Gov’t reintegration prompts more rebels to surrender: Army

From The Daily Guardian (Feb 22, 2019): Gov’t reintegration prompts more rebels to surrender: Army

The Philippine Army’s 303rd Infantry Division is expecting more members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) in Panay and Negros to surrender.

Maj. Gen. Dinoh Dolina, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, said this could happen as the government shows sincerity to help the former rebels by providing initial reintegration assistance under the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP).

“These E-CLIP beneficiaries are living proofs of the government’s sincerity in helping those who courageously abandoned the senseless and bloody armed struggle,” Dolina said in a statement on Wednesday.

He added the growing number of former rebels receiving assistance will encourage other NPA members to return to the fold of the law.

On Monday, 11 former rebels in Negros Occidental under the custody of the 62nd Infantry Battalion and the 3rd Civil-Military Operations Battalion received reintegration assistance worth PHP21,000 each from the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

In Cuartero, Capiz, a former rebel who voluntarily surrendered to the authorities on January 29 received a financial assistance of PHP10,000 from the municipal government.

The reintegration assistance is a component benefit of the E-CLIP for former rebels.

The receiving unit — military, police, or local government unit — from where a rebel surrendered receives PHP21,000 in reintegration assistance as a support to defray the subsistence or meals costs of the former rebel while in custody as well as for incidental expenses such as securing birth certificate, identification card, and mobility expenses.

Once enrolled in the E-CLIP, a former rebel will also receive immediate assistance of PHP15,000; livelihood assistance, PHP50,000; firearms remuneration, PHP12,000 to PHP500,000; half-way house assistance; PhilHealth enrollment and medical assistance; education assistance; housing assistance; legal assistance; and healing and reconciliation initiatives.

The United States and the European Union have already declared the CPP-NPA as a terrorist group.

https://thedailyguardian.net/negros/govt-reintegration-prompts-more-rebels-to-surrender-army/