Students warned vs. joining rebels

CEBU, Philippines - Amid the rising insurgency in the country, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police warned students not to join the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army.

Colonel Manny Ochotorena, commander of the 302nd Infantry Brigade based in Tanjay City, said cases of Cebu students being recruited to the rebel movement is increasing.

He said leftist groups have been luring students, among them freshmen, to go to Negros Oriental for training.

The “modus operandi” of the rebels, he said, is to invite students for an “educational training.” But theses students would end up being trained by the NPA.

“Iba d’yan front lang. Very deceiving and kanilang approach,” he said in the recent AFP-PNP joint conference in Camp Lapu-lapu.

Ochotorena said parents must be wary when their children would ask permission to go on an outing or field trip because this is the time they would be tested and be on an emersion process by the NPA.

He said young college students are easy to recruit because of their idealistic views and principles.

“They (students) are adventurous,” he said, explaining that some of them have personal advocacies which prompted them to join the revolutionary movement.

He recalled what happened last October 20 in Negros Oriental where three graduates of Cebu universities were arrested after an alleged shootout with members of the 79th Infantry Battalion.

Arrested students were Maria Carla Alvarico, 22, alias “Janet Macarasig,” a licensed nurse and resident of Plaridel St., Barangay Umapad Mandaue City; Carlo Cabahug, 22, an associate computer technician student and resident of Maguikay, Mandaue City; and Absin Glen Felamer, 22, alias “Bryan,” a political science student and resident of Plaridel, Guihulngan, Negros Oriental.

Alvarico was said to be the chairperson of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) who allegedly took over the position from Rachelle Mae Palang, a resident of Consolacion, Cebu, after she was killed in the battle between the military and the rebels in September last year in Dauin, Negros Oriental. Palang was also a nursing student and an officer of the CEGP before her death.

Cabahug is allegedly the team leader of the organizing committee of Kabataang Makabayan while Felamer is reportedly a member of the League of Filipino Students.

It was learned that Negros Oriental is the only province in Central Visayas that remained plagued by insurgents as Cebu and Bohol are now dubbed rebel-free.

Ochotorena said what happened to Palang was a proof that Cebu students are recruited to join the CPP-NPA.

Police Regional Office-7 director Chief Superintendent Lani-o Nerez said they had conducted meetings with the military to discuss the recruitment of college students to the revolutionary movement.

He said they have already requested schools, especially those based in Cebu, to encourage their students to choose the right organizations to join.

In a separate interview, Senior Supt. Vicente Loot, chief of directorial staff of PRO-7, said it was not surprising to hear students to go underground because most prominent leaders of the NPA are former students.

Central Command spokesperson Maj. Wilson Feria earlier said they are regularly coordinating with different schools and universities to conduct a series of lecture against the rebel movement.

He said they have always been vocal against organizations like the CEGP and LFS, warning students that these groups have affiliations with the NPA.

But Trina Melissa Federis, national secretary of CEGP, brushed off the idea that they are being used as front of the CPP-NPA.

She said the accusation has no basis and the authorities are maligning the name of CEGP.

“Actually, noong hindi pa ako secretary general ng CEGP, may mga accusation na ganyan. Natatawa ako kasi wala na silang ibang masabi,” she said.

She, however, said that the CEGP neither discourage nor encourage students to join the revolutionary movement, stressing that it would be “presumptuous” on their part to dictate the students’ will and decision.

     Federis, together with other campus journalists across the country, are in University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos to attend the 70th National Students from April 21 to 25.

Cebu delegates include campus journalists from Tug-ani and Anchor, the official student publications of University of the Philippines Visayas Cebu College and University of Cebu-Maritime Education and Training Center in Mambaling respectively.

The AFP and the PNP said they remain confident to squash the insurgency movement before President Arroyo bows out of office.   (FREEMAN NEWS)