Can a Small Girl, 9, Engage Troops in a Firefight?

Mindanews editor Carolyn Arguillas has a compelling story on Grecil Galacio, a nine-year-old Grade Two pupil from New Bataan, Compostela Valley. The military claimed that Grecil, who was described in earlier news reports as 12 years old, was a member of the New People’s Army that engaged troops in a firefight. In Arguillas’s report, Grecil’s parents sought to discredit the military’s version of events. �My daughter is so small. Nine years old. And then they say she�s NPA?” the girl’s mother said.

In her story, Arguillas pointed out that “a military photograph of the fallen Grecil, face down, bloodied head, beside an M-16 rifle that she reportedly earlier carried, showed the rifle�s height to be about the same as the girl�s. A fully-loaded M-16 weighs several kilos and is heavy for an adult to lift.”