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 shes 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 rifles height to be about the same as the girls. A fully-loaded M-16 weighs several kilos and is heavy for an adult to lift.”
