UNPOPULAR OPINION | Why can’t Co call out terrorism?

Just this December 5, illuminated slogans appeared near UP Diliman’s Palma Hall calling for the advancement of digmang bayan as a supposed response to corruption in government. Even more disturbing were the messages urging teachers to serve the people by joining the New People’s Army, attributed to groups like KAGUMA, a designated terrorist organization by the Anti-Terrorism Council.

Kabataan Partylist Rep. Renee Co presents herself as the voice of the Filipino youth, an advocate for students, rights, and democratic spaces. That claim is difficult to accept when faced with the growing problem of youth radicalization and the visible efforts of underground organizations to recruit within campuses. For someone who insists she represents young people, she shows little interest in confronting the terrorist threats that target them, particularly recruitment into the New People’s Army. She rejects anti-terrorism measures yet offers no proposals or safeguards that would protect students from these groups.

For years, numerous former rebels have revealed their experiences with Kabataan Partylist and its alleged links to the CPP-NPA-NDF. These disclosures should command the attention of a youth representative in Congress. Instead, her silence becomes its own signal, an unofficial tap on the shoulder.

On November 27, more than sixty members of Kabataang Makabayan marched inside UP Diliman before their sixty first founding anniversary, calling for the overthrow of the government and condemning what they call a bureaucrat capitalist state. KM is historically one of the founding organizations of the NDF and has long promoted armed struggle. They were joined by ARMAS, KAGUMA, LAB, and other formations associated with the NDF, all of which, based on counterinsurgency reports, operate underground and treat campuses as recruitment grounds.

Where, then, is Rep. Co when young people are being encouraged to take up arms? The youth deserve genuine representation, leaders who will protect them from recruitment and manipulation, not leaders who remain quiet while these forces operate freely. Anti-terror laws may be imperfect and criticism has its place, but criticism without alternatives is not leadership. If Rep. Co believes that current policies are wrong, she must present a real program that shields students from terrorist recruitment.

From SINAG Facebook Page