The military on Friday said it won鈥檛 bomb Lumad schools following President Rodrigo Duterte鈥檚 threat to destroy these structures听that are violating laws for allegedly spreading subversive ideas.
READ: Duterte clarifies he will destroy Lumad schools, not children
Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson, said Duterte was only sending a 鈥渧ery strong message鈥澨齛gainst illegal educational centers teaching children to rebel against the government.
鈥淎ctually, kinakailangan mainintidihan niyo po 鈥榶ung pananalita ng ating mahal na Pangulo. Binanggit niya po 鈥榶un pero hindi naman po talagang gagawin 鈥榶un na bobombahin mo 鈥榶ung eskwelahan dahil may mga bata pa diyan 鈥榥o,鈥� Padilla said during the Mindanao Hour briefing in Malacanang.
(You have to really understand the real message behind the statement of our beloved President. He had mentioned that but that doesn鈥檛 mean we are really going to bomb these schools because there are children there)
During the press conference after the second State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday, Duterte said he would bomb Lumad听schools teaching subversive ideas to its students.
AFP Spokesperson Brigadier General Restituto Padilla INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/JOAN BONDOC
鈥淜asi eskwelahan nila, but they are teaching subversion, communism, lahat na. So umalis kayo diyan. Sabihin ko diyan sa mga Lumad ngayon, umalis kayo diyan. Bobombahan ko 鈥榶an. Isali ko 鈥榶ang mga istruktura ninyo,鈥� Duterte said.
(Because their school, they are teaching subversion, communism and all. So better get out of there. I will tell the Lumad people to get out of there. I will destroy that including your structures)
But Duterte clarified his statement on Thursday, saying he had no plans to kill Lumad children but only wanted to 鈥渄estroy鈥� schools without government permits.
鈥淲ala akong sinabi na bombahan ko 鈥榶ang may tao kaya sinabi ko umalis kayo diyan. Ibig sabihin, sisirain ko 鈥榶an because you are using a school without a license from the Department of Education,鈥� Duterte said.
(I did not say that I will bomb it with people inside that鈥檚 why I said stay away from there. That means I will destroy it)
听
No bombing of Lumad schools
Padilla said Duterte was only warning illegal Lumad schools spreading subversive ideas.
鈥淚t was just a matter of strongly communicating a strong position on behalf of government to warn these illegal educational centers (that) are not complying with government regulation,鈥� Padilla said.
鈥淭hat is how we understood the President and that is how we see and appreciate his comments regarding this. Not intended to really destroy the community but to extend a message,听a very strong message, to the people behind the organization of this illegal learning institutions to comply with government regulation,鈥� the AFP official added.
But the military official said government troops won鈥檛 bomb these schools.
鈥淪o kung ano man ang hakbang na kailangan gawin ng ating Armed Forces, gagawin natin 鈥榯o pero hindi sa ganun klaseng paraan (So, whatever steps the Armed Forces need to do, we will do it but not in this kind of way),鈥� he said.
He said 鈥渢he reason why the Department of Education is regulating the way we teach in schools is to make it comply and conform with the value system that we want our citizens to learn.鈥�
鈥淣ow, it is not bad to teach communism per se because we in college learned about it. We read books about Marxism, Leninism, Socialism, and the like. And it鈥檚 part of liberal education. So teaching it,鈥� he said.
鈥淏ut if you target very young minds, vulnerable minds and try to sway them to a certain kind of thinking, that is like brainwashing. 鈥榊un po ang mali dito (That one is wrong),鈥� he added. JPV