‘We are also entitled to freedom of speech’: anti-left group

FILE: Lit candles are placed on the steps of the Boys Scout Circle Monument on Timog Avenue, Quezon City during a candle-lighting vigil on Thursday (Oct. 29, 2020). (PNA photo by Robert Oswald P. Alfiler)

MANILA – A group of parents fighting to claim their children from leftist organizations said they have the same amount of freedom including entitlement to freedom of speech.

The League of Parents of the Philippines (LPP), a group composed of parents whose children fled home upon becoming full-time activists, emphasized on Friday that everything they say is true.

“We only talk facts. Totoo naman po na yung mga batang nasa tarpaulins namin na namatay sa encounter with the military ay unang kumilos sa mga organisasyong hayag or open [openly left] organizations gaya ng Anakbayan (Those children in tarpaulins who died during armed encounters with the military started out as activists for these open organizations like Anakbayan),” Remy Rosadio, the group’s spokesperson, said.

Rosadio said that leftist groups such as the League of Filipino Students (LFS) recruit their children to become activists who “all of a sudden are impossible to reach”.

She said parents would just hear from others that their children were seen in the countryside and are “already a part of the armed struggle”.

“How do you still brand that as red-tagging when our children already declare that they are proud members of the communist party? Nakaka-bahala sa panig naming mga magulang na biglang makikita namin na nagkakaroon ng turn around sa pananaw ang aming anak pati na ang pag-yakap nila sa mga extreme solutions like armed struggle (It worries us as parents seeing our children have a total turnaround with their views and opinions. Especially them embracing extreme solutions like the armed struggle),” Rosadio added.

Meanwhile, University of Philippines Diliman (UPD) Student Council chairperson Froilan Cariaga, in a statement, opposed the LPP’s plan to stage an informative rally inside the campus.

“They would never be allowed inside the university’s premises, as they only mean to endanger the progressive youth and community members,” Cariaga said.