In two-week span: fourth NPA member surrenders

From the Mindanao Times (Jul 22): In two-week span: fourth NPA member surrenders

Another member of the New People’s Army surrendered to the military on Sunday morning. He was the fourth communist rebel who went back to the fold in a span of four weeks.

Col. Librado Quilla, 10th Infantry Division spokesperson, said the most recent surrenderee was Franklin Maniquis, who surrendered to the 66th Infantry Battalion at around 9 a.m.

Maniquis was a member of the Front Committee 20 of the Southern Mindanao Regional Command. “He is still currently being debriefed in an on-going interview.

We will also know why did he surrender, maybe because he grew tired of the movement,” Quilla said.

The spokesperson revealed that Elizar Tabon and Mario Dala Peding, both residents of Sitio Banwang, Barangay Datal Bukay, Glan, Sarangani Province, also surrendered to military troops last Friday.

Quilla said Tabon surrendered his Caliber M1 Garrand rifle while Peding his Caliber .45 pistol. Both men were members of the NPA’s propaganda team operating in Glan.

Both said they joined the rebel movement in 1999 and both started to become inactive in 2002. Since then, they claimed to have been hunted by their comrades forcing them to transfer from one place to the other.

On a similar note, another NPA leader, identified as Gilbert Daging Meniano, also returned to the folds of the law last Wednesday morning.

Capt. Severino T. David, Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) spokesperson, said Meniano surrendered his M4A1 Carbine to Lt. Col. Joseph Norwin D Pasamonte, 36th Infantry Battalion commander, under the 4th Infantry Division based in Dayaoan, Tago, Surigao del Sur.

According to David, the surrender was made possible through the negotiation efforts of Meninano’s tribe under Hawudon Udjutan Daging and the Panguyo Tu Tribu Tu Panikian.

“We have many surrender feelers and we are optimistic that more of our brothers in the mountains will soon mainstream back in the communities. Let us hand-in-hand welcome them and help them experience abundant inner peace with their families,” Lt. Gen. Ricardo Rainier Cruz III, East Mindanao Commander, said in a statement.

Quilla said the rebels will be given appropriate livelihood programs aside from the immediate cash assistance through the guns-for-peace program.

http://www.mindanaotimes.net/in-two-week-span-fourth-npa-member-surrenders/