THERE exists a subtle but observable pattern in the recruitment, radicalization, and terrorist-grooming of students and of youth belonging to vulnerable sectors. But the single, most disturbing revelation was that some institutions of learning that are supposed to be gateways to success — schools where students enter to unlock and harness their potential — are venues for New People’s Army (NPA) recruitment.
Serious government efforts to expose this pattern were ignored, and naming the colleges and universities where radicalization occurs was dismissed as “red-tagging.” But how else should we believe that, indeed, some campus organizations serve as “fronts,” or aboveground groups, for recruitment into underground communist movements?
We may not fully believe the intelligence reports revealed in 2024 that at least 168 students had reportedly been recruited into the communist movement since 2014. But congressional inquiries where resource persons give their testimonies under oath should be accorded great weight. Firsthand accounts of rebel surrenderees who were recruited in schools point to the systematic infiltration of student organizations to agitate young and idealist minds until they eventually join the NPA is undeniable.
Radicalization’s ugly head
There had been parents who report their children missing after leaving their homes for off-campus school activities like community immersions, research, and outreach programs. Parents spent years searching for sons and daughters, only to resurface among the fatalities in armed encounters with the military, clad in a ragtag NPA uniform and ammunition vests, still clutching their Armalite rifles. And as if to underscore this incorrigible pattern, 19 individuals, including the leader and subleader of the North Negros Front of the NPA, were among those who died in an armed encounter against troopers from the Philippine Army’s 79th Infantry Battalion.
A post-operation investigation report by scene-of-the-crime operatives of the Philippine National Police identified university students, faculty members, and expatriates among those who died in the skirmishes in Toboso, Negros Occidental, on April 19, 2026. Evidence shows that the purported “researchers” and “community journalists” were with the NPA and directly participating in the hostility.
We can only imagine the grief! No tragedy could be worse than that experienced by the parents, who sacrificed everything just to send their children to college, only to one day mourn their deaths and bury their hopes along with their kids who fell prey to NPA exploitation.
The vicious pattern must be stopped!
Interventions through polices and memoranda by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) proved insufficient. They were rendered ineffectual by schools simply invoking academic freedom. The CHED’s intercessions were invalidated by universities with its own charter, thereby placing the school beyond the ambit of its reach — a situation that terrorist organizations like the NPA exploit by citing the Bill of Rights that guarantees freedom of expression, of association and of redress of grievances.
But there should be no sacred cow. There should be no escaping accountability and responsibility by those given substitute parental authority and to whose care students were left by their parents. They who were supposed to exercise authority in schools “in loco parentis,” or in place of their parents, must be held by the parents to account.
While it is recognized that students who were drawn to radical movements do so out of frustration with inequality, lack of opportunities, or perceived injustices, these societal ills cannot be corrected overnight. Addressing the root causes requires massive government reforms, especially in geographically isolated and depressed areas.
State’s responsibility to protect
In my May 3, 2026 column, I asked whose shoulders bear the responsibility to prevent radicalization in universities. It is the state’s.
The state has the sacred obligation: to protect and secure its citizens under the Doctrine of “Parens Patria” — demanding no less than the diligence required of a good father.
In our jurisdiction, while a criminal offense may be committed by “culpa,” or fault, due to negligence or lack of foresight, it cannot be imputed and no punishment can be meted against an offender unless there is a specific law that penalizes it. There is no crime when there is no law punishing it.
Pending before both chambers of Congress is a proposed piece of legislation: An Act Protecting Vulnerable Sectors Against Radicalization and Terror Grooming, and Prescribing Penalties Therefor.
The bill, also called the Terror Grooming Prevention (TGP) Act, “seeks to define and prevent radicalization and terror grooming, especially among vulnerable individuals, e.g., children, youth, Indigenous people, and other marginalized sectors of society. This measure provides early interventions, legal safeguards, and community-based solutions without criminalizing legitimate expression or belief. It focuses on the protection, prevention, and rehabilitation of those most at risk.”
This measure defines terror-grooming acts and outlines the responsibilities of institutions and organizations. It also seeks to create an interagency coordinating committee and identifies its composition. The bill pursues the establishment of a national secretariat, to be headed by the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and the crafting and implementation of a national terror-grooming prevention program.
Finally, the measure sets the penalties for terror-grooming: 40 years imprisonment and a fine of P10 million without the benefit of parole and the benefits of Republic Act 10592, which amends the Revised Penal Code insofar as the application of Good Conduct Time Allowance is concerned.
The late representative Romeo Acop and Antipolo 1st District Rep. Ronaldo Puno; Surigao del Sur 2nd District Rep. Alexander Pimentel; and Bagong Henerasyon Party-list Rep. Robert Nazal are sponsors of House Bills 5484, 7204 and 7460, respectively. Meanwhile, Sen. Ronald dela Rosa advocates for the same measure as Senate Bill 1366.
We, as citizens, should help push for the passage of this law. Let us join hands in exhorting our representatives and senators to support the passage of this law of great importance.
atty.edarevalo@gmail.com