AFP captain files child abuse raps vs Bayan, Gabriela
Captain Lowen Gil Marquez
Child abuse raps will be filed today before the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) against Jose Maria "Joma" Sison, founding chair of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and five others by a top ranking official of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) here.
The complaint stemmed from the May 1 Labor Day rally that had militant groups use children as among the rallyists. For Captain Lowen Gil Marquez, AFP Commanding Officer of the 32nd Civil Relations Group, the presence of the children is a clear violation of Republic Act 7610 or Anti Child Abuse Law and Presidential Decree 603 otherwise known as the Child and Youth Welfare Code.
Militant groups named as "suspects" include Bayan-Panay, Gabriela and KMU, all identified with the CPP and tagged by the AFP as legal front organizations. "Commanding/Superior Officer" as stated by Captain Marquez is the CPP hierarchy with the New People's Army (NPA) and the National Democratic Front (NDF).
In a complaint-affidavit obtained by The News Today (TNT), Captain Marquez decried the presence of the minors naming Bayan's Aurelio "Boy" Bosque, Wennie Dublezo of KMU and Lucy Francisco of Gabriela as those confirmed to lead the rallyists.
"That the group were holding streamers and placards which quote, "IBALIK ANG GIN ABDUCT NGA SI LUISA POSA; PAGPAMINTAS SA ESTADO SA PUMULUYO PAMATUKAN; CAPT MARQUEZ NUMERO UNO NGA MANUGPATALANG SANG PHILIPPINE ARMY; CAPT MARQUEZ BUTIGON and many more," excerpts of the affidavit went. "That considering I saw my name I stopped for a while to observe and to my surprise, I saw more or less one hundred (100) children ages from 5 to 15 years old holding the streamers and placards under the scorching heat of the sun."
Captain Marquez further decried the conditions that the children were subjected to including whole afternoon exposure to the sun.
"That these children stayed with the groups under the heat of the sun from 1 o'clock until 5 o'clock in the afternoon in the same position and still holding the streamers and placards," the affidavit continued. "That I and some of my friends took pictures of the children to show that they were being utilized for the particular undertaking. That I likewise saw GMA Ratsada and ABS-CBN TV taking video coverage of the said activity."