NDF: AFP, not NPA, drafting children

After being accused of drafting child combatants, the National Democratic Front (NDF) on Saturday hurled the same charges at its rival, saying it is the Armed Forces of the Philippines that has recruited children for its propaganda war. NDF Eastern Visayas spokesman Santiago Salas claimed that the military has asked children are made to pose as former New People’s Army (NPA) fighters in stories carried by the Philippine Information Agency (PIA). "The PIA and Department of Social Welfare and Development continue their duet of supporting the 8th Infantry Division’s practice of abducting children in the countryside and then misrepresenting them as NPA combatants," Salas said in a letter to the "Samar Times" newspaper dated last Thursday. The letter was posted on the NDF website (philippinerevolution.net) Saturday. Salas had scored the PIA press release dated Oct. 23 featuring Levi Mabanan, supposedly a former NPA guerrilla, thanking the government for "rescuing" him. He said the PIA press release cited Levi as living proof of the government’s "child-friendliness," saying the military rescued him from the NPA and treated him well and released him in 2004. "In fact, Levi revealed in a media interview after being freed that he was abducted in Motiong, Western Samar by elements of the 34th Infantry Battalion and Military Intelligence Company, who murdered his grandfather Pedro Gabane after a firefight with the NPA. The soldiers slapped and threatened to drown the then nine-year-old child in a river," he said. Levi was supposedly then brought to Camp Vicente Lukban in Catbalogan where he was forced to remain in military custody as an "NPA combatant." In 2004, Levi was the youngest of 32 political prisoners whose release the NDF had demanded during peace negotiations with the Philippine government. "However, Levi was initially reluctant to go home – the non- governmental organization Children’s Rehabilitation Center later discovered that the military repeatedly threatened Levi that they would massacre his family if he went home. Happily for him, the peace talks led to his release and restoration to his family and community," Salas said. Salas said Levi remembers begging for his freedom before two DSWD staff members who visited him the day after he was abducted by the military. He said the DSWD personnel ignored his pleas, gave him P20, then left. "The DSWD let a nine-year-old kid suffer in a hostile military camp for nearly four long years. This is social welfare and development under the Arroyo government: cold-blooded official indifference being passed off as the milk of human kindness," he said. "The PIA and DSWD should now explain to the media and the public why they are consistently promoting the 8th Infantry Division’s abduction of children for propaganda purposes," he added. Salas also reiterated, the NDF-EV’s demand for the release of four minors and an 18-year-old youth arrested and misrepresented by the military as NPA combatants. They reportedly include Lynlyn Labitag, 12; Erma Labong; 16, Judy Boy Rebato, 16; Ramil Mañoso, 18; and Robert Mabanan, 13. - GMANews.Tv