MANILA, Philippines — The chief of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, said on Tuesday that he would want to have lectures and symposiums in schools on the “evils of communism.”
Under Eleazar’s proposal, the chief of police in different cities will first talk to the school officials and student leaders if they would be willing to have a symposium or two-hour lectures.
Attendance to those activities, Eleazar stressed, would only for those who would be willing.
“We will be seeking assistance through the Commission on Higher Education,” Eleazar said on the sidelines of a joint meeting between the Metro Manila Regional Development Council (RDC) and Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) in Pasay City.
Eleazar serves as the interim chair of the RPOC.
“Of course, there are universities that, outright, would not accommodate us,” Eleazar said in Filipino. “But we will find groups that are possibly sympathetic to us.”
According to him, only a small group of “noisy” students join rallies.
“But most of these students, they don’t care. They don’ like that,” Eleazar said.
The NCRPO chief said many leaders of the New People’s Army were recruited in their student years.
“They [recruiters] will pick students who are vulnerable considering the situation of their families — those going through problems. Others may really have true nationalism. So it’s easy to attract our students,” Eleazar said, speaking partly in Filipino.
The recruiters, he said, have mastered a program of recruiting students — first by just simply talking to them, then encouraging them to join rallies, and eventually, if they see leadership potential, engaging them in a more in-depth discussion.
This, he pointed, would not necessarily take place inside the school but outside.
Will it promote divide within schools?
Eleazar doesn’ believe that his proposal would divide students.
“But, of course, as we have said, student activism is encouraged and are not controlling that,” he said. “But it may be better if their program is in line with the program of the government.”
Eleazar assured that the rights of students would not be violated as attendance to his proposed program would only be voluntary.
“That’s why we will seek the assistance of the school administration and student organizations,” he said. “If they can’t accommodate us, then there’s nothing we can do about it.”
/atm