Activists’ mothers reminisce time with daughters

FILE: WE WANT OUR DAUGHTERS BACK. Mothers of former students who are now full-time members of militant youth organizations take to Facebook their desire to have their children back home. Relissa Lucena with a photo of her and daughter Alicia Jasper (left), and Elvie Caalaman with daughter Lorevie (right) are members of parent group Hands Off Our Children that aims to fight against youth activism and communism. (Photos taken from FB accounts of the activists’ mothers via PNA)

MANILA — As the holidays near, the mothers of recruited students who are now full-time members of various militant groups long to claim their children back into their homes and continue schooling.

“Hindi siya nagsasabi kung kailan siya uuwi pero palagi ko syang hinihintay (She doesn’t say anything about when she is coming home but I always wait for her return),” Elvie Caalaman told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Thursday.

Caalaman, one of the parents behind the group Hands Off our Children that aims to fight against youth activism and communism, said her daughter Lorevie has joined Anakbayan Party-list full time and refuses to stay at their house.

On Facebook, her constant posts would allude to youth group Kabataan Party-list, one of the alleged communist front organizations that recruit university students who later on quit school to become full-time activists supporting the movement.

“I miss you anak, sa tuwing naalala kita, di ko maiwasang maluha at mapaisip kung bakit ka naloko ng Kabataan Partylist. Kailangan kong lumaban dahil hindi papayag ang isang ina na masayang lang ang buhay mo dyan sa organization na yan, anak (I miss you, my daughter, I would cry every time I remember you, I would think how Kabataan Party-list managed to fool you. I need to fight for you, as your mother, I will not let you just waste your life),” her most recent post said.

Relissa Lucena, also a member of the Hands Off Our Children group, would also take to Facebook her desire to have her daughter Alicia Jasper back.

“Sana po makasama na namin ang aming mga anak bago mag Pasko at matigil na ang recruitment ng CPP-NPA-NDF. Karapatan nating Filipino na mamuhay ng mapayapa at protektado laban sa teroristang grupo at mga front organization nito (I hope that our daughter will be with us before Christmas. Also, that the CPP-NPA-NDF’s [Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front] recruitment would stop. It is our right as Filipinos to live peacefully and protected against this terrorist group as well as their front organizations),” she said on her post.

The NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.

Lucena, in August this year, filed an abduction charge along with the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) against Kabataan party-list Rep. Sarah Elago and several others, including former Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, over allegations of recruiting minors for leftist groups.

In the complaint, the respondents are accused of having violated the Republic Act 10364 (Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003), RA 11188 (Special Protection of Children in Situations of Armed Conflict and Providing Penalties for Violations thereof), and RA 7610 (Special Protection of Children Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act).

Aside from Elago and Colmenares, other named respondents in the case are former Akbayan Party-list Rep. Tom Villarin, Anakbayan chairperson Vencer Crisostomo, Anakbayan secretary-general Eistein Recedes, Anakbayan spokesperson Alex Danday, Bianca Gacos, Charie del Rosario, and Jayroven Villafuerte Balais.

In an interview, Chief-of-Staff to the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Legal Affairs Undersecretary Tara Rama said the fourth hearing of the preliminary investigation will be on November 12.

The mothers are also actively participating in the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) awareness drive at state-universities in the metro to share to other students how their children’s involvement with communist front groups “led them astray”.

“Para pong ang harmless pag sinabing aktibista lang pero doon po nagsisimula lahat (It may sound harmless if we say they are just activists but that’s where it all starts),” Caalaman said.

Elago earlier refuted this saying, “We reiterate our resounding call for the immediate dismissal of trumped-up charges to criminalize critical voices. We demand a safe space for the youth and the people to effectively debate”.

On the other hand, AFP’s communication officer Andre Calabes said: “activism is not a crime, but recruiting for the armed struggle to destroy this country is a crime– it should be stopped using all the resources of the duly constituted government”.

“Let us not blur out the issue here, the arrests and raids are not because of activism, it is because your group facilitates the recruitment to the armed struggle hiding under the cloud of your democracy,” Calabes said on Wednesday.