Nine NPA rebels abandon armed struggle in Catanduanes

From Philippine Information Agency (Jan 30): Nine NPA rebels abandon armed struggle in Catanduanes

The Army unit in the island province of Catanduanes continues to win the peace as a significant number of NPA rebels abandoned the armed struggle and joined the main stream of the society this January.

“Nine NPA rebels made the right decision to go down the mountains from the period Jan 17-27 this year,” said Lieutenant Colonel Rodolfo Batang, commanding officer of the 83rd Infantry Battalion based in San Andres town in Catanduanes.  

Batang said the primary activities the unit is focusing now is the enrichment of knowledge of the former rebels through livelihood programs and seminars that they hope would enable them to support themselves when they are taken back to the mainstream society.

In 2012, also eight NPA rebels surrendered to the 83rd Infantry Battalion under the leadership of Batang.

“Through our Bayanihan Teams (BTs) which are deployed in insurgency influenced areas in Catanduanes, the citizens are educated on the importance of the IPSP 'Bayanihan' campaign of the AFP against insurgency,” said Brigadier General Ricardo R Visaya AFP, commander of the 901st Infantry Brigade in Daraga, Albay.

The brigade has operational jurisdiction of Army units in Albay and Catanduanes.

“The active presence of our BTs and the continuous operations drove them to voluntarily go down the mountains because they are no longer able to move freely among the masses from whom they used extortion money and other insurgency tactics,” Visaya said.

He also said that these surrenderees should set as examples for other rebels to follow.

Aside from the “snowball” of surrenders, Visaya said that through the efforts of the Bayanihan Teams, an M16 rifle, an M203 grenade launcher and 46 pieces of 40mm grenade launcher ammunition were also surrendered last January 20, 2013 in San Vicente, Virac, Catanduanes.

http://www.pia.gov.ph/news/index.php?article=771359527288