The Department of Justice will conduct preliminary investigation into the criminal complaint filed against Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison and three suspected members of the New People’s Army for allegedly recruiting a teen-aged girl as a rebel fighter.
The DOJ’s Office of the Prosecutor General revealed on Wednesday that the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detention Group filed last August 23 the complaint against Sison and three others.
The OPG said that two of the three alleged NPA members were accused of sexually abusing the teen-aged girl.
The case has already been forwarded to Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Lilian Doris Alejo, chairperson of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Task Force, for perusal and eventual assignment to a prosecutor or a panel of prosecutors who will conduct the preliminary investigation.
The complaint was filed before the PNP-CIDG by a rebel returnee and former cadre of the CPP-NPA-National Democratic Front who went by the aliases “Lady Miranda,” “Ka Gab,” “Ka Sheena,” among others.
Besides Sison, also named respondents in the complaint were suspected NPA members Redsa Balatan, Rey Dela Pena and Joel Caliwliw.
In the complaint, Lady Miranda accused Sison and Balatan of having violated Section 4(i) of Republic Act 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 for recruiting a child to engage in armed activities.
Sison and Balatan were also charged with violation of Section 10(a) of Republic Act No. 7610, the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act, for alleged “other acts of child abuse, cruelty or exploitation.”
On the other hand, Dela Pena and Caliwliw were also charged with two counts and four counts, respectively, of rape in violation of Article 266-A of the Revised Penal Code.
The rape incidents allegedly happened sometime in March 2011 in Angeles, Pampanga, in April 2016 in Nueva Vizcaya, June 2016 in Nueva Ecija, March 2018 in Nueva Ecija, and April 2018 in Pangasinan.
PNP-CIDG director Maj. Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro earlier disclosed that “Lady Miranda” got recruited at the age of 14 as a member of Anakbayan, a front organization of so-called “Communist Terrorist Group.”
“She had received Radicalization Courses from Radicalization Centers,” Ferro said, quoting from the affidavit of the alleged victim.
“She then became a CTG Urban Operator, then eventually joined the Communist Terrorism (Red Area Operation) at the CARABALLO Guerrilla Front covering the areas of Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya and Pangasinan,” he added.
Sison is at The Netherlands, while Balatan, Dela Pena, and Caliwliw are detained, respectively, at the Nueva Ecija Provincial Jail, Caalibangbangan, Cabanatuan City; and at Bambang Police Station, Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya; and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology Provincial Jail, Solano, Nueva Vizcaya.