AFP well aware of NPA recruitment efforts

From the Philippine News Agency (Oct 17): AFP well aware of NPA recruitment efforts

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is well aware of the recruiting drive being conducted by some factions of the New People's Army (NPA).

But due to the prevailing suspension-of-military operations brought about by the ongoing peace talks between the government and the insurgents, the AFP cannot just take any punitive actions against rebels.

"AFP chief-of-staff Gen. Ricardo Visaya, upon learning of this, ordered us to take note of the said recruitment, record it and bring it up in the proper forum when the time comes, we will be able to determine what are the actions that we’re suppose to take when in the future (recruitment) will be considered as a violation of the ceasefire agreement, then we might be given the mechanism of redress, or the course of the action needed to stop the recruitment," AFP public affairs office chief Col. Edgard Arevalo said.

At present, the AFP is now discussing the issue with its leadership and if necessary, they will bring it to the attention of those sitting in the peace panel.

Arevalo added that they have no figures on how many recruits the NPAs did manage to get but stressed the numbers are not that significant.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=931968