‘True’ future is with gov’t, not in mountains: ex-rebel

FILE: Rosalie Arona, a former political instructor of the NPA, expresses appreciation for the skills training she received from the government. She plans to return to her home place in Malaybalay City in Bukidnon province to start her own small business. (PIA photo)

MANILA — A former rebel warned those who want to join the communist movement not to be fooled by the Communist Party of the Philippines’ (CPP) promise of a bright future.

In a speech delivered at the 58th Infantry Battalion camp in Claveria, Misamis Oriental, Rosalie Arona, a former political instructor of the CPP’s armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), said she regrets that she once took part in the decades-long communism in the country.

“Just like you, I was also deceived by the NPA and I take back all that I have said,” Arona said during the Dec. 21, 2019 graduation rites for former communist insurgents who joined the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority’s (Tesda) Special Skills Training Program in Northern Mindanao.

The CPP has been recruiting minors to be trained as combatants who will stage attacks against government troops and civilians.

The recruited members of the communist group have also been forced to live in the mountains.

Arona recounted that when she was still a rebel, she was able to recruit teenagers from Salay, Balingasag, and Gingoog City in Misamis Oriental province.

As an NPA member, Arona said she took charge of teaching the recruits about the communist movement’s ideology.

Ten years after living in fear in the mountains, she realized that reintegrating into society would be the best decision for her.

Arona also noted that the government helped her live a normal life after she turned herself in to authorities.

She qualified for the cake-making training under the SSTP offered by Tesda 10 (Northern Mindanao).

“I am a witness to all the help the government is extending to former rebels,” she said. “The true and straight future is right here with the government and not there in the mountains.”

Arona said she would always be grateful to the government, as she can now start her own small business at her hometown in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon.

The CPP-NPA has been listed as a terrorist group by the Philippines, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

President Rodrigo Duterte has repeatedly urged NPA rebels to surrender and return to the fold of the law, assuring them that a livelihood package and even free housing await them.