(By Jason De Asis)
SURRENDERED FIREARMS. Photo shows five M-16 rifles surrendered by five members of New People’s Army (NPA) to the government troops in Nueva Ecija on Thursday (Dec. 19, 2019). The five surrenderers will be enrolled in the government’s Enhance Comprehensive Local Integration Program. (Photo courtesy of Army)
BONGABON, Nueva Ecija -- Five members of the New People’s Army (NPA) have surrendered to authorities following a series of operations conducted by 1st Provincial Mobile Group Company of Nueva Ecija Police Provincial Office (PMFC-NEPPO) and the Philippine Army’s 91st Infantry Battalion (91IB).
Lt. Col. Dennis Wenceslao, commander of the 1st PMFC-NEPPO, on Saturday said the five NPA rebels yielded voluntarily to the government troops on December 19 in the boundaries of Barangay Labi, Bongabon, Nueva Ecija and Barangay Villa Aurora, Maria Aurora, Aurora.
The five surrendered rebels were members of Komiteng Larangang Gerilya (KLG) Sierra Madre, an armed NPA guerrilla front that operates in the mountain ranges of the Sierra Madre.
Known by their aliases, they are Ka Dave/Boy, 32, squad leader of Platun Dos and listed in the Periodic Status Report Threat Group (PSRTG) of KLG Sierra Madre; Ka Coco or Tiyoy, Jet Lee, and Rezangay, 21, squad leader of Front 88 and a bomb expert; Ka Steve or Elmo and Yong, 23, political guide of Front 88; Ka Orga or Monmon, Trojan, Esab, and Nogil, 30, also political officer of Front 88; and Ka Jhomike Gaud y Rementiza or Charlie and Jerwin, 20, political guide of Front 88.
Wenceslao said the series of operations shows the untiring commitment of government forces to keep the communities safe and secure from violent ideologies.
He said the five rebels revealed that the continuous hardships, internal discrimination and false promises from NPA leaders have prompted them to go back to the fold of the law with their firearms.
The members of the NPA, an armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) listed as terrorist organization by the by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines, later disclosed the location where they hid their firearms.
The government troops recovered five M-16 rifles, including three with defaced serial numbers, which are now under custody of the 1st PMFC for proper disposition and documentation.
Maj. Gen. Lenard T. Agustin, commander of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division, thanked the hardworking team of the 91IB and all government security forces who helped in the surrender of the former rebels and in the retrieval of the firearms.
“The things we have achieved, we owe to the implementation of the ‘whole-of-nation approach’ which is the break we needed to get the full support of the government units and agencies, and most especially of the people, to believe in us and trust us, to do what needs to be done, to end the local communist armed conflict and achieve lasting peace and sustainable development for all,” Agustin said.
The surrenderers will be enrolled in the government's Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP) for them to receive immediate welfare assistance, livelihood assistance, and incentives for their surrendered firearms.
President Rodrigo Duterte earlier signed Executive Order 70 which institutionalizes the whole-of-nation approach wherein all agencies of government will work together in an integrated and cohesive manner in order to bring much-needed services to remote, underdeveloped, conflict-affected across the country.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1089314
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