Protect children from NPA recruitment: RTF-ELCAC

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 20, 2022): Protect children from NPA recruitment: RTF-ELCAC (By Perla Lena)

CAPTURED. A minor is captured during an encounter between the 62nd Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army and the terrorist rebel group in Sitio Manlibod, Barangay Sandayao, Guihulngan City in Negros Oriental on Jan. 15, 2022. Western Visayas’ Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict on Thursday (Jan. 20, 2022) condemned the recruitment of children by the Communist Party of the Philippines - New People’s Army - National Democratic Front turning them into armed combatants. (Photo courtesy of 62nd IB, Philippine Army)

The Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (RTF-ELCAC) in Western Visayas (Region 6) urged peace-loving individuals and groups to come together to protect children from being recruited by the Communist Party of the Philippines - New People’s Army - National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) and be turned into combatants.

“Let us protect our children from the deceptive recruitment of the CPP-NPA-NDF terrorist organization,” the task force's statement released on Thursday said through its spokesperson, Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Flosemer Chris Gonzales.

The statement was issued after the capture of two minors in an encounter between the 62nd Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army and the rebel group in Sitio Manlibod, Barangay Sandayao, Guihulngan City in Negros Oriental on January 15.

The capture of the two, according to the statement, has strengthened the fact that the CPP-NPA-NDF recruits and exploits children by training them to be fighters and in the process destroy their families.

“We renew our call to all well-meaning and peace-loving citizens of Panay and Negros Island and the rest of the Filipino nation to condemn the atrocities committed by the CPP-NPA-NDF terrorist organization,” the statement said.

The appeal was also directed toward civil society organizations, genuine human rights advocacy groups, and churches.

The task force said the terrorist group is a “chronic human rights violator” that does not respect the rights of children and its ideology is based on violence, deception, terror, and chaos.

The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.

The Anti-Terrorism Council also formally designated the NDF as a terrorist organization on June 23, 2021, citing it as “an integral and separate part” of the CPP-NPA that was created in April 1973.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1165932