REBEL RETURNEES TO ATTEND SENATE HEARING, SHED LIGHT ON MISSING MINORS BELIEVED TO BE RECRUITED BY CPP-NPA

Senator Ronald 'Bato' Dela Rosa will interrogate two former members of the Communist Party of the Philippines - New People's Army (CPP-NPA) in relation to Resolution No. 38 to shed light on the issue of missing students who were believed to have been recruited by some left-leaning university-based organizations.

Dela Rosa, chairman of the Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, will lead the second public hearing together with the Committee on National Defense and Security on Wednesday, August 14 at 9 am, to discuss and ferret out the truth behind the reported incidents of missing students from various colleges and universities. The said students were eventually seen participating in mass protest actions organized by Kabataan Party List, Anakbayan and League of Filipino Students who are known as leftist groups.

During the first hearing on Resolution no. 38 held last week, parents of the said minors became emotional as they shared their ordeal in handling the situation of theirchildren. They recounted the pain of being abandoned by the said children and the changes they saw in them since joining leftist organizations.

Senator Dela Rosa said that if the leftists can recruit minors while inside the campuses, the government should also be able to do an 'indoctrination' of its own, "meron kasi silang polisiya, ang mga paaralan na ito, which is very detrimental on the part of the government / state... na bawal daw pumasok ang mga pulis o military sa loob ng kanilang campus para ma-avoid ang militarisasyon...they are using government resources and yet they are producing enemies of the state so dapat ma-correct ito."

Senator Dela Rosa further said, "mas legal ang ating government instrumentalities so dapat bigyan din ng kalayaan ang ating kasundaluhan at kapulisan na makipag halu-bilo, magbigay ng kuru-kuro sa mga estudyante sa loob."

The leftist groups released their statements saying that the youth activists are safe and that this is a form of harassment on the part of the government, but they failed to attend the first hearing. Kabataan Party List, League of Filipino Students, and Akbayan are again invited to the second hearing, together with the resource persons and representatives of the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Department of Social Welfare Development, Commission on Human Rights, Office of the Solicitor General, Commission on Higher Education, Department of Education, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Far Eastern University and University of the East. The parents of the recruited minors will also again be present.