I have the right to be with my daughter, mom to militant groups

FILE: MISSING MINORS. Parents become emotional as they tell the stories of their children, mostly senior high school and college students, who went missing and were believed recruited by leftist groups, during the Senate joint hearing presided by Senator Ronald Bato dela Rosa, chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, and Senate Committee on National Defense and Security at the Senate in Pasay City on Wednesday (August 7, 2019). Photo shows Mrs. Relissa S. Lucena, who becomes emotional while talking about her missing daughter. (PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)

MANILA — The mother of a student who went missing after being allegedly recruited by communist front groups on Tuesday asserted that she has the right to be with her daughter.

“May karapatan din naman kami bilang magulang di ba, may karapatan din naman ako bilang ina na makasama yung anak ko, pero parang hindi nangyayari ‘yun. Sila itong mga nasa legalpero parang pinaglalayo nila kami (We also have the right as parents, I have the right as mother to be with my child, but this is not what is happening. They are the ones who are in the legal profession but it seems they continue to separate us from each other),” Relissa Lucena said on the sidelines of the preliminary investigation of the Department of Justice (DOJ) into the charges she filed against the communist front groups.

Lucena also dared these groups to place themselves in her situation for them to understand her ordeal.

“Sila kaya ang lumugar sa sitwasyon ko, ‘yung anak nila wala sa tabi nila tapos ibang tao ‘yung kinakausap, ginagamit sa kung saan-saan (Why don’t they imagine themselves being in my place. Their children is not with them and is talking to another person and are being used for whatever agenda),” Lucena said, as she called on these groups to bring back her daughter, Alicia Jasper.

Lucena, accompanied by lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, appeared before Assistant State Prosecutor Cristine T. Perolino to affirm her affidavit in connection with her daughter, who was enticed to join the communist movement a year ago when the latter was still a 17-year-old senior high school student.

“The issue here was that when the children were recruited they were minors still,” Topacio told reporters.

Parents of other children similarly recruited also attended the hearing in solidarity with the complainant.

Summoned members of the Anakbayan Morayta, Far Eastern University were unable to attend the hearing on the case filed by the Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) on behalf of Lucena.

Originally summoned to appear before state prosecutors were Charie del Rosario, Bianca Gacos, Jayroven Villafuente Balais, Vencer Crisostomo, and Einstein Recedes.

Anakbayan, the PNP-CIDG complaint said, is “an organization advocating violence in order to overthrow a legitimate government.”

Instead, present during Tuesday’s hearing were co-respondents Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares, Kabataan party-list Rep.

Sarah Elago and former Interior and Local Government Undersecretary and Akbayan Partylist Rep. Tomasino Villarin.

Villarin, however, denied being linked to the Anakbayan group.

The respondents were directed to submit their counter-affidavits in the next hearing on September 10.

The charges were violation of Republic Act 10364 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003; kidnapping; the laws on special protection of children in armed conflicts; and laws prohibiting child abuse.

Among the witnesses were rebel returnees Ma. Rebecca Pecayo and Edison Villanueva, who said they were recruited into the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) through initial indoctrination by front youth groups.

The CPP-NPA is listed as terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.