By Glazyl Masculino BACOLOD CITY – A family of three, who belongs to a progressive group here that is believed to be serving as a front for the New People’s Army (NPA), were separately charged with two counts of qualified trafficking in persons. Capt. Cenon Pancito III, spokesperson of the Army’s Third Infantry Division (3rd ID), said Albert Dela Cerna, Ma. Pilar Dela Cerna, and their daughter Karina Dela Cerna were charged with qualified trafficking in persons which is a non-bailable offense. Pancito said that Senior Assistant City Prosecutor Fernand Castro, in a resolution which came out on Wednesday, found probable cause to charge them with the human trafficking case. The case stemmed from an incident when authorities had to rescue some minors in series of raids conducted in some militant offices here in October 2019 through a search warrant. The following month that year, the rescued minors, together with their parents filed a human trafficking complaint before the City Prosecutor’s Office against National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) secretary-general John Milton Lozande, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) secretary-general Noly Rosales, Proceso Quiatzon, Cherryl Catalogo, and the Dela Cernas. The complainants alleged that the militants allegedly recruited them to join the armed struggle by encouraging them to take part in the cultural shows of the groups, Pancito said. The Dela Cernas were accused of taking advantage of the minors’ vulnerability by deceitfully recruiting them to join illegal activities such as taking up arms against the government, based on the revelations of the victims, he added. The prosecutor dismissed the criminal complaint against Lozande, Rosales, Quiatzon, and Catalogo for lack of probable cause. Aside from Albert and Karina’s new charges, both are already facing separate criminal cases with no bail for violation of RA 10591 or Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act and RA 9516 or the illegal possession of explosives. Both suspects are now under the custody of Negros Occidental District Jail in Bago City while Ma. Pilar is at large. Meanwhile, Maj Gen. Eric Vinoya, 3rd ID commander, said that “with the development of this case, we are seeing the government’s serious and united effort to quell the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)-NPA-National Democratic Front (NDF)’s recruitment activities, particularly among the minors.”