KIDAPAWAN CITY -- Another child combatant, who admitted having participated in illegal activities of a lost command group, yielded to authorities in Magpet town in North Cotabato Friday.
Thirteen-year-old Fernando (not his real name) was accompanied by his father when he surrendered to Lieutenant Bruno Hugo, platoon commander of the Bravo Company of the 57th Infantry Battalion (IB) based in Magpet town.
But Fernando, according to Barangay Mahongkog chairman Godfrey Acupan of Magpet, told media that it was his father who convinced him to surrender to the military for fear the Black Fighters group will run after them.
The Black Fighters group is believed to be a breakaway of the New Peoples' Army (NPA) operating in the hinterlands of North Cotabato province.
Two days ago, a 13-year-old child warrior identified only as Maximo was abandoned in the woods at Sitio Tulay, Barangay Mahongkog by the Black Fighters group after an encounter with members of 57th IB Bravo Company.
Acupan said Maximo made "shocking" revelations as regards the activities of the group, including the killing on August 5 of a certain Jimmy Kelario at Sitio Natayukan, cattle rustling, and the indiscriminate firing of houses of some villagers in nearby sitios, also in Barangay Mahongkog.
"The child even identified names of those involved in the activities, including Fernando. The father told me that the group might run after them because his son was implicated in the operations. That was why he brought his boy to authorities," Acupan said.
The boy was placed under the custody of Inspector Glenn Alegado, chief of the Magpet police.
A day later, the boys were sent to Cotabato provincial social welfare officer Virgilita Guilaran for counseling.
"The boys, at a very young age, had witnessed cruelty or brutality of the adults, thus, there is a need to heal the trauma so they would become better citizens of this country in the future," Guilaran said.
To protect the children, they were placed in an undisclosed area where they undergo rehabilitation or therapy and healing.
For the meantime, Alegado said they are preparing appropriate charges to be filed against the leaders of the Black Fighters group. He said they're holding right now an affidavit executed by one of the victims of the atrocities.
"We still need more witnesses that would corroborate to a previous affidavit submitted to our office to strengthen the cases that we would later file against the suspects," Alegado said.
Based on intelligence reports from the military and police, some members of the Black Fighters group were identified as Rex Ansabo, one of the more than 40 inmates who escaped from the Cotabato Provincial Jail in Amas complex, this city last Feb 2007; his brothers Samante and Ibon; and those known only as Falcon, Jerry, and Dion. (MCM of Sun.Star Davao/Sinnex)