NPA boost recruitment of child combatants

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – The intelligence community warned of a renewed, extensive recruitment of child combatants by the New People’s Army in many areas in Southern Philippines.

A senior Army intelligence officer said the injuries sustained by eight male children in an accidental explosion during a recruitment session in Kibawe, Bukidnon last Monday was enough to confirm that the group has been busy expanding its ranks with child-combatants.

“That’s against International Humanitarian Laws and all other internationally crafted rules on armed conflicts,” seconded another source, who is a ranking intelligence operative of a unit under the Army’s 602nd Brigade.

Members of the directorate for intelligence in the regional police offices in Administrative Region 12 in Gen. Santos City, and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in Parang, Maguindanao said NPA forces have been threatening to harass parents in far-flung communities if they prevent their children from joining the group.

A still unidentified communist rebel was killed while 11 others, eight of them children, were injured in an accidental grenade blast that ripped through a clandestine gathering in Barangay Sampaguita in Kibawe town.

The NPA guerilla killed in the explosion was said to have accidentally set off his shoulder-fire 40 MM grenade launcher, causing a live round to explode.

The projectile landed and exploded near the site where dozen of prospective NPA recruits were undergoing orientation on the objectives of the rebel group and its revolutionary policies.

The injured villagers, mostly from nearby Barangay Cagawas, were rushed to the Bukidnon provincial hospital in Bukidnon in Maramag town for medication.

Col. Leopoldo Galon, spokesman of the Eastern Mindanao Command, said the Army’s 8th Infantry Battalion, which has jurisdiction over Kibawe and surrounding towns, is now documenting the incident in support of the efforts of the police to prosecute and hold the NPAs responsible for the incident.

Galon said the Eastmincom have been receiving feedback from local officials that the rebel group has indeed been recruiting children again lately. 

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By John Unson 

PhilStar.Com 

February 02, 2012 11:14 AM

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24 NPA child combatants give up armed struggle

11/09/2009 3:05 PM

DAVAO CITY - The military on Monday said 24 child combatants of the New People's Army operating in Davao region surrendered to the government last month.

Capt. Emmanuel Garcia, spokesman of the 10th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army, said five of the child warriors belonged to the NPA Front Committee 51. They surrendered to the 39th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Binaton, Digos City, Davao del Sur last October 22.

Barangay Binaton made headlines 20 years ago following the massacre of a Lumad community in Sitio Rano on June 25, 1989 allegedly perpetrated by rebels.

The former NPA child warriors said they would like to avail of the government’s Social Integration Program (SIP) being implemented by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process now headed by Secretary Annabelle T. Abaya.

Under the program, the government extends livelihood assistance to rebels who surrendered with an outright grant of P20,000 cash each as seed money for them to start a small business of their own, Abaya said.

A rebel who surrenders an M16 assault rifle or the equivalent firepower will receive an additional P50,000, and if he qualifies to undergo a livelihood training program, he will get another P50,000 in kind such as hand tractor, working animal, a tricycle or sari-sari store.

Last October 18, a young female combatant of the NPA voluntarily surrendered to soldiers operating in Compostela Valley.

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http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/11/09/09/24-npa-child-combatants-give-armed-struggle