Solcom welcomes new rebel returnee

From the Philippine News Agency (May 5): Solcom welcomes new rebel returnee

CAMP GUILLERMO NAKAR, Lucena City -– The Southern Luzon Command (Solcom) here welcomed another communist rebel who decided to abandon the outlawed and armed struggle and surrendered to government authorities.

In a report released Monday to the PNA here, Solcom commander Lt. Gen. Caesar Ronnie F. Ordoyo named the New People’s Army member as Dennis Callao also known as "Rolex", a prominent leader in the underground movement.

Lt. Gen. Ordoyo said Callao is a former Squad Leader of Komiteng Probinsya (KOMPROB) of Albay.

He divulged that the rebel voluntarily surrendered without firearms to the Bayanihan Team of the 2nd Infantry Battalion last week at Sitio Gayong, Barangay Sto. Niño, Bacon District in Sorsogon.

Ordoyo explained that under the Comprehensive Local Integration Program (CLIP) of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), the rebel returnee is entitled to receive Php50,000 as livelihood assistance and Php15,000 for immediate assistance.

Lt. Ordoyo expressed the increasing number of surrenderees only manifests the general sentiments of the rebels who now prefer safe and peaceful community and living normal lives.

“The continuing surrender of the rebels illustrates their organization has gradually disintegrated and has weakened the communist movement due to the members’ aspirations to live in peace and reject violence,” Lt. Gen. Ordoyo remarked.

He sounded his call on the dissidents and rebel groups to return to the government’s fold, lead peaceful lives and support the country’s growth and development efforts.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=640701