From an NPA commander's daughter, OFW shares life after
ORMOC CITY - For some who chose a different path by going up the mountains and fighting against the government, the stories of children who long for their parents' care and whose futures were ruined by the wrong ideas are often left untold.
Thirty-one-year-old 'Che-che', a daughter of a commander of the New People's Army (NPA) here, shared the struggles, she and her two siblings went through while they were still part of the communist-terrorist group.
Growing up, she has not recalled experiencing normal life. She said she would often skip school because they used to move a lot.
Even at a young age, she felt neglected by her parents who were in the mountains either training recruits or engaging in firefights against government troops.
"I would often stop in the middle of the school year because we needed to move to another place. There was even a time when we had to sleep on top of coconut husks because we had no place to stay," she recalled.
She was only nine when her father would bring her to train in the mountains and encounter sites.
"I would question my parents why we had to go through all those hardships and they would only say it's better because we were together," she said.
To get their attention and approval despite being doubtful of their cause, she actively recruited children her age in the white area.
She became a member of the ANAKBAYAN and led rallies in Ormoc and Tacloban City.
"We chose those who were radical, children of farmers, and those who came from broken families. We checked their background first before encouraging them to join us. They are the easy targets."
It was only when her father died in an encounter in 2005, and her mother remarried in 2006 when she decided to leave the organization to live a new life.
"I started knocking doors to support our education. I was the breadwinner until all three of us finished vocational courses because it was what we could only afford," she added.
Although she still fears for her and her siblings' safety, she said that she felt relief to finally do what she wants.
"I felt freedom. I used to be scared of soldiers but I learned that they are not as bad as how my father told us," she shared.
Che-che is now working as an overseas worker, while her siblings are both locally employed.
However, she shared that she blames her parents for why they are being bullied despite being cleared by the government.
"Until now, even if we are already working, we feel the discrimination because of their mistake. People still refer to us as the children of an NPA commander," she lamented.
She said she supports the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) because of the changes that it has brought to their lives.
Che-che is one of the 300 former rebels and supporters who joined the Regional ELCAC-8 Serbisyo Caravan from Ormoc and other nearby municipalities last month.They received assistance and services from different government agencies.