This was the emphatic appeal made by a senior official of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Mindanao as he scored the New People’s Army (NPA) for using school-children and their teachers as shields in a recent encounter in Mabini town, Compostela Valley.
10th Infantry Division Commander Maj. Gen. Rafael Valencia said the incident happened last January 26 when NPA guerillas from Front 2 of the Southern Mindanao Regional Command laid siege to a school located in Barangay Anitapan in Mabini town and fended off pursuing AFP troops by taking cover behind a row of school- children and teachers.
Valencia said elements of the 46th Infantry Battalion where then conducting Peace and Development Outreach Program when the communist rebels fired upon them.
As such, Valencia challenged the Save Our Schools Network (SOS-Network) to look into the NPA use of the school-children and teachers as shields during the skirmish.
“We strongly condemn this cowardly act of the NPA,” Valencia emphasized.
SOS-Network has been advocating for the protection of lumad schools in Mindanao and has been accusing the AFP of occupying school premises in villages during the conduct of military operations.
The SOS, Valencia said, should “conduct an investigation on this incident since they claim to be protecting the schoolchildren and teachers away from conflict and should castigate the NPAs of their violations.”
http://www.mb.com.ph/dont-use-children-as-shields/
10th Infantry Division Commander Maj. Gen. Rafael Valencia said the incident happened last January 26 when NPA guerillas from Front 2 of the Southern Mindanao Regional Command laid siege to a school located in Barangay Anitapan in Mabini town and fended off pursuing AFP troops by taking cover behind a row of school- children and teachers.
Valencia said elements of the 46th Infantry Battalion where then conducting Peace and Development Outreach Program when the communist rebels fired upon them.
“There was no casualty reported on the government side after four minutes of indiscriminate firing from the side of the rebels but the incident caused trauma on the teachers and students,” he said.
“We strongly condemn this cowardly act of the NPA,” Valencia emphasized.
SOS-Network has been advocating for the protection of lumad schools in Mindanao and has been accusing the AFP of occupying school premises in villages during the conduct of military operations.
The SOS, Valencia said, should “conduct an investigation on this incident since they claim to be protecting the schoolchildren and teachers away from conflict and should castigate the NPAs of their violations.”
http://www.mb.com.ph/dont-use-children-as-shields/
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