MANILA – Amid the growing list of atrocities perpetrated by the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, New People’s Army (CPP-NPA), militant groups with reported communist links have yet to accept the challenge of condemning them.
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson, Marine Brig. Gen. Edgard Arevalo, in a media briefing Tuesday, said the military has not heard from communist-linked groups despite repeated demands from the government.
"I have here a compilation of several instances of murder, premeditated killings and other human rights violations committed by the members of the CPP-NPA that we have long been asking them to condemn but so far we have not heard anything from them," Arevalo said in a press briefing on April 30.
Apart from CPP-NPA human rights violations in the previous years, Arevalo enumerated some of the many incidents attributed to the members of the 50-year-old terrorist group, as follows:
• Ambush-slay of village chief Apolinario Lebico and wounding of his son-in-law, in Las Navas, Northern Samar on April 25;
• Brutal shooting of two former NPA members from the Higaonan tribe in Butuan on April 23 and 18;
• Anti-personnel landmine attack that killed a 10-year-old boy in Las Navas, Northern Samar on April 17;
• Kidnap-slay of Hanunuo Mangyan leader Jose D. Barrera in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro on April 12;
• Abduction of a village (barangay) chief and two others in Bansud town, Oriental Mindoro on April 5; and
• Torching and destruction of hydropower plant equipment in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro on February 25.
Arevalo said AFP deputy chief-of-staff for civil-military operations, Major Gen. Antonio Parlade, also of the the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), has already invited these communist-linked groups may times to a live television debate on several pressing issues of national security but just fell on deaf ears.
Similarly, Makabayan party-list groups led by Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate reportedly failed to attend two Congressional inquiries and ocular inspection in Davao City on April 16 and April 28-29 in Surigao del Sur, to validate claims that Salugpongan and other alternative learning centers are being used to train young indigenous people to become communist rebels.
The recent inspection of Alternative Learning Center for Agriculture and Livelihood (ALCADEV) and Tribal Filipino Program-Surigao Sur (TRIFPSS) alleged communist schools in Surigao de Sur was also look into claims of militarization in these tribal villages,
Parlade earlier expressed disgust that for the second time, Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate did not appear for the inspection called for by the House Committee on Indigenous Cultural Communities and Indigenous Peoples.
“The non-appearance of Zarate and his team is an indication that these party-list groups are not willing and ready to confront the AFP on accusations they have made themselves,” Arevalo said.
It was learned from the teachers and parents themselves that in Salugpongan and ALCADEV schools, children are trained to use firearms and taught with subversive documents as references.
“These were proven true during the visit of Major Gen. Parlade and the rest of the team from the AFP, notwithstanding the fact that it was Congressman Zarate who sponsored a House resolution to investigate this," he added.
The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, New Zealand, and the Philippines. (PNA)
