5 Reds surrender to gov’t troops in Laguna

FILE: Turn-Over Ceremony of the 16 surrendered SAF firearms on Thursday, February 19 at Camp Aguinaldo. (PNP-PIO)

MANILA – Five more members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) have voluntarily surrendered to government security forces in Kalayaan, Laguna on Sunday.

In a statement Tuesday, 202nd Infantry Brigade commander, Brig.

Gen. Alex Rillera, said negotiations with the communist rebels took place at Barangay San Antonio that resulted in the surrender of three firearms.

He said the surrenderers belong to the CPP-NPA’s NPA’s Sub-Regional Military Area or SRMA 4A and 4C which operates in the boundaries of Batangas, Cavite, Rizal, and Quezon.

The names of the surrendered NPAs are being withheld as part of the security protocol being implemented to prevent possible retaliatory actions against them by their former comrades.

“All NPA terrorists who chose to abandon armed struggle will be treated by our soldiers humanely and with dignity which is contrary to what the underground movement has been indoctrinating to their members,” Rillera said.

On the other hand, he said those who insist on staying the path of terrorism are destined to meet tragic ends. Rillera said the surrendered NPAs will undergo debriefing and profiling as part of the enrollment process to the government’s Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program or E-CLIP wherein a former rebel could receive up to PHP700,000 worth of grants and reintegration packages.

He attributed the NPA’s eroding manpower and firearms support to the military’s “relentless intelligence-driven combat operations complemented by the unrelenting push for localized peace talks”.

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