Former teen rebel aspires to become soldier

From the Philippine News Agency (May 30, 2022): Former teen rebel aspires to become soldier (By Nanette Guadalquiver)

A BETTER LIFE AHEAD. Rachelle, 22, and a former teenage fighter of the CPP-NPA in Negros Occidental, wants to become a soldier after completing her studies. She said in an interview over Radyo Negrense on Monday (May 30, 2022) she was only 17 when she joined the NPA but decided to surrender after she was raped by her platoon leader. (Screengrab from Radyo Negrense Facebook page)

A former teenage fighter of the Communist Party of Philippines-New People’s (CPP-NPA) in Negros Occidental is looking forward to finishing her studies and train to become a soldier.

“I want to be like them, to be a soldier,” said Rachelle, who is now under the tutelage of the Philippine Army's 303rd Infantry Brigade, in an interview over the Capitol’s Radyo Negrense on Monday.

Rachelle, who returned to the fold of the law four years ago, said she also wants to help her family, whom she abandoned when she decided to join the armed struggle at 17.

“While I was being brainwashed, I chose the organization over my family,” she said.

Rachelle said her mother was clueless about her activities, especially when she joined the Kabataang Makabayan at the age of 15.

Before she formally became a cadre, she underwent a year-long process of taking part in the activities with the CPP-NPA’s legal organizations.

When she decided to join the armed struggle, her superiors instructed her to tell her family that she was hired for a job in Cebu, but she actually stayed in Negros Occidental and was deployed to the hinterlands of the Himamaylan City.

She was only 17 when she joined the NPA’s Komiteng Rehiyon-Negros, and a year later, a comrade, who was a vice platoon leader, sexually molested her.

He pointed a caliber .45 pistol at her, she said, adding that after the incident, other comrades ignored her situation, and she learned that she was not the only victim of sexual abuse within the movement.

She later realized that the armed struggle was no longer what she thought it to be, and she surrendered to the government in 2018.

Rachelle feels bad whenever there are minors who get killed during encounters, but only the CPP-NPA should be blamed for what happened to them.

She appealed to parents to keep watch over their children to prevent them from being lured to join the CPP-NPA.

Through the Army’s assistance, Rachelle became a “living testament” that a better life awaits those who want to surrender and avail of Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP) for former rebels.

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 National Democratic Front has been formally designated as a terrorist organization by the Anti-Terrorism Council on June 23, 2021, citing it as “an integral and inseparable part” of the CPP-NPA created in April 1973.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1175489