Parents asked to look into ‘brainwashing’ in campuses — AFP

MANILA, Philippines — In the wake of furor over the military’s tagging some Metro Manila schools as communist recruitment centers, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. clarified yesterday that their investigation was prompted by requests from parents themselves.

“May nag-text sa amin ang mga magulang. Sabi: ‘Sir pakitingnan ito para silang bine-brainwash (We received texts from parents saying ‘sir check this out, they’re being brainwashed’”,” he said in a radio interview over dzMM.

Galvez echoed an earlier pronouncement from AFP assistant chief of staff for operations Brig. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. that films about abuses during martial were being used to incite college students to rebel against the government.

“Nakikita natin na parang (We can see that) they are branding the government. May dramatization na ‘yung martial law ‘nung Marcos regime, then they associated it to the current administration,” he said.

Galvez noted that while there were abuses committed during the martial law years under Marcos, the military then was very different from today’s military which has a high-regard for human rights.

AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Edgard Arevalo said the AFP has reports “of concerned parents communicating to us their worries about the ‘brainwashing’ activities that their children were subjected to like films showing; video teleconferencing with a terrorist leader like Jose Ma. Sison; and martial law reenactments during break time of high school students, etc.”

He also clarified that some of the colleges and universities mentioned by the military as being communist infiltrated were merely being targeted by the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing New People’s Army. Information about other schools are still being validated, he said.

But in the case of the other schools, Arevalo stressed that the military is “firm in our position that some of the schools in that list have been, and widely known to have been used, as fora for communist recruitment.”

Yesterday, officials of the Emilio Aguinaldo Collage (EAC) met with the AFP at Camp Aguinaldo to discuss the school’s inclusion in the list.

Albayalde defends statement

Also in a radio interview, Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Oscar Albayalde said he has basis to conclude that some professors were inciting students to rebellion.

“There are intelligence reports, and it’s going on for a long time now,” Albayalde said in an interview over dzMM.

He said parents should be worried about the possibility that some  professors might be poisoning the minds of their children instead of teaching them to be good citizens of the country.

“We parents should also be concerned, because we’re sending our children to schools to study and not to rebel,” he said in Filipino.

Albayalde also took offense over test questions given to two Grade Two students from a still unidentified school, which had gone viral on social media platform Facebook.

A certain Verna Escolano, in a post on Facebook last Tuesday, expressed concern over some questions her son was made to answer during an exam.

Ping’s warning

Meanwhile, Sen. Panfilo Lacson warned the AFP and other government agencies against repressing academic freedom in universities and schools.

“‘Ideology must be met with ideology’, especially inside the classroom, is a phrase that the AFP is well aware of because they know that in warfare, ‘winning hearts and minds’ is an essential component,” Lacson said.

“They (AFP, DepEd, and CHED) should not, in any way, curtail freedom of speech and expression and academic freedom. History is replete with lessons that if this is done, the opposite and least desired outcome will be the end result,” he said. – With Paolo Romero, Evelyn Macairan, Emmanuel Tupas