9 NPA remnants with high-powered firearms surrender

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 30, 2024): 9 NPA remnants with high-powered firearms surrender (By Che Palicte)

GIVING UP THE FIGHT. The high-powered firearms of the five members of the NPA Guerrilla Front 33 operating in the borders of Davao de Oro, Davao del Norte, and Agusan del Sur who surrendered to the military on April 24, 2024. The military vows to continue pursuing NPA remnants even after the declaration of Davao del Norte as an insurgency-free province. (Photo courtesy of 1001Bde)

DAVAO CITY – Nine remnants of three dismantled New People's Army (NPA) units in the Davao region recently surrendered to authorities, bringing along various high-powered firearms and war materiel, the Army said in a statement Tuesday.

Brig. Gen. Ronnie Babac, the Philippine Army's 1001st Infantry Brigade commander, said the surrenderers previously operated in their area of responsibility.

In Monkayo, Davao de Oro, four rebels voluntarily surrendered to the Army's 25th Infantry Battalion (IB) on separate occasions—one on April 15, another on April 22, and one each on April 24 and April 27.

Two surrenderers were members of the NPA Dismantled Regional Headquarters of the Southern Mindanao Regional Committee, while the other two belonged to the Dismantled Guerrilla Front (DGF) 2.

Babac said the surrenderers turned in four improvised explosive devices and other war materiel.

On April 24, four former members of the DGF 33 operating in the borders of Davao de Oro, Davao del Norte, and Agusan del Sur and one former member of the Dismantled Pulang Bagani Command operating in the periphery of Davao de Oro and Davao Oriental surrendered to the 60IB.

The group brought five high-powered firearms consisting of an AR-15 rifle, a Bushmaster rifle, two M16 rifles, and an M14 rifle when they yielded.

"I commend the efforts of the two battalions operationally controlled by the 1001st Infantry Brigade (101Bde) in facilitating the surrender of the remnants of the NPA," Babac said.

He assured that the 1001Bde "remains relentless" in going after NPA remnants despite the declaration of its area of responsibility as insurgency-free.

Davao del Norte was declared insurgency-free on June 13, 2022, and Davao de Oro on June 22 of the same year.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1223753