Reds ready to resume talks with Aquino administration

MANILA, Philippines - The National Democratic Front (NDF), the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army’s (CPP-NPA) umbrella for its front organizations, announced readiness to resume talks with the incoming government. Fidel Agcaoili, the NDF’s human rights committee chairman, in a statement said they are ready to talk with the incoming administration of Sen. Benigno Aquino III “in accordance with signed agreements such as the Hague Joint Declaration, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Agreement (JASIG) and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).”

Agcaoili said Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales and Presidential Peace Process Adviser Annabel Abaya’s statements on alleged rifts within the CPP-NPA-NDF tend “to justify the continuing grave human rights violations and extra-judicial killings, and even provide a convenient excuse for the government to withdraw from the peace negotiations with the NDF.”

Agcaoili also belied the government’s prediction that the revolutionary movement is unraveling.

NPA wants student recruits, AFP warns

Meanwhile, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) warned yesterday against communist fronts that will take advantage of the opening of classes to recruit new members.

AFP Civil Relations Service (CRS) Group Commander Maj. Eugenio Osias IV said groups allied with insurgents usually target young students who are away from home and are looking for companions.

“They (communist legal fronts) may try to recruit students who hail from the provinces or those staying in dormitories. Recruits will be indoctrinated with radicalism,” Osias said in a phone interview. “They (recruits) will later be exposed to the countryside where they will be given arms,” he added.

Osias said parents should be aware of the activities of their children and the groups they are connected with.

“Parents are advised to monitor their children and to ask them to concentrate on their studies. Students should be wary of organizations that may ruin their future,” he said, but declined to identify the so-called communist fronts.

He, however, said that it would help if parents coordinate with school officials or the military to address this concern. “We have information campaigns.Without naming names, we expose how the rebels conduct their recruitment activities. This will make them (students) conscious about their modes of recruitment,” Osias said.

AFP-CRS Commander Brig. Gen. Francisco Cruz Jr. said that based on prevailing trends, communists recruit minors and students from universities and colleges, which are infiltrated by their political allies. He said students in elementary and high school, especially from rural areas, are also targets. 

Minors employed by the NPA reportedly become messengers, guards for camps, reserves who recover weapons in the field, cooks, spies, shields to deter military attacks, and even active combatants.