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Makabayan bloc can’t deny NPA recruitment: group

By Lade Jean Kabagani

November 30, 2020, 8:56 pm

<p><strong>STOP YOUTH RECRUITMENT.</strong> Anti-communist groups and other civil society organizations alongside parents of student activists who were reportedly recruited by various progressive groups gather outside the Senate halls on Tuesday (Nov. 24, 2020) to denounce the atrocities and deceptive recruitment schemes committed by the CPP-NPA-NDF to minors. The groups also protested against the 52 years of insurgency, maltreatment, and inhumane abuses of the NPA cadres against their members. <em>(PNA photo by Avito Dalan)</em> </p>

STOP YOUTH RECRUITMENT. Anti-communist groups and other civil society organizations alongside parents of student activists who were reportedly recruited by various progressive groups gather outside the Senate halls on Tuesday (Nov. 24, 2020) to denounce the atrocities and deceptive recruitment schemes committed by the CPP-NPA-NDF to minors. The groups also protested against the 52 years of insurgency, maltreatment, and inhumane abuses of the NPA cadres against their members. (PNA photo by Avito Dalan) 

MANILA – An anti-communist group on Monday said it is not convinced that the Makabayan bloc is not a front organization of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).

The League of Parents of the Philippines (LPP), in a statement, railed against the claims of the Makabayan bloc that they were just "red-tagged."

The anti-communist groups cited the "tons of evidence" pointing out the alleged involvement of the Makabayan bloc to disappearances of students who were reportedly recruited by its member organizations and were later on exposed to the communist revolution in the mountains.

In a recent Senate Committee on National Defense and Security, Peace, Unification and Reconciliation hearing on red-tagging, former cadres and members of the CPP-NPA have exposed the recruitment process of the rebel group using its legal-front organization.

The former NPA members have also confirmed the ties between the CPP-NPA and the organizations allied with the Makabayan bloc.

According to the former NPA members, 90 percent of communist cadres were recruited from schools and universities through the legal front organizations of the CPP-NPA-NDF.

Former cadres also explained the mutual relationship of the legal democratic mass movement with the revolutionary underground mass movement.

LPP chair Remy Rosadio slammed Makabayan for repeatedly denying that it does not have links with the CPP-NPA-NDF.

"How could it be that red-tagging is the issue when the former NPAs are saying they were actually recruited by these organizations of the Makabayan bloc before becoming rebels?," the groups said.

‘You should help in protecting children’

Rosadio reiterated calls of parents to end the recruitment of the youth to become members of the NPA.

"The Makabayan bloc is part of the government. They should help in protecting our children. But they are going against it, they are destroying the government using the vulnerability of our children. It must stop now!" Rosadio said.

Meanwhile, LPP spokesperson Arlene Escalante said members of the Makabayan bloc were just orchestrating scenes to get more sympathy from the public "which is obviously underrated."

"I think what they were planning to do by not attending the first Senate hearing was to create a dramatic presentation for the next one. But all they've accomplished after reading their boring scripts—and (Rep. Sarah) Elago with her crocodile tears—was to get caught in their own web of lies," she said.

During the Senate hearing, Escalante said they noticed that the statements of members of the Makabayan bloc were contradicting each other.

"When one said they're not recruiting students into the armed struggle, one was saying student militants are first targets for NPA recruitment! Unbelievable!," Escalante said.

The groups said the Senate probe on red-tagging will serve as an eye-opener for the public about the recruitment schemes conducted by the groups.

"One good thing that came out of this hearing was that their incoherence and deception were exposed to the Filipino people and now we all know better," Escalante added.

The Makabayan bloc has continued to deny their ties with the CPP-NPA-NDF, saying it pushes for legitimate concerns and interests of the people.

As the Senate hearing on the issue of red-tagging resumes Tuesday, the groups are set to stage a picket rally outside the Senate's gate premises, to call for the resignation of the Makabayan bloc members. (PNA)

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