Military warns of NPA recruitment of youngsters
The Philippine Army has asked parents and guardians to be wary of the recruitment operations of the New People’s Army, particularly in the countryside, as their children may be convinced to join the rebel movement.
First Lt. Mark Andrew Posadas, spokesman of 3rd Infantry Division, said recruitment usually occur in the guise of “exposure trips.”
“Every year the Communist Party of the Philippines send their recruits from the youth sector to exposure trips to the countryside to integrate with the NPA. With the SOMO (suspension of offensive military operations) currently in effect, this allows the underground breathing space to intensify their recruitment efforts through these exposure trips,” Posadas said.
The CPP will mark its 42nd anniversary on December 26.
Posadas said campaign of the CPP involves open mass movement that “lures people to join mass actions” and boost its mobilization and organizing strategy, while sending its members to infiltrate the government bureaucracy as part of their electoral/parliamentary struggle.
“Students and youth organizations, along with groups from the labor, government, civic, religious, professional, and business sectors, are among the targets for recruitment of the CPP,” he said.
Posadas added “what is alarming now is that students are being sweet-talked by Communist recruiters taking advantage of the idealism and rebelliousness of youth.”
He said that even children are being forced to join the NPA, citing the case of a 16-year-old boy in Sta. Catalina, Negros Oriental, who was taken from his family when he was barely 14.
The boy was able to escape and surrendered to the 79th Infantry Battalion, claiming that he wanted to go back to school.*
