Local NGOs face Belgium, EU probe
Credit to Author: DEMPSEY REYES| Date: Fri, 08 Mar 2019 17:23:56 +0000
The European Union (EU) and the Belgian government are poised to investigate nongovernment organizations (NGOs) based in the Philippines on suspicion that these were being used as fronts of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA), the Armed Forces of the Philippines said on Friday.
Brig. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr., the military’s deputy chief of staff for civil-military operations, said the EU and Brussels made the commitment to look into the report of a Philippine delegation that at least seven NGOs receiving funding from the EU and Belgium were being used to help recruit NPA members.
Parlade said Belgium was programmed to release 3 million euros a year for five years to seven NGOs based in the Philippines. The EU, meanwhile, gave an initial 621,000 euros to the groups. A second tranche of financial assistance in the amount of 1.3 million euros would follow, Parlade said.
Last month, a delegation from Manila, which included Parlade, went to Brussels to discuss with EU officials, members of the European Parliament and the European
Commission the Philippine government’s concern that some groups being funded by the EU maybe involved in communist activities such as radicalizing the youth and luring students to join the NPA. The Philippine delegation asked EU officials to stop giving monetary aid to these organizations.
According to Parlade, the Belgian government was giving financial support to seven NGOs, while other countries in Europe had been funding all groups connected with the CPP.
“The engagement in EU was exploratory. Now that they gave their commitment (to investigate the incidents), the Philippine government will soon provide them necessary documentations, official reports, evidences or whatever administrative actions done on the part of the Philippine government,” Parlade said in a text message.
He said that in their meetings, officials of the EU and Brussels said they did not want to be seen as “financiers” of a terrorist organization.
Parlade said that in January, the EU reaffirmed that the CPP and the NPA were in their list of terrorist organizations.
He said Gunnar Wiegand, managing director for Asia and the Pacific of the European External Action Service, quipped that the CPP and NPA should realize that communism “all over the world is dead.”
Philippine military officials have earlier claimed that the CPP and NPA were trying to recruit college students in 10 universities in Metro Manila.
In October last year, the Armed Forces of the Philippines released a list of 17 universities in Metro Manila where communists were allegedly recruiting students to join their group.
These include the University of the Philippines, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, and the University of Santo Tomas.
Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Carlito Galvez had said the communists had also infiltrated the youth and labor sector.
In January this year, NPA members who surrendered to the police confirmed that communists forced students to join their group. These students who visit mountain communities as part of their “immersion” program were threatened that they could not longer go back because they were already considered outlaws by the government.
Chief Supt. Edward Carranza, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) regional director, said the confirmation was made by 20 NPA members, who surrendered to authorities in Kalayaan, Laguna on January 11.
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