Tired of life in the mountains, rebel yields in Agusan

From the Manila Bulletin (Aug 9): Tired of life in the mountains, rebel yields in Agusan

BUTUAN CITY – Realizing that the hardship he has suffered of hiding in the mountains at the expense of his family was not worth it, a New People’s Army (NPA) regular bolted from his group’s maintain lair somewhere in Agusan del Sur to voluntarily surrender to a local Army unit Thursday.

Capt. Joe Patrick A. Martinez, regional spokesman of the Army’s Northeastern and Northern Mindanao 4th Infantry (Diamond) Division (4th ID), identified the NPA fighter who surrendered as Richard D. Cagayan, alias “Ka Wendyl” of guerrilla-Front Committee 88 of the CPP-NPA North Central Mindanao Regional Committee (NCMRC).

Cagayan brought with him M16 Armalite rifles and a large volume of M16 live ammunitions when he first sought the intercession of his brother Roger, an active member of the Citizen Armed Force Goegraphical Unit (Cafgu) Active Auxiliary based in Esperanza town, Agusan del Sur.

“Talagang pagod na raw sya (he is so tired). Na miss na rin daw nya ang kanyang mga mahal sa buhay” (he missed already his love ones), said Martinez, quoting Cagayan on the reason why he wanted to end years of fighting in the mountains.

He said the higher command of the 4th ID was now facilitating the support from the AFP Guns for Peace Program as remuneration on the firearms he surrendered.

“Financial and livelihood support from the Comprehensive Local Integration

Program (CLIP) is also being facilitated for him,” said Martinez even as Cagayan was already undergoing tactical debriefing at a local military unit in Agusan del Sur.

As of press time, the former NPA, armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) is still under tactical debriefing at local military unit in Agusan del Sur.

http://www.mb.com.ph/tired-of-life-in-the-mountains-rebel-yields-in-agusan/