Kalinaw News: NPA couple returning from Luzon yields to Philippine Army

Posted to Kalinaw News (Oct 3, 2021): NPA couple returning from Luzon yields to Philippine Army



CAMP DOWNES, Ormoc City, October 3, 2021 – An active member of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and her common-law husband-member of the New People’s Army (NPA) from Inopacan, Leyte voluntarily surrendered recently to the 14th Infantry (Avenger) Battalion, 8th Infantry Division, PA in Mahaplag, Leyte.

The couple, alias Grace (not her real name) and alias Bart (not his real name), turned over several documents and books about the CPP-NPA and the National Democratic Front (NDF), a caliber .38 revolver with a quick ammunition reloader and 13 pieces of live ammunition, two pieces of 5.56mm ammunition and two sets of acupuncture needles.
The peaceful surrender was a fruit of the effort of the lady’s son who is himself a former rebel that yielded earlier to 14IB as well.

The couple, whose real names are withheld for security reason, formerly belonged to the defunct Evelyn Dublin Command, South Leyte Front, Leyte Island Committee, Eastern Visayas Regional Party Committee. They were together in an NPA unit operating in Baybay City, and the municipalities of Inopacan, Mahaplag, Hindang and Hilongos between 2000 and 2002, before they were moved to Metro Manila in March 2002.

Glicerio Relona alias GR, then commander of the South Leyte Front, recruited the couple in 2000 and in 2001, Tirso Abegonia alias Iko, a ranking NPA commander from Samar and father-in-law of alias GR, sworned in alias Grace and two other women as full-fledged party members.

A wife of a CPP Central Committee (CENCOM) member from Leyte who used the code name “Joy” connected Grace in Manila and initially utilized her in locating and reconnecting with other members of the communist terrorist group (CTG) from Leyte who had migrated to Metro Manila. Grace’s first successful assignment in 2002 was to assist a CPP-NPA member from Leyte who travelled by air alone to Manila supposedly to seek further medical treatment. The CENCOM member who used the code name “Mike” himself met with most of those she successfully located, thereby effectively reconnecting some of them to the urban revolutionary movement of the CTG.

While in Metro Manila, alias Bart worked as mason-carpenter but without his knowledge his common-law wife was still working with alias Joy and alias Mike in arranging meeting places for ranking party leaders and cadres in Metro Manila and nearby Rizal province, and in distributing electronic propaganda materials in DVD format to the media outlets in the capital.

In 2005, alias Mike relocated the couple to Subic, Zambales where a ranking officer of the Workers’ Alliance in Region 3 (WAR-3) contacted Grace. She was asked to speak at the anti-government rally in Tarlac in November 2005 marking the first anniversary of the Hacienda Luisita bloodshed.

From 2010 to 2016, Ka Gary, the WAR-3 leader, engaged Grace in the party-list election campaigning of at least five party-list groups under the Makabayan bloc, namely Bayan Muna, Anak Pawis, Gabriela Women’s Party, Suara Bangsamoro and Kabataan.

Upon verification, it was established that Ka Gary died of tuberculosis sometime in 2017, cutting the involvement of Grace in the 2019 party-list elections.

Lately, Grace’s son, who earlier surrendered to 14IB PA, reached out and convinced his mother and stepfather to peacefully yield. The couple eventually took the risk of travelling back to Leyte a few days ago and turned themselves in to 14IB, PA.

“The Philippine Army, in partnership with other government agencies and local government units, intensifies its campaign against the terrorist cpp-npa-ndf in order to end the local communist armed conflict as directed by President Duterte through Executive Order No. 70,” said Lt. Col. Ernesto Dela Rosa, Jr., commander of the 14IB PA.

“The revelations of the couple who originated from Leyte but was moved to Luzon by the cpp-npa-ndf is a proof of the standard practice of the latter to hide their forces from military offensive in the countryside. This also gives weight to earlier claims by other former rebels that the Makabayan bloc is indeed the umbrella organization of the cpp-led party-list groups,” concluded Brig. Gen. Zosimo A. OIiveros, commander of 802nd Infantry (Peerless) Brigade, 8ID, PA.

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https://www.kalinawnews.com/armys-avenger-battalion-welcomes-surrender-of-npa-couple/