Sr. Insp. Bernard
Francia, chief of police in Columbio, Sultan Kudarat, identified the returnees
as Filo Capion, squad leader of the New Peoples’ Army (NPA) Front 72, and his
men, all B’laan tribesmen, Jomar Capion, Rom Capion, Jomar Laguayan, and Ricky
Wata from Sitio Bong-Mal, Barangay Datal-Blao.
Francia said the
rebels first sought the help of Barangay Datal-Blao chairperson Naila Mamalinta
when they decided to return to the fold of the law.
According to
Francia, the former rebels rued that they could no longer bear the difficulties
they experience in their guerrilla struggle in the mountains and wanted to live
a peaceful life with their families.
Mamalinta
immediately turned over the rebels to the regional intelligence division of the
Philippine National Police (PNP) Region 12.
The rebels
yielded two Garand rifles, a Carbine rifle, a shotgun and two improvised
explosive devices.
They will receive
livelihood projects under the Comprehensive Livelihood Integration Program of
the Philippine government.
On Friday, the
surrenderees were turned over to the PNP-12 regional headquarters in General Santos
But Francia
expressed fears that these latest batch of returnees will be the subjects of
liquidation by their comrades in the guerrilla movement.
Two weeks ago, in
the hinterlands of Magpet town in North Cotabato ,
a former rebel returnee identified as Marco Via was summarily executed by
rebels believed to be members of the NPA.
Via’s death came
months after he yielded to the Philippine Army, reports said.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.