Three members of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) yielded to the Philippine Army’s 2nd Infantry Division (2ID) on Monday and turned over several firearms, including a .30-caliber M1 Carbine and two .22-caliber rifles through the aid of an intermediary in Batangas.
Lt. Col. Jonathan Manio, Commander of the 1st IB, only identified the disgruntled NPA guerrillas as alias “Bams”, alias “Gay-L” and alias “JR”, who were earlier presented to Southern Luzon Command (SOLCOM) commander Maj. Gen. Gilbert Gapay in Camp General Nakar in Lucena City, Quezon on Tuesday.
Manio said “the rebel surrenderers have been enrolled to government’s Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP) and are now just awaiting their compensation package from the government which is expected to be released early next month.”
Meantime, Brig. Gen. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos Jr., Commander of the 202nd Infantry Brigade, which has operational jurisdiction over the area, said the surrenderers belonged to a rebel band called "Platoon Galaxy" which is reportedly part of a larger group that operated in Batangas called “Honda”. This group apparently disbanded late last year due to the continued onslaught of the military.
“These former rebels have validated our assessment that we were able to defeat insurgency in Batangas through our massive intelligence-driven combat operations complemented by our unrelenting push for localized peace talks through the government’s E-CLIP,” Burgos said.
A total of 45 former NPA rebels, who turned in some 30 firearms, have so far surrendered to Southern Luzon military authorities and subsequently enrolled in the E-CLIP program.
Those enrolled received PHP 65,000 each, representing the immediate livelihood assistance while others were either given employment in their communities or have been registered as “Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1060407
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