Four members of a New People’s Army (NPA) unit operating in
the hinterlands of Sultan Kudarat and South Cotabato
province surrendered to police authorities on Tuesday following a series of
negotiations.
Chief Insp. Aldrin Martin Gonzales, public information
officer of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 12, said Wednesday the rebels
mainly decided to yield and lay down their firearms after getting tired of
their “uncertain cause.”
He identified the returnees as Frezel Dayanten, Soriano
Fiang, Ramil Capion and Jolie Samling, who previously served under a field unit
of the NPA’s guerrilla Front 72.
Dayanten was listed as a squad leader of the unit, which had
figured in a number of major operations in the area in the past several months.
Gonzales said the rebels specifically surrendered
voluntarily in Barangay Datal Blao in Columbio town in Sultan Kudarat to the
elements of the PRO-12’s regional intelligence division led by Sr. Supt. Rolen
Balquin.
The surrender was facilitated by Datal Blao barangay chair
Bai Naila Mamalinta and joined by supporting elements from the Columbio
municipal police station, Regional Public Safety Battalion and the Sultan
Kudarat Provincial Public Safety Company, he said.
He said it was witnessed by Olivert Castro, publisher of
weekly tabloid Masa Patrol Balita and a member of the PRO-12 regional advisory
council.
“After many years of battling in the mountains, they decided
to give up and turn to the government side and lead normal lives,” Gonzales
said.
The official said the four NPA members, who were formally
presented to the media here on Wednesday morning, yielded three rifles and a
handgun during their surrender.
It comprised an M12 rifle bearing serial number 2820572 with
magazine and ammunition, a caliber .30 M1 Garand rifle bearing serial number
2432586 with clip, a homemade 12-gauge shotgun and an SMG Uzi-type caliber 9mm
submachine pistol, Gonzales said.
He said the firearms are now under the custody of the
PRO-12’s regional intelligence division for proper disposition.
Gonzales added that they will immediately process the
release of various assistance and the inclusion of the four returnees into the
government’s Comprehensive Local Integration Program.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=792697
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