A youth organization called for donations for the purchase of storybooks from Adarna House to be distributed in other parts of the country.
Streets to Schools made this call on Facebook on May 12, the same day some government officials associated the publishing house to the communist rebellion.
“With the threat of historical revisionism on the rise, we have to preemptively keep the narratives alive!” the group said.
“Help us purchase bundles of storybooks from Adarna House on martial law. We have to educate the children on the terrors of what happened during those harsh times,” they said.
The organization also stated that these bundles could benefit their partner communities in far-flung provinces.
“With your purchase, we can reach out to communities all over the country including Tawi-tawi, Panay Bukidnon tribe, the mountains of Benguet, and more!” Streets to Schools said.
They are asking for P550 for the costs of a bundle of these books, and the logistics and transportation.
They also provided details of their donation channels in their post.
Adarna House previously announced a sale of children’s books related to the Martial Law called the #NeverAgain” book bundle and the “Ito and Diktadura” title for 20% off until May 22.
Filipinos can also pre-order copies of these books via their website.
READ: Children’s publisher Adarna offers ‘#NeverAgain’ book bundle discount
This promo was offered following reports that Sara Duterte-Carpio, the presumptive vice president-elect, was eyed to be the head of the education department.
This soon sparked concerns over historical revisionism in the Philippines.
Alex Monteagudo, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency Director-General, soon noticed Adarna House’s sale of its children’s books.
On his Facebook post, Monteagudo claimed without basis that Adarna House is part of a communist plot to “subtly radicalize” the youth.
“This is how the CPP/NPA/NDF radicalize not just our youths, but our children. The Adarna Publishing House published these books and they are now on sale to subtly radicalize the Filipino children against our Government, now!” he said.
Spokesperson Lorraine Badoy of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) also agreed with his view.
Under the comments section of his post, Badoy wrote: “The target audience of Adarna is from toddler to elementary level children. That early, they are planting hate and lies in the tender hearts of our children. Mga demonyo talaga.”
Youth groups Panday Sining UST and the College Editors Guild of the Philippines immediately denounced Monteagudo’s red-tag claim on the long-establishing publishing company.
🚨 REDTAGGING ALERT 🚨
NTF-ELCAC redtags the Adarna Publishing House! The known Loaraine Badoy who only resorts to redtagging later on commented that they are planting ‘hate’ and ‘lies’ to young kids.
1/3#NoToRedTagging#ABOLISHNTFELCAC pic.twitter.com/laKgRKYwAc
— Panday Sining UST (@PandaySiningUST) May 12, 2022