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Student allegedly sexually abused by NPA comrades, says military
A female student has been tagged by the military as a member of the New People's Army (NPA) after her journal was allegedly recovered in an encounter in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental on April 16.
Brigadier General Eliezer Losañes, commanding officer of the 303rd Infantry Brigade (IB) assigned in Negros Island, claimed during an interview with this reporter that the recovered journal belonged to a 26-year-old former mathematics major of University of the Philippines-Cebu.
UP Cebu, however, said in an official statement that contrary to the military's allegations, the supposedly NPA rebel whose journal the military recovered has never been a student of the university.
"As confirmed by UP Cebu’s University Registrar and the Dean of the College of Science, our records show that we do not have a student, either past or present, by such name," the university's Office of the Chancellor said.
In the journal reportedly written by the student herself, she recounted how she was molested and almost raped by NPA members after she was recruited in 2011, the military said in a statement.
According to entries in the journal, a certain alias Lindo sexually assaulted her several times, while in December 2012, a certain alias Mori touched her private parts.
Her journal entries further revealed that she was recruited by NPA members in November 2011 in Himamaylan, Negros Occidental, and became a full-time member the following year.
She was deployed in the hinterland barangays of San Carlos City and in neighboring Canlaon City and Vallehermoso town in Negros Oriental. During her deployment, she was made to do "mass work," 303rd IB spokesperson Captain Ruel Llanes told GMA News Online in a phone interview.
"Sa mass work, sinasabi nila (sa mga mahihirap na residente) 'yung problema sa Pilipinas. One way of recruitment kasi ang mass work. Kapag nagsasalita sila sa mga barangay, ina-arouse nila 'yung damdamin ng mga tao, hanggang sa ma-recruit nila ang mga ito," Llanes said.
Llanes added that the former UP Cebu student was among those who fled the NPA encampment in Barangay Guadalupe, San Carlos City when it was overran by military troops Monday last week.
"Nakatakbo nga 'tong batang ito during the encounter. Nakuha lang natin 'yung mga gamit (niya)," he said.
"We thoroughly inspected the recovered documents and it confirms that [name withheld] was with the group," Losañes said, adding that she provides "clear evidence" that sexual abuse occurs among NPA ranks.
The revelation came a month after a former UP Cebu student, 21-year-old Myles Albasin, was captured in a military operation in Mabinay, Negros Oriental.
Albasin and her five co-accused have been formally charged with illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
Losañes further appealed to parents to check on their children and to ensure that "they are doing the right thing in school."
"Guiding their students and constantly checking on them will prevent them from going astray and ending up as a communist NPA terrorist," he added.
UP Cebu said it does not intrude in its students' religious beliefs, political affiliation, cultural orientation, and right to think freely.
"After graduation or outside of UP Cebu Campus, we have no control on decisions our students/alumni make," the university said. —KG, GMA News
