PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

Efren Martires Command slams Col. Feliciano for saying there are NPA child combatants
April 16, 2004

Reference: Jose Sumuroy, Spokesperson
Efren Martires Command
New People's Army-Eastern Visayas

"Lt. Col. Melquiades Feliciano of the AFP Central Command is such a desperate psywar agent that he resorts to recycling the old garbage that there are child combatants in the New People's Army," the Efren Martires Command (EMC) in Eastern Visayas said today in a statement. Jose Sumuroy, EMC spokesperson, clarified that "it is set down as a matter of policy in the Basic Rules of the New People's Army that 18 is the minimum age requirement for recruitment." He likewise condemned the Armed Forces of the Philippines for "arresting, torturing and presenting helpless minors as NPA Red fighters during the military's counterrevolutionary operations in the countryside." Sumuroy cited the psychological torture inflicted on 17-year-old Joy Batis Paloma of Carigara, Leyte, who was falsely accused last March of being an NPA member and held under duress from March 10-12 in her own house by the Bravo Company of the 46th Infantry Battalion led by1st Lt. Eugene Muyco. "She is only one of many children who have suffered at the hands of the military," Sumuroy said.

The EMC spokesperson asserted that "the NPA is the genuine army of the people and is guided by the highest revolutionary principles. The NPA respects the rights of civilians and non-combatants, including children. In fact, the highest levels of the revolutionary leadership have mandated the strict prohibition against the recruitment of minors." Sumuroy pointed out the following policy decisions on this made over the years by the Communist Party of the Philippines:

1. The 1988 policy decision of the CPP Politburo strictly prohibiting the recruiting of anyone below 18 years old and the corresponding adjustment in the basic rules of the NPA. This was made in connection with the CPP's recognition and accession through the NDFP of all Geneva Conventions and protocols related to human rights and international humanitarian law.

2. The 1999 memo of the Executive Committee of the CPP Central Committee, which reiterated the policy against the recruitment of minors. The memo gave automatic immediate accession to the Optional Protocol on the Convention of the Rights of the Child prohibiting the recruitment and involvement of children under 18 years in the armed conflict. In fact, the CPP accepted the said optional protocol though it had just been proposed by the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and was not yet even in force.

3. The late 2002 formal reiteration of the CPP Central Committee of the 1988 policy decision and 1999 memo and instructions to all CPP organs and all NPA units to study those party documents and ensure that the resolution on minimum age requirement is strictly carried out in the NPA.

Sumuroy said that with his accusation, Feliciano is "therefore deceiving the media and the people by peddling the worst sort of psychological warfare: black propaganda or a barefaced lie to discredit the NPA." But he added that such fabrications have been debunked by the NPA's own sterling record of upholding the highest revolutionary and humanitarian principles. "The prestige of the NPA rises ever higher over the years and the people salute the Red commanders and fighters who serve them selflessly and valiantly," Sumuroy concluded. "In trying to smear the NPA, Col. Feliciano only succeeds in pouring garbage over himself and the Armed Forces of the Philippines." 5

Reference:
Roy Santos
NDF-EV Media Liaison Officer
Cellphone No. 0918-3112138
E-mail: [email protected]


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