DEFENSE Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the recruitment of students by leftist groups show that they are "desperate” to augment their diminishing forces.
“While we know for a fact the growing desperation of the CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines)-NPA (New People’s Army)-NDF (National Democratic Front) as their so called ‘forces’ and influence tremendously diminish, their deceptive recruitment of minors is nothing new as since they have been doing this for decades,” Lorenzana said in a statement.
“Using ‘legal front’ organizations that purportedly advance the people’s democratic rights, they have freely operated in democratic spaces such as campuses and vulnerable communities to lure our citizens into joining sectoral organizations and eventually, the armed movement,” he added.
Lorenzana said the CPP-NPA-NDF “does not care” for the lives of the minors and are only concerned with their “selfish agenda.”
He said former rebels who are now undergoing psychosocial interventions after surrendering to the government attest to this.
Lorenzana said rebel surrenderers claimed to have been fighting since they were 14 or 15.
“That is why the defense and military establishments are very vocal against the deceptive recruitment of young Filipinos in our schools and other institutions, and strongly condemn the abhorrent practice of using children in armed conflict,” he said.
On Wednesday, August 7, the Senate conducted an inquiry on reports of missing students who were allegedly recruited by militant groups while in school.
The mothers of the missing students turned emotional during the hearing as they recounted how their children left home after being “brainwashed” by their recruiters.
Some of the mothers said they now see their children in photos while joining protest actions against the government.
Representatives from the leftists group, particularly Anakbayan, were invited to shed light on the matter during the said hearing, but were a no show.
Earlier, Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Oscar Albayade urged the militant groups to answer the accusations against them. (SunStar Philippines)