Maj. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr., Armed Forces of the Philippines Deputy Chief of Staff for Civil Military Operations.
MANILA -- A ranking official of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said Friday all Salugpongan schools must be immediately shut down especially now that they have been known to recruit children to become radicals and subversives, and have caused the deaths of tribal leaders opposing their operation.
Maj. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) said this is regardless whether these schools have acquired the necessary permits from the Department of Education (DepEd).
"The issue here is not the validity of the documents. This is about morality in allowing the continuation of these schools, now that we know that the community itself do not want them to operate anymore," Parlade said.
Parlade, AFP Deputy Chief of Staff for Civil Military Operations, was reacting to a statement of DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones in a story posted on Mindanao Times on May 2.
In the article, Briones said all alternative educational institutions, including the Salugpongan schools, comply with strict regulations before being given permits to operate.
Briones admitted that these schools are difficult to supervise and monitor because of the remoteness of their locations.
Parlade said it is pointless to discuss whether these Salugpongan schools comply with procedures because the issue is more of a moral one, considering that the communities they are claiming as their niche are rejecting them.
“It's like a faucet with poisoned water flowing out of it. Do we need to argue whether to close the valve or not?,” he said.
He said Briones, according to DepEd sources, was misquoted when she said in Davao City that the Salugpongan schools will stay.
“That's fake news and twisting the facts to deceive the readers. That's another angle we need the people to understand,” he added.
Earlier, Parlade said the military is collecting pieces of evidence against organizations involved in the operation of Salugpongan schools.
Tribal leaders call
Last April, tribal leaders in Davao Del Norte urged the government to shut down these Salugpongan schools as the DepEd is too slow in addressing their demands to close down these educational institutions that the military links to Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA), a terrorist-listed organization by the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
Parlade chided militant groups affiliated with the Makabayan bloc for not attending two of three legs of a Congressional inquiry and ocular inspections in Davao City on April 16 and in Surigao Del Sur on April 28-29, to validate claims that they are used by the CPP-NPA to turn the youths against the government.
"These Kamatayan (Makabayan) bloc never attended the inquiries. Now they want their allies belonging to MAPASU (The Maluhutayong Pakigbisog Alang Sumusunod) to tell the world that the inquiry was a sham. Why can't the 'Kamatayan bloc' release those statements themselves? Why use these poor IPs (indigenous people) they have exploited to parrot the lies they have been shouting? Because they have no face to show as the two ALCADEV(Alternative Learning Center for Agriculture and Livelihood) teachers exposed their modus vivendi in these schools," Parlade added.
The purpose of the inquiry, he said, was to determine the circumstances of its operations and why these have caused the killings of tribal members, rather than educate the students into becoming productive and peace-loving members of the community.
Manipulation, radicalization
He added that ALCADEV teachers told their story on how they manipulated the children through a curriculum designed to produce cadres and fighters of the CPP-NPA.
“We already have former rebels admitting to being products of these communist schools. What else do we need? Do we need witnesses, more killings by the NPAs because the tribal leaders will no longer allow them to operate the school?” he said.
He noted that the recent hearings, which included those of the ALCADEV in Lianga, Surigao Sur, revealed that a boy, who was radicalized by teachers of these institutions, allegedly killed his own grandfather.
He also cited the statements of educators in these alternative learning centers that the curriculum is designed to produce fighters and cadres for the communist rebels.
He said it is high time Filipinos see the deception and lies being perpetuated by the CPP-NPA and its allies publicly.
“This deception by the CPP is being orchestrated almost daily right under our noses. These lies and propaganda have caused these peaceful indigenous peoples to become violent,” he said adding that fake IP leaders like Datu Kaylo Bontulan of CPP-front organization PASAKA, whom Zarate identifies as a member of a legal organization of Bayan, was killed in a bloody encounter.
He went on to say that no genuine IP wears a dyed hair because their culture doesn’t allow them to.
“But at the expense of these poor IPs, the CPP continues to draw donations from organizations they have duped for their fake advocacies,” he added. “Your time is up Kamatayan (Makabayan) bloc. The nation is awake. The IPs you have been killing are ready to fight back.” (PNA)
