From the Philippine News Agency (Nov 28): 9 rebels yield in Bataan
Nine communist rebels voluntarily surrendered to government forces in Barangay Camacho, Balanga City in Bataan on Monday.
The surrenderers were reportedly members of the Marxist-Leninist Party of the Philippines- Rebolusyonaryong Hukbong Bayan (MLPP-RHB).
Major Ericson Bulosan, chief of the Public Information Office of the Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom), said in an interview on Tuesday that the surrender of the rebels was the result of the collaborative efforts of the military, police and the local government units (LGUs) of Bataan.
Bulosan said the surrenderers also turned in an improvised M14 rifle, two caliber 38s with live ammunition and a hand grenade.
He said the rebels underwent initial custodial debriefing for their reintegration to the mainstream of society through the LGUs of Bataan.
“The Nolcom will continue to work collaboratively with its counterparts and stakeholders to fulfill the mission in pressuring RHB remnants to abandon their armed struggle towards the promotion of peace and security in its area of responsibility,” he added.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1055209
Excerpt from the book "Primed and Purposeful: Armed Groups and Human Security Efforts in the Philippines (2010) by (Soliman Santos and Paz Santos):
ReplyDeleteMarxist-Leninist Party of the Philippines and its Rebolusyonaryong Hukbong Bayan(Revolutionary People’s Army) (MLPP-RHB)
Overview
The Rebolusyonaryong Hukbong Bayan (RHB, Revolutionary People’s Army) is the armed group of the Marxist-Leninist Party of the Philippines (MLPP), a splinter group of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA). It is based in Central Luzon, in the northern Philippines. It has also incorporated former elements of the CPP’s Metro Manila Provisional Regional Party Committee, the National Trade Union Bureau, and the National
Peasant Secretariat.
Basic characteristics
Typology
Communist/socialist. The group is pursuing a rural-based people’s war to overthrow the Manila government and establish a Communist republic along Maoist lines.
Current Status
There are conflicting reports about the current status of this armed group. Media and other public sources indicate that it remains active, but has been and continues to be decimated in encounters with both the military and the
New People’s Army (NPA-CPP) and by the surrender of its leaders in Central Luzon. Two senior MLPP-RHB leaders—Domingo Tarectecan (known as comrade Delfin) and Christopher de Guzman (comrade Acay)—were arrested
in La Union province, Luzon, in February 2007 (PNP, 2007; Lazaro, 2007).
According to the military and to a former RHB leader, the depleted group now relies on robbery to sustain itself (Bayoran, 2006; Lazaro, Roxas, and Espinosa, 2005). The group has been vilified by the mainstream CPP-NPA,mwhich accuses it of counter-revolutionary and criminal acts and has launched attacks on RHB troops in the Southern Tagalog and Eastern Visayas regionsm (Bautista, 2004).
The leaders of three other ‘rejectionist’ Marxist-Leninist groups, the RPM-P, the RPMM, and the PMP, provide more favourable accounts of the MLPP-RHB, crediting the group with more sincerity in its aims and stating that it is expanding to other regions in Luzon (Bautista, 2004). Indeed, Tarectecan had been reportedly overseeing RHB expansion into La Union and Benguet provinces when he was killed (Jane’s Strategic Advisory Service, 2007
Origins
The Marxist-Leninist Party of the Philippines (MLPP) comprises the CPP regional party committee in Central Luzon, former elements of the CPP’s Metro Manila Provisional Regional Party Committee, the National Trade Union Bureau, and the National Peasant Secretariat.
These cadres first ‘reaffirmed’ CPP-NPA leader Jose Maria Sison’s return to a peasant-based protracted people’s war strategy in the 1992 debate but later separated over ideological and organizational differences.
In 1997, Philippine-based CPP leader Benito Tiamzon expelled the Central Luzon cadres who argued that they should work in the urban areas of Luzon and should engage with legal NGOs. Tiamzon accused them of ‘civilianization of the [Central Luzon NPA] army, exceptionalism, and factionalism’.2 When they did not receive the support they expected from Sison, the expelled cadres established the MLPP in September 1998 (Quimpo,
2001).
The group formally severed its ties with the CPP-NPA in 1999. In 2000,the NPA launched attacks on the MLPP, liquidated one of its military units, and assassinated a well-known NPA Commander who had become the RHB’s Chief Military Staff. The MLPP now maintains a policy of active defence against the NPA...."
http://www.bannedthought.net/Philippines/MLPP/PrimedAndPurposeful-2010-chapter16.pdf
Not much has been observed about this group in the Philippine media over the past 5+ years.