Army: Panay raids spur mass surrender of Reds

From Panay News (Jan 6, 2021): Army: Panay raids spur mass surrender of Reds (By Ruby Silubrico)

Some 125 individuals believed to be connected to the New People’s Army (NPA) in the town of Calinog, Iloilo turned themselves in to authorities days after the synchronized police and military operations on Dec. 30, 2020 in Calinog and adjacent Tapaz, Capiz.

Colonel Orlando Edralin, deputy commander of the Philippine Army’s 301st Infantry Brigade (301IB), said 127 of these surrenderers were from Calinog’s Barangay Masaroy and another 15 from Barangay Garangan.

They cleared their names and even identified alleged supporters of the NPA, Edralin said.

“The positive effects will surely come because the people themselves accepted that they were wrong in supporting the communist groups,” the Army official added.

Once the surrenderers are validated under the government’s Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integrated Program (E-CLIP), they could avail themselves of remuneration for their firearms and livelihood support.

The validation is still ongoing and so far, 84 have been profiled.

Edralin urged active NPAs and their supporters to come out in the open and return to the fold the law.

The Dec. 30, 2020 operations carried out by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Region 6, Police Regional Office 6 and 301st Infantry Battalion resulted in the death of nine individuals and arrest of 16 others in Calinog and Tapaz.

Three others, however, remained at large. They were identified as Allan Caspillo of Lahug and Abelardo C. Diaz from Nayawan, all in Tapaz and Fortunato Legario of Garangan, Calinog.

Among those who died were three barangay council members of Barangay Lahug in Tapaz namely Roy Giganto alias Allan, Reynaldo Katipunan and Mario Aguirre.

Others who died were Rolando Caspillo Sr., Maurito Diaz Sr., both from Barangay Tacayan; Eliseo Gayas Jr. from Aglinab; Artilito Katipunan from Acuña; and Jomar Vidal from Daan Sur, all in Tapaz town.

Of the arrested, six were from Calinog and the rest came from Tapaz.

http://www.panaynews.net/army-panay-raids-spur-mass-surrender-of-reds/