NPAs urged to come down, avail of livelihood program

From the Manila Bulletin (Jan 9): NPAs urged to come down, avail of livelihood program

The remaining members of the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), on Tuesday were urged to come down and avail of the government’s peace, livelihood and development program.



New People’s Army (NPA) fighters in formation in the Sierra Madre mountain range.
(AFP/ MANILA BULLETIN)

The NPA terrorists were asked to lay down their arms peacefully and take advantage of the “Balik-Baril, Bayad Agad” program and the Comprehensive Local Integration Program (CLIP) for rebel returnees, jointly implemented by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process (OPPAP), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and different local government units (LGUs).

Maj. Gen. Ronald C. Villanueva, commanding general of the Army’s Northeastern and Northern Mindanao 4th Infantry (Diamond) Division,called upon the NPAs to come down and be spared from the current offensive operations conducted by field units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

“Surrender now or face the consequences of your evil activities,” he said.

“There will be no let-up in our operation to hunt down the remaining terrorist members in this part of the country,” the highest-ranking area commander of the AFP in northeastern and northern Mindanao, said.

He said that combat maneuvering battalions and the operational control (Opcon) units of the 401st Infantry Brigade, 402nd Brigade and 403rd Brigade, supported by earth-moving equipment, Artillery battalions and air assets of the Philippine Air Force’s (PAF) Strike Wing and Helicopter Wing, are complementing each other “to crush” the remaining communist terrorists in the region.

Last Jan. 5, the combat maneuvering battalion under the 403rd Brigade scored one dead, several wounded, and one AK47 recovered when the battalion engaged NPA terrorists at the outskirts of Sitio Mahan-aw, Barangay Bulonay, Impasugong town, Bukidnon province, military sources said.

https://news.mb.com.ph/2018/01/09/npas-urged-to-come-down-avail-of-livelihood-program/