AFP backs Año on criminalizing subversion

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) supports Interior Secretary Eduardo Año's suggestion for the restoration of subversion as a criminal offense.

Año, a former AFP chief of staff, earlier said the government should consider reimposing the law that makes subversion a crime in view of what he said was "indoctrination" by communist rebels of up to 1,000 youths annually.

He said leftist organizations should be banned for being "subversive and illegal."

Republic Act No. 1700, the 1957 measure outlawing the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), was repealed in 1992.

In expressing support for Año's proposal, AFP spokesman Brigadier General Edgard Arevalo said students had died in firefights between soldiers and New People's Army members.

He claimed that "indoctrination" by communist rebels starts "innocuously" but leads to encouraging students to join rallies, demonstrations and immersions in the countryside and ends up with young people bearing arms as NPA cadres.

"'Yun pong start ng mga lecture at film showing at audiovisual presentations seemingly is harmless but it's a process that begins exactly just that way," Arevalo said at a weekly news forum in Manila.

Last year, the AFP identified more than a dozen schools as alleged recruitment hubs of the CPP. Many of the schools denied the allegation.

When asked for comment on Año's suggestion, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said he believes strengthening the Human Security Act, the Philippines' anti-terrorism law, will suffice.

"Being leftist is far from being terrorist. As long as activism remains in the realm of ideology, there is nothing to be alarmed about," Guevarra said Tuesday.

"But once it flows into overt acts that threaten the national security or at least cause widespread fear among the people, government has to step in, and step in really hard," he added.

Meanwhile, Arevalo assured the public that the floated suggestion to criminalize subversion will not be abused because the government and the AFP "are professionals, mature, and an organization that is known to adhere to human rights and international humanitarian law."

While he said communism was not a crime, Arevalo claimed its context in the Philippines was "different."

He said members of communist groups were actually espousing rebellion, the "violent overthrow of government" and are recruiting young people in doing so. —NB, GMA News