Philippines universities reject accusation of Maoist rebel recruitment on campus

MANILA, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Four Philippine private
universities rejected accusations on Sunday by the authorities
that they serve as recruitment grounds of Maoist rebels, days
after students protested against security force patrols at some
university campuses.
President Rodrigo Duterte's government has stepped up
efforts to end a Maoist-led rebellion, one of the world's
longest insurgencies that has killed more than 40,000 people.
Last week, Philippine students and activists protested
against a government decision to allow security forces to patrol
the campuses of the country's biggest university, the University
of the Philippines (UP), which authorities also accused of being
a breeding ground for communist rebels.
A number of UP students, some killed in military operations
or captured, had been identified as members of the communist
party's armed wing, the defence ministry said in a letter to
UP's president this month, without providing evidence.
Lieutenant General Antonio Parlade, head of an anti-rebel
task force, has named the Far Eastern University, De La Salle
University, University of Santo Tomas, and the Ateneo De Manila
University as among 18 schools where the New People's Army has
been recruiting new members.
"We object to General Parlade's statement and emphasize that
our institutions neither promote nor condone recruitment
activities of the New People's Army and, indeed of any movement
that aims to violently overthrow the government," the presidents
of the four universities said in a statement.
The United Nations had warned in a report that
"red-tagging", or labelling people and groups as communists or
terrorists, and incitement to violence have been rife in the
Southeast Asian nation. Since coming into power in 2016, Duterte's government has
seen repeated breakdowns in peace talks with the communist
rebels.