Thursday, October 1, 2020

Army lauds surrender of two NPA team leaders in Agusan Norte

From the Philippine News Agency (Oct 1, 2020): Army lauds surrender of two NPA team leaders in Agusan Norte (By Alexander Lopez)



Lt. Col. Julius Cesar C. Paulo, commander of the Army's 23rd Infantry Battalion. (PNA file photo by Alexander Lopez)

The Philippine Army has welcomed the surrender of two team leaders of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) operating in Agusan del Norte.

1Lt. Roel T. Maglalang, civil-military operations officer of the Army's 23rd Infantry Battalion (23IB), said the rebels surrendered at the battalion’s headquarters in Barangay Alubihid, Buenavista on two separate occasions last month.

Maglalang said the surrenderers – "Fredie”, 39, a resident of Carmen, and “Jay-R”, 24, a resident of Buenavista, both in Agusan del Norte – held important roles as team leaders in the Guerrilla Front (GF) 4A of the NPA's North Central Mindanao Committee.


“They all complained of being tired with the movement and both have shown disgust over their leaders whom they accused of disregarding the welfare of their comrades and their families,” he told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Thursday.

Upon his surrender, “Fredie” handed over to the Army one MK-2 fragmentation hand grenade, Maglalang said.

Lt. Col. Julius Cesar C. Paulo, 23IB commander, welcomed the surrender of the two NPA combatants, saying "disillusionment finally broke their loyalty to the movement they thought would bring their families to better lives."

“They were made to believe in lies. Alias Fredie told us that he was recruited because the Communist NPA Terrorist (CNT) is winning the revolution and that the movement will eventually give better lives to their families. While inside the movement, they themselves found out that the promises made by the leaders were lies,” Paulo said on Thursday.

He said he believes that more NPA members would come down and return to their families "because of the real hardships they now experience with the movement."

Paulo noted that in the 51 years of the NPA revolution, "only their leaders have gained from the hardships and enslavement of their ordinary members, fighters and supporters."

He said the 23IB is helping the surrenderers obtain government benefits under the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (ECLIP).

“The ECLIP has already changed the lives of former rebels in Agusan del Norte. The renewed lives of our former rebels constantly remind those who are still in the movement to change their minds and go back to the fold of the law. They still have the chance and the government is always open to accept them,” Paulo said.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1117254

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