NDF twits lawmaker over child-soldiers issue

MANILA, Philippines - The National Democratic Front (NDF) twitted a lawmaker over her reported claims that the New People's Army (NPA) is using child soldiers. In a statement on the Communist Party of the Philippines website, the NDF scored Rep. Emmylou Mendoza for "blatant ignorance" on the issue. "Since 1988, ahead of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the NPA have already adopted the minimum age of 18 for recruitment as combatants in the NPA," NDFP Human Rights Monitoring Committee chairman Fidel Agcaoili said. He was reacting to the previous statement of Mendoza where she reportedly accused the NPA and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) of recruiting child soldiers. He said the strict implementation of this policy has been proven in a 2007 UNICEF-commissioned study in eight communities in eight provinces nationwide of the country. Besides, he said the April 24, 2008 report of the UN Security Council pointed to the government security and armed forces as the number one violator of the rights of children in armed conflict. "In mouthing the GRP propaganda, Ms. Talino-Mendoza seeks to justify the GRP policy of manufacturing so-called cases of child soldiers by the NPA, as in the case of Grecil Buya in Compostela Valley on 31 March 2007, in order to cover up and condone the rampant violations of the human rights of children by the AFP, Philippine National Police (PNP) and paramilitary units and provide the latter with the license to kill, main, arrest, torture, detain and wantonly abuse the rights of children in military operations against communities suspected to be influenced or under the control of the NPA," Agcaoili said. Also, Agcaoili scored a report where a former child fighter, Marife Binosa, claimed being brainwashed by the NPA. "If there is any truth to her accusations, Marife is welcome to file a complaint against the NDFP through the Joint Monitoring Committee. It would be her chance to substantiate her allegations. Offhand, I can say that her accusations are false because, by making another ridiculous charge that the NPA supposedly molests female recruits; she obviously has not been with the NPA. She does not even know that the NPA is a well-disciplined and principled army of the people. And the writer of the report whom, it has come to our attention is closely connected with the military, has exposed himself as a paid hack of the AFP," Agcaoili said. He added imperialist and local reactionary forces are systematically slandering the NDFP and other national liberation movements as child abusers to demonize them. "Whenever armed resistance by the people arises because of intolerable oppression and exploitation, the reactionary armed forces victimize the children through brutal military operations against entire communities. They engage in aerial bombardments, artillery fire and machine gun strafing. They take over the public school houses as barracks. They force the people to evacuate and grab the land for the high bureaucrats and military officers and foreign corporations. The children suffer the most intimidation, deprivations and even death in evacuation centers and military encampments," he said. - GMANews.TV