Ex-NPA fighter thanks gov’t troops for saving his life

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 19, 2022): Ex-NPA fighter thanks gov’t troops for saving his life (By Nanette Guadalquiver)

NEW LIFE. Former CPP-NPA fighter Robert Carillo Anceno shares how soldiers and policemen saved his life after he was wounded during a clash in Isabela, Negros Occidental on March 9, 2022. As of Tuesday (April 19, 2022) he has fully recovered from his injuries after he was treated in a hospital and received at least four bags of blood from the troops. (Screengrab from 62nd Infantry Battalion video)

A former fighter of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) has thanked the soldiers and policemen who saved his life after he was wounded during a clash in Isabela, Negros Occidental last month.

Robert Carillo Anceno, 23, aka “Kits”, has fully recovered from his injuries after he was treated in a hospital and received at least four bags of blood from the troops.

“After what happened to me, I’m really thankful to the army and the police. Even though I fought them, they still saved my life and helped me seek a new path,” Anceno said in Hiligaynon in a video released by the 62nd Infantry Battalion (IB) on Tuesday.

He added that he has realized the government they were fighting against is the one that can help them.

“It was too much suffering. We had to walk at night with nothing in return. They would just tell you it’s normal. We were indoctrinated almost every day to fight the government,” Anceno said.

On March 9, he was among the fighters of Sandatahang Yunit Pampropaganda (SYP) Platoon Lenovo of the NPA’s Leonardo Panaligan Command, who engaged the soldiers of 62IB.

When he was wounded and left behind by his comrades, he decided to surrender and the troops helped him get treatment for his injuries.

Anceno called on those still with the CPP-NPA to give up and lead a peaceful life as he also asked the civilians to stop supporting the NPA and to watch their children and prevent them from being recruited to join the armed struggle.

“If you’re poor, you will become even poorer because the NPA will still ask a portion of what you earn,” he added.

Anceno was a comrade of Virgilio “Kumander Bedam” Tamban, also 23, commanding officer of SYP Platoon Lenovo, who was killed during the encounter.

Tamban’s group has been identified as responsible for several murder cases in central Negros from February to March this year.

The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.

The National Democratic Front (NDF) has also been formally designated as a terrorist organization by the Anti-Terrorism Council on June 23, 2021, citing it as “an integral and inseparable part” of the CPP-NPA created in April 1973.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1172454