The “exploited” IPs represent 80% of the NPA – working group

The New People’s Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front, are today mostly made up of indigenous peoples (IPs) whom communist terrorist groups forcibly recruited as combatants, according to the National Task Force for End the local communist armed conflict (NTF-ELCAC). Gaye Florendo, deputy spokesperson for the working group on intellectual property issues, said that 70-80% of the people handed over by CTG in the country are intellectual property members and this is also the reason that has leads to a review of government efforts to resolve the Communist insurgency. What followed, Florendo said, was the eventual signing of Executive Decree No.70 by President Rodrigo Duterte who created the NTF-ELCAC which emphasized the “whole nation†approach to ending to local armed conflicts through good governance while attacking its root cause. “The problem has been around for a long time,” said Florendo, adding that the CCP-NPA as well as their political wing the NDF and other organizations disguised as party list groups continue their trade in “rampant disinformation and intentions to deceive. the people “. She pointed out that there is also a “radicalization and containment model†continuously applied by the CPP-NPA-NDF which obliges IPs to become members of the CTGs. Datu Bawan Jake Lanes, former CPP-NPA-NDF executive, now executive director of the Council of Intellectual Property Elders of Mindanao, recounted the process of CTG infiltrating intellectual property communities. Lanes explained that the CTG will first research the issues that IP communities face, especially with regards to their “ancestral domain,” and then enter the community by volunteering as a partner who could give a “kick. de main “to resolve IP issues. “By using the church and non-governmental organizations as fronts, they will offer their assistance to the council (PI) of elders. Once they get permission, they will organize themselves, setting up schools for young people while the male PI members will learn to be “Militia ng Bayan†and the women will learn to support the struggle and fight back. leaders will become revolutionary leaders, â€Lanes said. He added that any resistance from the IP leaders is punished with death and once the IPs are already organized and “exploited”, some members of the tribe are brought to Manila via Manilakabayan, an annual march by communist insurgents to plant fighters. in strategic areas of the metropolis, citing the case of IP students who were trafficked from Davao to Cebu and confined to the University of San Carlos in Cebu without their parents’ knowledge. Attorney Marlon Bosantog, NTF-ELCAC spokesperson for IP Concerns, said the abducted IP students who were brought to Cebu were trained and organized by the Karapatan group and given Bayan ID cards to board planes for their transfer to use in rallies and later to be trained as combatants. Bosantog added that the government had already filed a Petition for Reconsideration (MR) which challenged the dismissal of the case against the seven kidnappers of IP students on jurisdictional grounds, not because of a lack of of probable cause. This was supported by Lt. Col. Edel Ferreira of Regional Police Office 7 who said there was a conspiracy to commit the crime of kidnapping for bringing IP students to Cebu from Davao del Norte, prompting also their office to file an MR in the case given that the minors resided in Talaingod, Davao del Norte.