By Priam Nepomuceno/PNA
MANILA — The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is now investigating reports that communist rebels are allegedly recruiting college students and taking them into jungles for so-called immersion activities.
Col. Noel Detoyato, AFP public affairs office chief, made this response Wednesday when asked if the military is aware of such activities by the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) in the campuses.
“That has been happening since time immemorial. The CPP-NPA-NDF recruiters look at students as a rich source of cadres and they have long been active in recruiting them,” Detoyato said in a message to the Philippine News Agency.
The NPA, the armed wing of the CPP, is listed as a terrorist organization in the United States and European Union.
To suppress this, Detoyato bared that AFP field units are actively coordinating with school authorities, parents and students in face-to-face dialogues and symposiums to expose these tricks of the communist rebels.
He added the real goal of the rebels is to deceive students into joining them through holding rallies in the cities, immersion in the rural communities and eventually recruiting them to join the armed group.
“We are not only investigating this, we are taking part in the prevention of this. DepEd (Department of Education), the PNP (Philippine National Police) and LGUs (local government units) also have efforts in the prevention of this CPP-NPA-NDF modus operandi of recruitment and exploitation of students,” the AFP official added.
