• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Police Regional Office-Western Visayas has expressed support to the ongoing Senate inquiry on the recruitment of students by the New People’s Army legal front organizations in schools.
“Many lives are wasted due to these recruitment activities conducted by the communist-terrorist group among our youth and students,” PBrig. Gen. Jack Wanky, police regional director, said in a statement on Friday, Aug. 9.
At the recent hearing of the Senate panel on public order and dangerous drugs, Col. Randy Arceo, head of the Philippine National Police Directorate for Operations, said that the Communist Party of the Philippines recruitment activities have been observed in 102 educational institutions nationwide since 2014.
Arceo added that 23 of the identified schools have more than one recruitment activity.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the PNP have accounted for a total of 168 militant students who were recruited by the communist-terrorist group.
As a result of focused military and police operations and law enforcement operations, 36 died during operations, 41 were arrested, and 92 others surrendered.
Wanky said that the revelations at the Senate investigation are an eye opener to all. “It asks us to take a proactive step to protect our students and our youth from exploitation, deception, and manipulation schemes by the CPP-NPA legal front organizations,” he added.
Wanky further said: “Let us take this information as our collective motivation to actively participate in the campaign to protect our youth and students against the local terrorist group recruitment activities”.
Senator Ronald dela Rosa, who chairs the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, said on Tuesday (Aug. 6) that recruitment efforts of the NPA became active again under the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. | GB
