UP alumna tells own story about terror grooming before a Senate committee

August 07, 2024

An alumna of the University of the Philippines-Diliman, Quezon City, during a hearing last Tuesday (August 6, 2024) by the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs chaired by Senator Ronald dela Rosa, recalled how she was deceptively groomed, radicalized and recruited as a young collegian into joining the bloody communist insurgency.

Justine Kate Raca, a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education Major in English at UP-Diliman told the committee, which is investigating the terror grooming scheme of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) using its student and teacher front organizations to radicalize and recruit students to join the NPA, she was groomed as future NPA fighter at the age of 16 during her freshman year.

Right after graduation in 2019, she went straight to the mountains in Mindoro to join the NPA’s Lucio de Guzman Command, a unit now deactivated for good in recent years except for some remnants still foraging in the mountains for survival.

Raca survived after she surrendered during a fierce firefight in 2019 between her NPA unit and Marine soldiers in Palawan. Her comrade, Rona Jane Manalo, from the University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB), perished.

Her terror groomer, Kevin Castro, a former member of College of Education Student Council, died in an armed encounter in Quezon in 2018.

National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) National Secretariat Executive Director and Undersecretary Ernesto Torres Jr. said Raca is an epitome of academic excellence because she realized that terrorism and violence would never be humane and acceptable in a democratic society.

"From activism to joining the bloody armed struggle of the CPP-NPA-NDF, she was able to restore her dignity as a person from the bondage of deception", he said.

Meanwhile, in the same hearing Raca reiterated her earlier position when she testified in the previous hearing about the terror grooming scheme of the CPP-NPA-NDF.

“I was recruited as early as 2014 by Alay Sining of UP-Diliman Chapter, a recognized organization at that time by UP,” started Raca.

“I myself graduated in UP in 2019, joined the NPA right after my graduation because the recruitment happens within UP grounds. How did it happen? E, ang nagrerekrut sa amin ay members ng student council and they used venues sa loob ng UP to conduct underground organizations activities using the name of student council. At that time, the recognized organizations are the Anakbayan, Alay Sining. We used these university venues, the whole of UP to conduct underground activities,” Raca told the committee, giving a hint on how terror grooming is being done by front organizations.

“I remember one time, member ng student council ang nagpa-reserve para magkaroon ng cultural night ang Kabataang Makabayan (KM) which is illegal, it’s an NDF (National Democratic Front) organization operating underground. And you know what we did? We collected support from students na ipapadala namin sa NPA. And that’s happening inside the university, it's more than an allegation because I was there,” she said.

Raca recalled that for a time UP would not recognize fraternities as organizations because of their involvement to violence, but she wondered why the university continues to turn a blind eye to those organizations inciting to violence like Anakbayan, League of Filipino Students (LFS), KM and others.

“Anakbayan and LFS conducted pagpupugay, I don’t know if you know that. But they were very proud na maraming mga estudyante ang namamatay as NPA. They were proud na alumni nila ‘yun. I can only name a few, I think student ng UP na si Lendo Manais na namatay bilang NPA sa Abra; student ng UPLB, si Rona Jane Manalo na kasamahan kong NPA sa Palawan na namatay sa encounter, nabuhay ako. Magkasama kami sa encounter na ‘yun. Si Daisy Alberto ng UPLB. I know them because we all previously worked as student council. I was then in the student council. I was then councilor of College of Education Student Council,” Raca recalled.

There are lots of students, members of the student council who eventually went to the NPA, according to her.

Further, she explains the terror grooming scheme: “That’s not cut off, after sila mag-UP saka sila na-NPA, no. We’re recruited while we’re inside. How did this happen while we were inside? Kasi nga these organizations by doing this within UP ground, some of them recognized at the time, recognized ang Alay Sining UP Diliman, kaya nakakagamit kami ng mga venues ng UP, nakakapag-apply kami ng permit for activities within UP and I don’t know kung alam ito ng professors or what but we conduct educational discussions na ang nilalaman ay armed revolution. Hindi siya theory na armed revolution. What we are being taught inside the university is that the armed revolution currently launched by the CPP-NPA is correct. Activity ‘yan ng Anakbayan, Alay Sining within the university.”

At this point during the hearing, dela Rosa asked: “May we know kung ‘yung activity na ‘yun ay sanctioned ‘yun ng school?”

“Yes,” Raca replied, “They allowed open discussions” where prospects of radicalization and recruitment were being lectured about Philippine society and revolution history.

“Pero in the end of that, ano ‘yun e, MKLRP ‘yun o Maikling Kurso sa Lipunan at Rebolusyong Pilipino. And what is the conclusion of that is you have to agree na you support armed revolution launched by the CPP-NPA-NDF. You know, that’s part of indoctrination. Ako, dun nagsimula yung recruitment ko. Kasi if you agree to that, ako in my case, I was a freshman, I attended this educational discussion for MKLRP and I agree, at that time open-minded ako kasi what they were telling me is needed, it’s necessary. After that, apparently assessment pala ‘yun,” Raca explained.

NTF-ELCAC MEDIA BUREAU

Ref: Joel M. Sy Egco

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