NPA steps up recruitment, entices high school students in Cotabato —police

From GMA News (Feb 9): NPA steps up recruitment, entices high school students in Cotabato —police

KIDAPAWAN CITY - A top police official in Cotabato on Wednesday confirmed that the New People’s Army (NPA) has already expanded its recruitment activities in some far-flung villages particularly in the province’s first congressional district.

Superintendent Emmanuel Peralta, provincial director of the Cotabato Police Provincial Office (CPPO), disclosed that the NPA operating in the 2nd and 3rd districts of Cotabato has already penetrated the P-PALMA (Pikit-Pigcawayan-Alamada-Libungan-Midsayap-Aleosan) area.

“Proof of it are the extortion activities of this group in these towns,” Peralta told reporters in an ambush interview during the opening of the Kidapawan Festival on Wednesday morning.

Peralta also claimed that the rebel group whom President Rodrigo Duterte tagged as “terrorist” also intensified recruitment among high school students in Cotabato province.

“Most of their new recruits are high school students,” Peralta said.

However, he could not confirm the exact number of the newly hired members of the NPA.

He said to counter the recruitment, their respective police offices have also conducted an education and information campaign particularly in villages believed to be frequented by the NPA.

Peralta also instructed the chiefs of police all over the province to remain vigilant and always be on defensive mode for possible attacks.

The PNP provincial director also said he received intelligence reports that the NPA will launch simultaneous attacks in police offices particularly in the province’s second congressional district.

Towns in this area include Makilala, Kidapawan City, Magpet, President Roxas, Antipas and Arakan.

Meantime, Peralta has confirmed that the assassination of Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu) member Edwin Ehara, 26, was done by the NPA.

Ehara was gunned down in Barangay Balite in Magpet on Tuesday morning.

He was aboard his motorcycle on his way home when he was shot to death by two suspected NPA members in front of Balite Elementary School.

“It was an incident of extrajudicial killing for government forces,” Peralta said.

The government has declared an all-out war against the NPA after Duterte branded the NPA, the Communist Party of the Philippines, and the National Democratic Front of the Philippins as terrorist groups.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/598900/news/regions/npa-steps-up-recruitment-entices-high-school-students-in-cotabato-nbsp-police