At least 21 supporters of the New People’s Army (NPA) surrendered on Sunday, Feb. 17, to the 71st Infantry Battalion at the Balik Loob Assistance Center in Pantukan town, Compostela Valley province.
According to the battalion’s civil military officer 1st Lt. Jhocell Asis, majority of the surrenderers are small-scale miners and habal-habal (motorbike) drivers, who admitted of giving P200 every month to the NPA.
Asis said that the former NPA supporters revealed that the rebels sometimes took over their mining activities.
To entice them to join the communist-organized rallies, demonstrators were exempted from the enforced burden, said Asis, qouting from the confessions of the former NPA supporters.
Aside from their displeasure over the NPA extortion, a known collector of NPA protection money named “Alex” who yielded to the army last Jan. 24 was also instrumental in their surrender.
Lt. Col. Esteveyn Ducusin, battalion commander, said the surrender is “a wake-up call for those who continue supporting the pointless ideologies of the rebels.”
“It has been 50 years of crimes and extortion towards the innocent people of the country. We should not let it continue and it should stop now,” Ducusin said.
He encouraged the remaining NPA members and supporters to surrender.
Asis said the surrenderers will be prioritized in any livelihood project that will be provided by Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), other line agencies, local government units and the private entities that support the rebels’ return to normal life.
“Our unit will also facilitate the formation of the former rebels into a people’s organization that will be registered with DOLE, Department of Trade and Industry, and Department of Social Welfare and Development , among others, for (them to benefit from the benefactors’) programs,” she said.
https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1018715
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