ZAMBOANGA CITY – Forty-one New People’s Army (NPA) rebels and 162 supporters have separately surrendered to authorities in the two Zamboanga provinces, a military officer said Wednesday.
Col. Bagnus Gaerlan, the Army’s 102nd Infantry Brigade commander, said 38 of the NPA surrenderers were classified as “Militia ng Bayan”–the NPA’s frontline troops, and two full-time NPA cadres.
Gaerlan said those who yielded on Saturday to the Army’s 44th Infantry Battalion in Kabasalan, Zamboanga Sibugay, consisted of 22 NPA militiamen and 59 mass-based supporters.
Three NPA rebels and two Militia ng Bayan members surrendered on the same day to the Army’s 53rd Infantry Battalion in San Miguel, Zamboanga del Sur. The surrenderers included 72 supporters’ mass-based supporters.
In Titay, Zamboanga Sibugay, 14 Militia ng Bayan members and 31 civilian supporters surrendered on Tuesday to the Army’s 44th Infantry Battalion, he said.
“Their surrender will be a setback for the upcoming 50th Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) anniversary because of weakening mass-based support,” Gaerlan said, referring to the December 26 founding anniversary of the communist rebel movement.
Gaerlan said the military will facilitate the enrollment of the surrenderers to the government’s Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP).
“We commend the LGUs (local government units), barangay officials, and other stakeholders who implemented the localized peace talks,” the military official added.
Maj. Gen. Roseller Murillo, the Army’s 1st Infantry Division and Joint Task Force Zampelan commander, called on the remaining NPA members “to return to the folds of law and take advantage of the E-CLIP and spend the Yuletide season with their families.”
