BAGUMBAYAN, Sultan Kudarat — Eleven more members of tribal community in a remote village here have surrendered Thursday to the Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion (IB) following a dialogue involving Indigenous Peoples (IPs), local officials and tribal leaders.
Lt. Colonel Harold Cabunoc, 33rd IB commander, said the surrender of 11 Red fighters, including an “Amazon,” came after local officials gathered tribal leaders in Barangay Sto. Nino, Bagumbayan for a dialogue.
“They all belonged to Platoon Arabo of Guerilla Front 73 of communist New Peoples Army,” Cabunoc said of the surrenderers, including Tata Isil, 22, a female warrior.
He said during the dialogue, tribal leaders aired their sentiments against the government and the neglect they have experienced thus many of them became easy prey of communist rebels who eventually duped them.
Cabunoc explained to tribal members of the government’s determination to help them and improve their lives, protect their ancestral domain “because it is only the government that is capable of doing it, not the communist rebels.”
Through the ‘Balik Tribo’ program of the military and the local government in partnership with Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative (IPMR), parents, relatives and local leaders of those who joined the movement were asked to convince them to avail of government’s amnesty program.
After they showed up to surrender, the former NPA rebels had a tearful reunion with their loved ones who they missed for months.
“It was a teary and emotional reunion,” Cabunoc said, holding his tears. “I am very happy I was instrumental in the reunion of our IP people, very touching,” he added. “You will have a very happy and very merry Christmas celebration because all family members are here,” Cabunoc said.
“We spent not a single bullet in winning the hearts of our IP people,” he added of the outreach program he described as a combination of combat and civil support operations in the hinterlands of Bagumbayan.
“Ayaw na ng mga lumad sa mga komunista. Huwag nyo nang ipagpilitan yan, mga alipores ni Joma! (The IPs have rejected communism, don’t force it on them Joma),” he said, addressing NDF founding chair Joma Sison.
“We will sustain this, we will continue to hold dialogues with the IPs in the hinterlands of Sultan Kudarat to save them from the hands of terrorists,” the 33rd IB chief said. Bagumbayan Mayor Jonalette de Pedro lauded the Army efforts and vowed to support it all the way.
To date, a total of 101 IPs who joined the NPA movement have surrendered through the efforts of the 33rd IB since May this year. They all qualified to avail of the Comprehensive Local Integration Program of the government through the Department of the Interior and Local Government. (Edwin Fernandez/PNA)
