The group was in the city to talk to the parents of some of the five young activists nabbed in a pre-dawn raid on Feb. 7 for illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
“The death of 14 teens who were killed in an encounter between the military and NPA in recent years is proof that there is deceptive campus-based recruitment. It all started with student activism that leads to armed rebellion. Their victims are as young as 16 years old,” said Gemma Labsan, Hands Off Our Children founder.
She was referring to the number of documented deaths of young rebels from 2002 to 2019 based on the record of Hands Off nationwide.
Labsan asked militant groups to stop labeling those arrested as human rights advocates or journalists since they are actively engaged in “deceptive recruitment” on campuses and online.
This was their reaction to various social media campaigns by left-leaning groups to free the so-called “Tacloban 5”, which they identified as “political prisoners.”
Anabelle Sabado, the organization’s secretary questioned the militant group’s fundraising drive every time a young NPA member is arrested.
“Why are they asking for donations? They never helped the family of young recruits. Their intention is to raise funds for the communist terrorist group,” said Anabelle, the mother of Christian Sabado, 22, who was captured by government troops in Northern Samar last year while conducting extortion activities for the NPA.
Christian was an accounting student at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Manila when he joined the communist terrorist group through student activism.
“They never care about the feeling of a mother whose child’s mind is poisoned by NPA. It’s hard to see my child in jail, but it is better to see him behind bars than to see him die fighting the government,” Anabelle told reporters.
The group was in the city to talk to the parents of some of the five young activists nabbed in a pre-dawn raid on Feb. 7 for illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
Government forces arrested Frenchie Mae Cumpio, Marielle Domequil, Alexander Philip Abinguna, Marissa Cabaljao, and Mira Legion at the alleged communist terrorist group’s safe houses here.
The suspects yielded two .45-caliber pistols, two magazine assemblies and 14 live ammunitions for .45-caliber, two fragmentation grenades, a red flag with Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA symbol, and PHP557,360 in cash.
Those arrested are active members of militant groups linked to the NPA.
On Tuesday, the Tacloban City Prosecutor’s Office found probable cause in filing charges against those arrested. Two of those arrested were charged for violation of Republic Act 10591 or “An Act Providing for a Comprehensive Law on Firearms and Ammunition.”
The three other activists are now facing raps for violating Republic Act 9516, the “Unlawful Manufacture, Sales, Acquisition, Disposition, Importation or Possession of an Explosive or Incendiary Device.” (PNA)
