5 more NPAs surrender in Central Mindanao
Mindanao Peace Process • 09:30 AM Fri Feb 4, 2022
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By:
John M. Unson
The five former rebels are now in the custody of the 7th Infantry Battalion. (From 6th ID)
COTABATO CITY - Five more members of the New People’s Army, three of them collectors of “protection money” from hapless farmers, surrendered to the Army Thursday.
The five guerillas belonged to the NPA’s self-styled West Daguma South Regional Command-Far South Mindanao Region.
Major Gen. Juvymax Uy, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said Friday they yielded through the intercession of the Army’s 7th Infantry Battalion and the municipal police offices in Bagumbayan and Senator Ninoy Aquino, both in Sultan Kudarat province.
The five NPAs, whose names were withheld pending their relocation to safe areas, turned in their firearms before they pledged allegiance to the government in a simple rite in Barangay Kapaya in Bagumbayan town on Thursday.
The event was held in the presence of local officials and representatives from the Philippine National Police.
Three of the five NPAs who surrendered belonged to a group that collected money on a monthly basis from farmers, local business establishments and owners of public conveyances, sources from the local police and local leaders said.
Uy said the 6th ID and 7th IB’s commanding officer, Lt. Col. Romel Valencia, shall cooperate in reintroducing the five men into mainstream society with the help of different government line agencies.
“Meantime they shall be relocated to areas far from reach of NPAs. This group attacks members who have availed of the government’s reconciliation program for NPA members,” Uy said.
No fewer than 200 NPAs have surrendered to units of 6th ID assigned in different towns in central Mindanao in the past eight months.