CHR-10 reports NPA recruitment of minors in MisOr

From the Philippine News Agency (Feb 25, 2022): CHR-10 reports NPA recruitment of minors in MisOr (By Nef Luczon)

CHILD ABUSE. Eleven of 12 recruits of the New People’s Army surrender and reveal arms cache to the military in Misamis Oriental on Nov. 8, 2020. The recruitment was detailed in a Commission on Human Rights-Region 10 report to its Child Rights Center. (Photo courtesy of 4ID)

The Army's 58th Infantry Battalion (58IB) shared the Commission on Human Rights-Region 10 (CHR-10) findings of Grave Child Rights Violations (GCRV) that the New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Misamis Oriental province have committed.

In a statement Thursday, the Army said the CHR findings stemmed from the report made by the civic organization, Sulong Peace, represented by Reynaldo Saligan.

The group said NPA rebels recruited minors from the towns of Claveria and Lagonglong.

The minors have since surrendered to the 58IB in November 2020.

"As they were recruited and used by the armed group in the context of armed conflict, the nine children are victims of grave child rights violations. Regardless of their recruitment, whether voluntary or forced, they were recruited and used to take part in the hostilities by the NPA, an armed group that is clearly a violation of the law, both domestic and international," the report said.

On Nov. 6, 2020, a 16-year-old girl from Lagonglong who was recruited while she was a student surrendered to the 58IB after the failed promises by the armed group.

She also claimed starvation and loneliness while with the NPA.

Twelve NPA rebels then surrendered two days later, eight of whom were still minors at the time of recruitment in 2016.

They cited hardships and hunger as the main reasons for their surrender.

"The minor victims decided to return to the mainstream and surrendered to the government as their lives became unbearable being part of the rebel group where their lives and safety were not assured," Lt. Col. Ricky L Canatoy, commanding officer of the 58IB, said in a statement.

The children served in the NPA as squad leaders, medics, supply officers with life-threatening tasks.

"In this case, the alleged crime committed by the armed group, the NPA, was the recruitment and use of children. Recruitment refers to the compulsory, forced, or voluntary conscription or enlistment of children into the governmental armed force or forced or voluntary membership into the armed group," the CHR-10 report said.

The Communist Party of the Philippines (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 National Democratic Front as a terrorist organization on June 23, 2021, citing it as “an integral and inseparable part” of the CPP-NPA that was created in April 1973.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1168559