PRO-6 chief claims strong rebel recruitment in Iloilo

By Jennifer P. Rendon

 

Apart from fighting criminality, especially illegal drugs, newly installed Western Visayas police chief Brigadier General Rolando Miranda will also focus on the campaign to end local communist armed conflict in the region.

Miranda believed that Iloilo had been a target of recruitment by communist rebels.

“Malakas po ang recruitment dito sa Iloilo, dito sa Western Visayas, with regards sa white area operations ng CPP-NPA,” Miranda publicly said during his assumption of office on Wednesday.

The term “white area” was coined by the guerrillas themselves, to refer to a place, usually urban, where government agencies are situated but where the revolution gets crucial support from the middle class, businessmen, students, and other sectors, and where front organizations operate freely. The rebels had always considered it a support area.

In his speech, Miranda called the public to look after the youth.

“Sabi ni Rizal, ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan subalit ito ay hindi mangyayari kung ang ating kabataan ay mapapariwara at mamamatay sa kabundukan,” he said.

When he was later asked what his basis was in saying that there could possibly be massive rebel recruitment in Iloilo, Miranda cited what he saw during the Senate inquiry.

“‘Yung mga napanood ko dyan sa Senate hearing. ‘Di ba laging nabanggit yung Iloilo ni Ka Eric,” he said.

By Ka Eric, Miranda refers to former activist Jeffrey Celiz who now stands as consultant for the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

Celiz earlier made bold testimonies and implicated several known personalities as CPP-NPA members or supporters.

When Miranda asked how well he knows Celiz, he said he met the latter thrice.

“Well, hindi naman sa hindi ko pinaniniwalaan ano so dapat kaso pag ganyan tinitingnan din natin kung ano yung sinasabi nya at kung ‘yun ba ay may mga basis,” Miranda said when further pressed if he believed in Celiz’s statements.

“So far, sa personal kong gana, may basis naman sya sa sinasabi nya kaya nga sinasabi ko pagtutuunan ko ng pansin para i-protekta ang mga kabataan natin dito, Kung saka-sakali na meron talagang recruitment na nagaganap dito, po-proteksyunan natin yun at ako’y hihingi sa inyo ng tulong na mapa-intindi sa mga kabataan kung ano ang sinasalihan nila na organisasyon, yun ba ay makakatulong sa kanila or yun ba ay nililinlang sila o yun ba ay mapapahamak sila. Tulungan natin ang ating kabataan,” he said.

The new Western Visayas top cop appealed to the public to help them make the youth understand what kind of organization they should engage or join in, as some of them might be disguised as legal organizations.

“Ako po ay nananawagan sa ating mga magulang na gabayan ang inyong mga anak, mga estudyante sa unibersidad,” he said claiming there’s nothing wrong with freedom of expression, as long as you fully know the true intent of the group whom “might just claim to be a progressive one but, in truth, is a vehicle for NPA recruitment.”

Miranda said it will be his mission to take part in President Rodrigo Duterte’s desire to end the 52-year local communist terrorism movement in the country.

He also vowed to forge a strong alliance and partnership with the AFP and the intelligence community.