Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors have filed two rape charges against a “squad leader” of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) on a complaint by the group’s “former member.”
In a statement issued on Friday, Jan. 14, the DOJ said:
“Upon the finding of probable cause, the Department of Justice filed criminal charges against Rey Dela Peña, a.k.a. Reynaldo Santos. for two (2) counts of rape under Article 266-A of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by Republic Act No. 8353 or The Anti Rape Law of 1997.
“The crimes were committed in April 2016 at Barangay Manggayang, Dupax Del Sur, Nueva Vizcaya and in June 2016 at Barangay Minuli, Carranglan, Nueva Ecija against ‘Ka Shane’ while she was an active member of the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) and assigned at the Caraballo Guerilla Front in Nueva Ecija.”
The DOJ statement did not state before which court were the rape charges filed.
It said that “Dela Peña was her squad leader and the vice commander of their platoon while she was assigned at the Caraballo Guerilla Front in Nueva Ecija.”
It said that her witness, Francisco Cortez Baesa Jr., a staff of the Regional Operational Command (ROC) of the NPA in Central Luzon from 2007 until 2018, said in his sworn statement that “some of their platoon leaders and squad leaders committed rape against their female members, including Ka Shane, and this was discussed at the ROC in May 2018.”
It also said that “Ka Shane” was recruited by Anakbayan members on May 2011 to the Kabataang Makabayan (KM), an underground mass organization.
She was later sworn in as a KM cadre of the Youth Communist League in November 2011 and subsequently became a part of the Rifle Formation of the Caraballo Guerilla Front in January 2015. In February 2015, she became a full-fledged member of the CCP, it added.