Partylist group says 16 children killed over 'Oplan Bayanihan'

MANILA, Philippines - Party-list group Akap Bata on Thursday claimed that 16 children have been killed under the administration of President Benigno Aquino III since the implementation of "Oplan Bayanihan."

Akap Bata partylist group Lean Peace Flores said the data is gathered from 2012 up to the present.

Flores said the latest incident of violence against children happened in Mabini, Compostela Valley, allegedly committed by soldiers from th 71st Infantry Battalion who fired upon five kids, one of whom died.

Flores said that the government's counter-insurgency program Oplan Bayanihan is actually targetting "progressive groups, civilians and worse, children."

The group said that the rise in children’s' deaths in conflict areas should be blamed on the government's inefficient implementation of laws protecting children such as the Anti Violence Against Women and Children law and Anti- Human Trafficking law.

"The inefficiency of the Aquino government to protect children accounts for rampant cases of crimes against children since 2012 such as kidnapping (56), abduction (11) and trafficking (103)," the group cited.