• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Army’s 79th Infantry Battalion slammed the recent admission of the New People’s Army Roselyn Jean Pelle Command of recruiting “child warriors,” which it said was a blatant disregard of International Human Rights standards of the United Nation rulings on the use of children as warriors.
In a statement, Lt. Col. Arnel Calaoagan, 79IB commander, said that the recruitment of Christopher Cabahug, alias Ka Michael, that the rebels admitted as their child warrior among others, is a grave violation of the Child Protection Law of the Philippines, which explicitly prohibits the engagement of minors in armed conflict.
This reprehensible act goes against the principles and values that our nation upholds in safeguarding the welfare and rights of children, Calaoagan stressed.
Cabahug was among the three rebel fatalities in an encounter on February 21 in Brgy. Pinapugasan, Escalante City, Negros Occidental.
Calaoagan said that the recruitment of child warriors by the NPA, through their venomous lies and propaganda, which was being utilized by their legal sectoral fronts organizations, is in direct violation of International Human Rights standards, as outlined by the United Nations.
He stressed that the use of child soldiers is universally condemned, and such actions by armed groups undermine the global commitment to protecting children from the horrors of armed conflicts.
Reiterating calls for immediate and thorough examination of recruitment of minors, Calaoagan urged different sectors both from private, government, religious and real “rights advocates” to unite in one voice, to condemn such boastful admittance and heinous actions of the CPP-NPA.
“We emphasize the necessity of holding accountability to those responsible for abuses, recruitment, and exploitation of children as combatants, in an armed conflict, and we must ensure that justice is served in accordance with the law,” the 79IB commander further said.
Calaoagan also pointed out that the use of antipersonnel mines by the NPA, merciless killing of innocent civilians, and other human rights violations which they openly admit, are the matters that should be given due emphasis.*
