MANILA — Five indigenous people, aged 17-19 years, who were recruited by the New People’s Army (NPA) in August last year, were returned to their guardians by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Thursday.
The IPs, whose identities were being kept confidential for security reasons, belong to the Manobo Tribe of San Fernando, Bukidnon, said Col. Noel Detoyato, military public affairs office chief.
Before turning them over to their guardians, medical officers of the Camp Aguinaldo Station Hospital gave the former rebels a physical check-up.
Detoyato said the IPs cited physical abuse as reasons for leaving the rebel group.
Four of them allegedly suffered physical abuse while the other contracted typhoid fever and was hospitalized for a week. All of them experienced lack of food and sleep, and were always on the run due to military operations.
AFP personnel will assist them as they return to their hometown in Bukidnon.
Detoyato said the five IPs, who were without any weapon, voluntarily surrendered to troopers of the 24th Infantry Battalion and Abra Police in the town of Licuan-Baay last July 5.
The IPs were recruited by a certain Jeffrey Mandangit, also known as “Jumboy”, a known NPA member.
They were told that they have to go to Manila and will be hired as piggery caretaker with a salary of PHP8,000 per month. In Manila, they were forced to join mass protests with the promise that they could avail of a job after a week.
However, they were subsequently sent to Abra and were forced to become full-time fighters of the NPA’s Kilusang Larangang Gerilya (KLG) North Abra until their surrender last July.
Detoyato said the former rebels were unaware that they were victims of human trafficking, deception, and abuse by the rebel group. The IPs told the military that of the 44 members of the KLG, 27 are IPs from Mindanao. (Priam Nepomuceno/PNA)
