CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao — Two New People’s Army (NPA) members deserted the communist movement and surrendered with their weapons to military authorities in Tacurong City on Friday, an Army official said Saturday.
Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc, commander of the Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion (IB), identified the surrenderers as brothers Boyet Ador, 19, and Ato Ador, 18, who are members of the Dulangan-Manobo tribe.
They were accompanied by their father, Jun Ador, 48, during a formal handover to Col. Robert Dauz, the newly installed commander of the Army’s 1st Mechanized Infantry Brigade (MIB), at the 1st MIB camp at about 1:30 p.m.
Both siblings said their father, himself an NPA surrenderer, convinced them to abandon the communist group.
“We decided to surrender because our father told us about the social benefits given by the government to former NPA combatants,” said Boyet, the older sibling.
The duo brought with them a 40-mm. grenade launcher and a locally-manufactured M16 rifle during the surrender rites.
Since January, more than 160 rebels have yielded to the military’s 33rd IB in adjoining Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao provinces.
Dauz expressed elation over the decision of the Ador siblings to lay down their arms.
“We don’t need to fight to solve community problems. I will facilitate the release of your social benefits under the Enhanced Local Integration Program,” the military official told the surrenderers.
Dauz said NPA members who previously yielded to authorities in Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao have been granted social benefits by the government through the Task Force Balik-Loob headed by former Army chief, Lt. Gen. Reynaldo Mapagu.
Most of the surrenderers were “Lumads” (natives) who were allegedly deceived by NPA front leaders into joining the communist terrorist group by exploiting social issues, the military official said. (Edwin Fernandez/PNA)
