From the Philippine News Agency (Jul 4, 2019): 17 ex-NPAs, kin get skills training in Sarangani
A total of 17 former members of New People's Army (NPA) from Sarangani province, including some of their family members, graduated on Wednesday from a free skills training program facilitated by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) 12 (Soccsksargen).
Rafael Abrogar II, TESDA-12 director, said Thursday the beneficiaries are all residents of Maasim town, Sarangani who qualified to avail of the agency's skills training program for rebel returnees. They completed a 15-day training on driving and received National Certification (NC) II for the program.
Abrogar said the beneficiaries consisted of nine former rebels who yielded these past years and eight family members of other returnees.
A report released by TESDA-12 said some of the rebel returnees enrolled their family members as replacements. One of them, who was only identified as alias Anna, replaced her uncle who could not undergo the training due to mental health problems.
Abrogar said Anna's husband was also an NPA member who was killed in an encounter with government troops several years ago.
Meanwhile, Maasim Mayor Zyrex Pacquiao vowed to assist the beneficiaries in finding work opportunities.
Abrogar said they are hoping that more rebels will also surrender and avail of various assistance from the national government, including TESDA's skills training programs.
"Our Director General, Secretary Sid (Isidro) Lapeña, has been challenging our beneficiaries to convince their former comrades to surrender so they also lead normal lives with their families," he said.
He added that about 200 more former rebels and their dependents in Maasim town were also enrolled by the municipal government for the skills training program.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1074070
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