LOCAL PEACE TALKS YIELDS THREE NPA TO CHOOSE PEACE
The mayor of General Nakar, Quezon, Elizeo R Ruzol together with the LGU facilitated the localized peace engagement with NPA and government forces which yielded three NPA to return to the folds of law at Sitio Minangga, Brgy Lumutan, on 12 August 2020.
Lt Col Jesus Diocton, Commanding Officer of the 1st Infantry Battalion, identified the NPA as Joven Retena @ Hamin, Pascual Retena Jr @ Olik and Geralyn Gurango @ Bea. They were identified members of the Southern Tagalog Regional Party Committee’s KLG Narciso which terrorise the boundary of Laguna and Quezon provinces”.
Brigadier General Alex Rillera, Commander of the 202nd Infantry Brigade, said that the identity of the surrenders and their membership to the NPA were validated and confirmed by their former comrades who have earlier decided to return to the folds of law.
“Per our records which were corroborated by testimonies from former rebels, all of them are listed as active members of the NPA, thus, we are expecting them to share valuable real-time intel which will help us in dealing the terrorist group the decisive blows that will lead to the underground movement’s irreversible demise in this part of the country”, said BGen Rillera.
He added that the military is “looking at the possibility that they will also lead government troops to their arms cache after they feel our sincerity in helping them live peaceful lives and commitment to help them reintegrate to mainstream society, similar to what other NPA who had also returned to the folds of law.”
According to Major General Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos Jr, Commander of the Philippine Army’s 2nd Infantry Division which covers Southern Tagalog, among the main reasons for this surrender is the recent neutralization of top NPA leaders in Kalayaan, Laguna.
“The deaths of alias Termo, who was the Commander of STRPC’s Main Regional Guerilla Unit, and alias Jethro, the Secretary of STRPC’s SRMA 4C, have caused massive demoralisation and have fanned the prevailing paranoia within the NPA terrorists’ ranks” which, he added, “can once again lead to internal purging similar to what they did in the 1980s to avert the erosion of their mass base support across the country”, said Maj Gen Burgos.
It can be recalled that these two notorious NPA leaders were killed in two separate encounters inside three days of last week.
He also assures the safety of the few remaining NPA terrorists, as well as those of their families, who will decide to turn their backs from the armed struggle.
The 2ID has facilitated the surrender and subsequent enrolment to the government’s Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program of 604 former rebels from CALABARZON Region and MIMARO provinces.
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