Kabataan lauds Legarda, joins call to revive peace talks with rebels

Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda (File photo from the Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)

MANILA, Philippines – Progressive youth group Kabataan Partylist on Saturday joined Bayan Muna and the Alliance of Concerned Teachers in their call for the government to revive peace talks with communist rebels, lauding Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda for her defense of the left.

“Amid machinated attacks by state-sponsored social media trolls and redtaggers, we stand with Sen. Legarda in calling for the resumption of peace talks,” Kabataan said in a statement.

Legarda sparked controversy on Tuesday when she contested Sen. Francis Tolentino’s suggestion of public officials divulging family members with ties to terrorist groups.

She admitted having worked with leftist groups but said there was nothing wrong with that.

“It is a breath of fresh air for the Filipino youth to witness such an impassioned speech by a senator despite the dominating red scare hysteria proliferated by state forces under the former Duterte and now Marcos Jr. regime, particularly through the NTF-ELCAC,” Kabattan said.

The NTF-ELCAC is the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.

Kabataan supported Legarda’s push for a review of the Anti-Terrorist Act in the Senate.

Meanwhile, it is lobbying for the repeal of the act through House Bill No. 253, saying that “the current stand for peace based on social justice, not on state terror, is what we need — what the new generation needs today.”

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