BAGUMBAYAN, Sultan Kudarat — Three more communist rebels, whom the New People’s Army (NPA) promised to provide with agricultural inputs and free education, decided to surrender to the Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion in a remote village here.
Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc, 33rd Infantry Battalion (IB) commander, received the three surrenderees while his unit, in partnership with a Church-run relief organization, distributed food and non-food supplies to Manobo-Dulangan tribesmen displaced by hostilities last December.
On Monday, the three NPA members, identified as Ryan Mama, 24, and his brother Daniel, 25, together with cousin Ruben Pagiloy, 21, descended from their mountain lair here to formally surrender to the government.
Ryan said that “Ka Yoyo,” the Visayan NPA commander, had not fulfilled his promise.
“He swore to provide my family with fertilizer and seedlings which did not come,” Ryan said adding that the NPA leader also promised him and his brother they would be sent to school.
“We never saw school in the mountains,” said Ryan, a young father of three children, in vernacular.
Pagiloy told Cabunoc that he was really interested to finish education.
“I never set foot in a government-run school. I grabbed the opportunity of widening my understanding about the world, especially the problems confronted by the tribe today,” said Pagiloy in Ilonggo.
Cabunoc said all three surrenderees would be absorbed to the Alternative Learning System offered by the Department of Education.
He said that the natives were obviously duped by communist rebel leaders operating in nearby Lake Sebu, South Cotabato, into joining the useless fight against the government.
He said the land conflict between the Dulangan Manobo tribe claimants and Consunji logging firm in the area was used by the NPAs to convince indigenous peoples into joining them.
“Visayan communist recruiters penetrated the Lumad communities using left leaning organizations. They indoctrinated the people to hate the government, prompting many of them to join the armed group,” said Cabunoc.
“About 90 percent of the members of the NPA Guerilla Front 73 here in Sultan Kudarat are indigenous people. This is reflected by the fact that 100 percent of last year’s 94 surrenderees belong to the Dulangan Manobo and T’boli tribe.”
He said the 33rd IB had combined combat operations and community support operations in its counterinsurgency campaign in its area of jurisdiction.
“The decisive terrain in an insurgency is human terrain. We need to dominate in the battle of opinion, in touching the hearts of the populace, and in getting the support of the people for the government,” Cabunoc said. (Edwin Fernandez/PNA)
