9 NPA rebels surrender in Sultan Kudarat

From the Philippine New Agency (Mar 25, 2019): 9 NPA rebels surrender in Sultan Kudarat

Nine communist rebels surrendered over the weekend to authorities in Senator Ninoy Aquino town of Sultan Kudarat, police said Monday.

In a report, Brig. Gen. Eliseo Tam Rasco, Police Regional Office -12 chief, said the surrenderers are members of the New People’s Army’s (NPA) Guerilla Front 73 operating in the area.

“The surrenderers sent feelers of their surrender around 4 a.m. Sunday after growing tired of fighting for a futile cause,” Rasco said.

Mayor Randy Ecija, together with town police chief Capt. Jayson Baynosa, accepted the NPA surrenderers in the remote area of Sitio Blagkasi, Barangay Midtungok.

They were identified as Edwin Manguda Dalimbang alias John, 26; Jay-ar Manguda alias TamTam, 21; Abila Manguda Dalimbang, 21; Adog Dafo, 39; Daniel Digan, 22; Inta Ugba, 38; Tansyong Dafu, 32; Palti Dafu, and Rot Damasio, all of Midtungok village.

The former NPAs also yielded one M14 rifle, one M16 magazine, one 12-gauge shotgun, one 12-gauge shotgun bandolier, and one Ingram machine pistol with a magazine.

Once fully validated, Rasco said the surrenderers will be enrolled and granted the privileges under the government’s Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP).

“The E-CLIP gives former rebels the opportunity to rebuild their lives with their respective families,” the police official said.

On March 21, police operatives of the same town nabbed four NPA members after a five-minute firefight in Barangay Banali.

The arrested NPA combatants were identified as Roger Denglas, 49; Gaudencio Sabarle, 40; Laneboy Dingla, 18, all of Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat, and Rey Tungkilan, 22, of Senator Ninoy Aquino, Sultan Kudarat.

All four are members of the NPA Guerilla Front 73 operating in the peripheries of Palimbang and Sen. Ninoy Aquino towns. Seized from them were one Garand rifle, one M14 rifle, one .45-caliber pistol, and two fragmentation grenades.

Both the United States and European Union governments had labeled the NPA as a terror group.

President Rodrigo Duterte has recently terminated all peace negotiations with the NPA until the end of his term in 2022.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1065540