Students forced to join NPA – police

STUDENTS from the University of the Philippines ( UP) and Polytechnic University of the Philippines ( PUP) were being forced by the New People’s Army ( NPA) to be part of the rebellion, according to the police and recent rebel group members who surrendered to authorities on Monday.

Chief Supt. Edward Carranza, Calabarzon regional director, said UP and PUP students would usually visit the mountains in their region for immersion in communities living there, but would later be told by NPA members that they could not return to mainstream society as they were already targeted by the government army and the Philippine National Police ( PNP).

Carranza said the information came from the 20 NPA members who surrendered on January 11 in Kalayaan, Laguna to Sub Regional Military Area 4A.

The 20 former NPA members, including a minor, were presented in a news briefing in Camp Crame.

The group yielded one rifle, two shotguns, three homemade shotguns, four revolvers, one submachine gun, one rifle, one fragmentation grenade, one rifle grenade, and 442 ammunition.

One member, who identified himself as Ka Ruben, said students were threatened by NPA members to join the communist rebel group.

“You will be scared if a gun is facing [ you], so they just say ‘ yes,’” he said.

He added that their group surrendered to the government because they could not see the goal of the communist group anymore.

PNP Chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said they were still conducting dialogues with the Commission on Higher Education and Department of Education on how to prevent college students from joining rebel groups.

“I think they were already informed and now are aware about what’s happening with their students. These students sometimes get their minds poisoned, so they will go to the mountains, have their immersion, and then be forced to stay there,” he said.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines on October 2018 released a list of 17 universities in Metro Manila, including UP and PUP, where the Reds are allegedly recruiting students to join their group.