80 young rebel fighters ‘rescued’ since January

CAMP AQUINO, Tarlac — The military has "rescued" at least 80 teenage combatants of the two rival communist factions in Central Luzon — the New People’s Army (NPA) and Rebolusyonaryong Hukbong Bayan (RHB) — in offensives since January this year, a commanding officer of the Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom), said.

Maj. Gen. Alberto Braganza, commander of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division, however, said there are "unfortunately hundreds more" of child combatants fighting side-by-side with battle-weary insurgents in the hinterlands of Central Luzon, particularly in the Tarlac-Pampanga-Zambales mountain ranges and portions of the Sierra Madre in Nueva Ecija and Aurora.

"These child combatants are deprived of their basic rights as children to grow up as normal boys and girls, and be cared for and loved by their parents and siblings," he said.

The young rebels, Braganza said, were rescued in separate armed engagements initiated by the military against the mainstream NPA and its breakaway faction RHB.

The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). The United States and the 15-nation European Union has branded both groups as "terrorist organizations."

The RHB, on the other hand, is the armed force of the Pampanga-based Marxist-Leninist Party of the Philippines (MLPP), which was formed in the late 1990s by former members of the CPP’s Central Luzon Regional Party Committee.

Braganza said minors are being normally recruited into the underground movement by their parents or close relatives, adding that insurgent groups "have been taking advantage of close-knit families in the barrios."

Meanwhile, he said 40 "hardcore" communist fighters in Central Luzon have been killed, while 43 others have been captured in 23 offensives launched by elements of the 7th ID since last January.

In these offensives, Braganza said his troops were able to seize 45 high-powered and 86 low-caliber firearms and 118 homemade guns.

He said the 7th ID was also able to record 332 instances of extortion incidents and 15 attacks on construction and communication sites by both the NPA and the RHB in the region.

He added that communist hit men have killed at least 30 civilians since January.