By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The 44 activists arrested for reported association with the New People’s Army (NPA) following simultaneous raids of offices belonging to various militant groups in Bacolod City and Escalante City have been formally charged for illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
Philippine Army 3rd Infantry Division (3ID) spokesperson, Army Captain Cenon Pancito III, said the charges were filed earlier this week by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group before both the Bacolod City and Escalante City Prosecutors’ Offices.
The military official said they are also collating sworn affidavits from the parents of rescued minors in order to file additional charges of qualified human trafficking against six of the 42 respondents.
Of the 55 arrested from offices occupied by party-list groups Anakpawis, Gabriela, and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan); along with Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) and the National Federation of Sugarcane Workers (NFSW), 13 were minors.
Pancito said the 13 rescued were claimed to be NPA “child warriors.”
Two other activists were also arrested in Escalante City, where several firearms and explosives were also seized.
Nine of the arrested are considered “high-value individuals” by the military; namely NFSW Secretary-General John Lozande, NSFW members Danilo Tabura and Roberto Lachica, Bayan Muna party-list official Romulo Bito-on and his wife, KMU-Negros spokesperson Noli Rosales, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas organizer Albert Delacerna, Proceso Quiatchon of Karapatan-Negros, and community journalist Mary Ann Krueger of Paghimutad.
The Communist Party of the Philippines has since denied the 57 activists are NPA members.
Pancito noted, following the raids, police officers and military personnel recovered 32 assorted firearms, four fragmentation grenades, seven rifle grenades, two claymore mines, assorted ammunition, subversive documents, bladed weapons, camouflage uniforms, among other items.
Additionally, last Saturday, the Philippine Army facilitated a meeting with the guardians for three of the 13 rescued minors at the Bacolod City Police Office facility for minors. Pancito said, the parents claimed they were “shocked” upon learning their children were among those arrested.
“If not for the pictures of arrested minors presented to them, the parents [would] not know that they had been apprehended as the minors used other names,” he added.
The parents told authorities they were told their children were joining a “cultural group.”
Meanwhile, members of the progressive Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives vowed to file a resolution calling for a probe into the incident./DGB, WDJ