Communist’s stronghold in the countryside is crumbling

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 29): Communist’s stronghold in the countryside is crumbling

CAMP EVANGELISTA, Cagayan De Oro City -- Twenty four rebels of the New People’s Army (NPA) surrendered on Monday to the 26th Infantry Battalion of the army’s 4th Infantry in Loreto, Agusan Del Sur, the military reported on Tuesday.

Lt. Col. Leonard B. Gille, acting spokesman of the army’s 4th ID, said the latest surrender of armed NPA rebels only showed that the communist movement in the countryside is gradually crumbling.

He said the latest batch of rebel returnees is composed of three groups that came from three different communist guerilla fronts of the Southern and North Central Mindanao Regional Committee.

He said the rebels also turned over a total of 24 firearms and communication materials as follows: one carbine rifle, six shotguns, 12 caliber .38 revolvers, two Springfield sniper rifles, one Bushmaster M4, one caliber .22 rifle, one caliber .22 revolver, and one base radio.

Gille said the latest surrender was the fourth batch of mass surrenders in the army’s 4th Infantry Division in the last six months or the surrender of a total of 168 NPA rebels and 171 firearms.

According to Gille, aside from realizing that the communist movement has exploited them, the NPA rebels, who laid down their arms, also disclosed that they could no longer take the killing of innocent people that oftentimes include their own family members and relatives.

He said that officials of the municipal town of Loreto, especially Mayor Dario E. Otaza, a self-confessed NPA rebel who returned to fold of the law, have been instrumental in the surrender of the rebels last Monday.

Gille said that Otaza promised to rid the town of Loreto of insurgents and NPA rebels in coordination with the military and police.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=638995