Reds slam ‘fake claims’

From the Visayan Daily Star (Jun 17, 2020): Reds slam ‘fake claims’

The New People’s Army Apolinario Gatmaitan Command yesterday issued a statement condemning what they called “fraudulent acts” of the Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade, citing the fake surrender of hundreds of their supporters and some members.

Rebel spokesman Ka Juanito Magbanua dismissed it as an old trick from their worn playbook to discredit the steadily growing armed revolution in the country.

“These are desperate attempts by Duterte and the AFP to try and demoralize the revolutionary movement whom they know is gaining ground day by day,” Magbanua claimed in a statement.

On Sunday, a rebel couple, who occupy key positions in the Central Negros Front 2 of the NPA, gave themselves up to the 62nd Infantry Battalion and Isabela Police Station. The couple also surrendered a .45 caliber pistol with ammunition.

All over Negros Island, 134 Yunit Militia members, Militia ng Bayan, local party branch members and rebel supporters also severed their ties with the CPP-NPA and surrendered a 30 caliber M1 garand rifle, the 303rd Infantry Brigade said.

Magbanua said that the so-called “leaders”, alias Dodong and Lara, have been disenfranchised from the movement since 2018, while the hundreds of surrenderees in La Castellana, Moises Padilla, Murcia in Negros Occidental and Ayungon in Negros Oriental are but cash cows for the Enhance Comprehensive Local Integration Program of the government.

Every rebel surrenderee is supposed to acquire P50,000 livelihood assistance but several of them received little to nothing, he claimed.

https://www.visayandailystar.com/2020/June/17/topstory8.htm