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The Philippine Army said Sunday communist groups, who station themselves near schools, do not consider the effects their clashes with soldiers will have on students.

In an interview with dzBB Sunday, Philippine Army spokesperson Col. Xerxes Trinidad said students were traumatized due to a series of encounters between soldiers and the New People’s Army (NPA) that disrupted classes in Masbate on March 20.

“Again, we are saddened about the news which involved and traumatized the children, especially the students in the schools. We would like to state that in relation to the incident which happened last March 20, we were able to receive reports on the presence of armed groups near the schools. And that’s the reason the Army dispatched one group to validate that information. We have to validate that information so we can protect the community, especially the children. Unfortunately, our soldiers were shot and that’s when they had an encounter (with the communist rebel group) near the school,” Trinidad said.

“This is one thing that the communist terrorist groups do, they station themselves near communities and villages, especially near schools without considering the possible effects on the children,” he added.

Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte said soldiers have been fighting the New People's Army in Masbate for five days.

One hundred and thirty five public schools in six towns in Masbate have shifted to distance learning, said Duterte.

She said fighting in Masbate has affected 55, 199 learners and 2,815 school personnel.

Trinidad said it was alarming to learn that based on the members of the NPA who surrendered, some were recruited in their teens.

“This is alarming and this is their strategy of going to communities, in schools, and teaching a wrong ideology to the children. This what we want to stop and prevent so that our children will not be influenced into joining armed protests,” Trinidad said.

The Philippine Army earlier announced that a soldier, identified as Corporal Antonio Parreno Jr., died during an encounter with suspected communist rebels in Cawayan, Masbate last Monday.

Later, two policemen and two soldiers were reported by the Army to be wounded from an explosion supposedly caused by “anti-personnel mines” and a clash with the NPA in the vicinity of Barangay Locso-on in Placer, Masbate.

Trinidad said that there are around 2,000 members of the communist rebel groups left and a major factor in the weakening of their forces was the loss of their leader.

Jose Maria Sison, the founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines, died on December 16, 2022, in the Netherlands.

“The numbers of these (armed communist groups) will continue to grow if we do not stop their recruitment process. We also have to stop their resource generation,” he said over dzBB.

Trinidad said they will continue to use a “whole-of-nation” approach to fight against insurgency.

“In this particular aspect, we see that we really need to sustain a whole-of-nation approach. It is a big deal to address the root cause of the insurgency problem. This whole-of-nation approach should be sustained, wherein the government and other agencies include the public,” he said. Jaspearl Tan/DMS