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rnuRSDAV Augusr 1s, 2o1s

hnwnnnker e(cus*d nf hmNpinff hJffA rmaril&fr studcnts

PARE,NTS of stt-rderrts who went missing
accused Kabataan party-list Rep, Sarah
fane Elago of prodclirrg their ctrilclren t<r
join the New People's Artry (NPA).
In Wednesday's public hearing, by the
Senate public order and dangerous drugs
committee on the missing minors who
are allegeclly recrttiled by leftist groups,
parents pointed to lilllitt :ts tltc "link" of
their clrildren to tltc t.rtnttttttnist rebels.
A piclrtre oI tlrt' rtrissittg r:hilclren with
lilago wirs I)r(:s('n(t'tl lrt'f irrc thc cornmittee
heaclecl lly Scrr, llorraltl "llato" dela Rosa.
Orietltt' piu'('nts, llelissa Lucena,
<if-
tulnecl cnrotiort,tl wltcn she recalled
appeared. Shc rclrotted her claughter's rlahil lagpas isang buwan na akctng naka
disappear:ancc lo authorities but laler lrouse arrest dahil sa kagustuhan lrong
learnecl thrt lrcr clrrrglrtcr, Alicia, liad rnaglingliod sa bayan (l left home because
joinecl Atra lrbityatt. I havc hccn trnclcr hcluse affest l'or mole
Al ir-il, irr lrc'r lracetrook post, denied be- tlran a rlonth).'l'hat was so traumatic,'lakt
ing coctr t'tl to join Anakba)'an, na it happenecl at tlre hands of my parent
" N,tg- ;,'1,;',,,1.,, pasya akong na inasahan kong pinaka ntakakaunawa
turtttli,s rrg anting bahat,
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ffi RECRUITS FROM A1 by their parents, Allem said she was brought to ela and LFS in 2006 when she w
"l know them, I know their Bukidnon via the "Manilakbayan" a student at the Mindanao Sta

Lawmaker,ac,cused of helping NPA children...l feel that I am also

satrarry akingdecisions. Nandito
lang po ako at isang personal na
issue rtgam ing pamilya ang pasya
ko na hindi umuwi sa amin (l am
just h'ere and I have not returned
home lirr personal reasons),"
she said.
"lt's really painful and outra-
geous na inaaccuse ako, kami,
nila Bato at ng mga cohorts
ni Duterte na 'brainwashed.'
Hindi ')/an totoo. Sumapi kami
ng organisasyon dahil gets
namin ang kalagayan ng bayan
at ang kawalan ng karapatan
ng marami gawa ng kabulukan
ng gobyerno. Sumali ako at
isulong yung makabuluhang
pagbabago (We were not brain-
washed. We joined the organi-
zation because we understand
the country's situation and how
majority of the people suffer b
ecause of a corrupt government.
,l joined and decided to devote
my time because I want a mean-
ingful change," she added.
Elago parried the accusations,
saying political participation is
not illegal and is not exclusive
to adults.
youth have a right to
'1The
speak their minds about their
rights and welfare. Activism is
Exploited
Four former activists-turned-NPA
rebels also attended the hearing
and recounted how they were
exploited and deceived by the
Communist Party of the Philip-
pines (CPP) and NPA.
They claimed that front or-
ganizations of the CPP-NPA
take advantage of the curiosity,
anger and weaknesses of young
students. They said students were
enticed to join the NPA and were
later trained and transformed
into armed fighters.
One of the former rebels was
responsible for them," she said.
Allem said she was 16 when re-
cruited by the League of Filipino
Students (LFS) at the Polytechnic
University of the Philippines
(PUP) in 2014.
Allem said the hear'y'presence of
militant groups at PUP and her
e1s status as a contractualworker
rnore than 10 years were among the
factors why she joined LFS.
"lmmediately, I was exposed to
their orientation that only an
-
armed revolution is the solution to
ourproblem, thatwe need to wage
war against the state," she said.
"l was awed that there are these
people...and it was an adventure
orthe march ofpeasantgrpilps from
the provinces to Manila to air their
concems through protest rallies.
She found herself within the
ranks of NPA.
Allem was an active rnember
of the NPA from 2017 to 2018,
and it was during this time that
moth- she met her partner, who was a
for regular Red fighter.
"We decided to leave the
mountains. When I got pregnant,
we asked help from tftern (NPA)
but we did not get any. A few
months later, our child,got sick
and I again sought assistance but
was rejected," she recounted.
Allem said it was at this point
that she and her partner surren-
University. She eventually endr
up carrylng an Ml6 rifle fightir
government troops in Bukidno
"l was a very proud memb
of Kabataan Makabayan an
was agitated further to go l
the mountains in 2009," sa:
Dologuin. "lt came to a poir
that I was willing to becon
a suicide bomber to kill GM
(former president Gloria Mac
pagal Arroyo)."
Dologuin said she eventual
realized her mistake.
"Only the commander wi
allowed to have cellular phqng
and they don't believe in God:
they stole food from poor people
she said. The realization led her t

tlagpasyang buong panahong not a crime. Activism and dissent
kumilos dahil gusto kong ilaan are part of our basic rights as
ang aking oras at pranahon para citizens," she said.
alias "Allem, " who admitted for me as a 16-year-old girl to dered to authorities. surrender to the government,
knowing at least two of the join rallies unmindful of the Nancy Dologuin, a triathlete, JAVIER JOE ISMAI
AND GLEE JAIE
missing studenrs being
"tfF#f i^Eftfu,, said she voluntarily joined Gqbri-