MANILA, Philippines — Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Gen. Gilbert Gapay has encouraged parents and school faculty members to monitor websites and social media accounts being accessed by their children and students as these could have links to communist insurgents.
According to Gapay, they have already identified websites “that are being run by CPP-NPA” or the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)) and its armed wing New People’s Army (NPA).
“We really cannot discount that possibility na ‘yung mga anak natin are really browsing itong accounts and sites that are being run by CPP-NPA founder organizations,” Gapay said Wednesday during a PNP-AFP joint press conference at Camp Crame in Quezon City.
“So may na-identify na tayong sites that are being run by CPP-NPA and ang hiling nga namin is for the faculty themselves to really look into this at to ensure ‘yung inaaccess ng estudyante nila dapat authorized ng eskwelahan,” he added.
The AFP chief’s remarks were a response to a question about the difficulty being faced by law enforcers in preventing the online recruitment of communist terrorist groups as the country embraces distance learning or online classes amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stressing that the effort to eradicate insurgency in the country is not limited to the military, Gapay said parents can help the government by overseeing the internet sites that their children access.
“To prevent all of this, may specific roles tayong kailangang gampanan. Ito namang aspeto ng security insurgency problem is not only the concern of the security sector but also the responsibility of everyone,” he said.
AFP chief of staff Gen. Gilbert Gapay (left) and PNP chief Gen. Camilo Cascolan (right) leads the signing of joint resolutions to curb insurgency in the country on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020, at Camp Crame in Quezon City. /Screenshot of PNP Facebook Live
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Camilo Cascolan affirmed that some students are being recruited by communist groups, but that these could be curtailed with the coordination of military and police forces.
“There is a great possibility for all students and all barangays to be recruited by communist terrorists but probability will be very very low if the AFP and PNP [are] combined in their efforts to stop insurgency problem,” Cascolan said in the same press briefing.
Enhanced guidelines vs insurgency
The AFP and PNP signed Wednesday a resolution that would enhance the guidelines for joint operations in curbing insurgency nationwide.
Gapay and Cascolan signed Joint Letter Directive No. 03-2020 or “Guidelines in Evaluating the Effectiveness of Internal Security Operations in Support to the National Thrust to End Local Communist Armed Conflict” that also calls on the society and other sectors in government to help in defeating the CPP-NPA.
“Sabi ko nga matagal na ito, nandiyan ang NPA, so we are asking ourselves: ‘Bakit nandiyan pa sila?’ This is because may na-re-recruit pa sila, meron silang na-e-extort,” Gapay said.
(This has been going on for so long, the NPA has always been there, so we are asking ourselves: ‘Why are they still here? This is because they can still recruit, they still manage to extort.)
“They (communist rebels) were able to generate some funds and resources to really try and perpetrate itong kanilang mga terroristic acts (perpetrate these terrorist acts). So itong mga ito (these issues) will be addressed by other government agencies kagaya ng (like the) recruitment,” he added.
The AFP-PNP resolution likewise “set the parameters in declaring communist guerilla fronts as weakened or dismantled.”
“While we must perform our primary responsibility to serve and protect our people, it is our duty to give our best to help the AFP in defending our country by providing maximum assistance and support to the AFP especially in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region,” he said.