36 more NPAs surrender in Sarangani
TIMRA Reports • 12:30 PM Sun Dec 18, 2022
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By:
John M. Unson
The 36 men are now in government custody. (Photo courtesy of Rem Agdon)
GENERAL SANTOS CITY - A big group of New People’s Army guerillas, 13 of them experts in fabrication of home-made bombs, surrendered in Sarangani province this weekend.
The 36 NPAs from Sarangani’s adjoining Maasim, Kiamba ang Maitum towns turned in assault rifles, shotguns, pistols and improvised explosive devices.
They renounced their NPA membership before Army Major Gen. Roy Galido, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, Gov. Ruel Pacquiao and other local executives during a simple rite at the headquarters of the Army’s 38th Infantry Battalion in Maasim.
“Credit for their surrender should go to the provincial government of Sarangani and the local officials in the towns where they operated as NPAs,” Galido said Sunday.
He said the 36 NPAs agreed to surrender through the backchannel intercession of Pacquiao, who is chairman of the Sarangani provincial peace and order council, the mayors of Maasim, Kiamba and Maitum and the officials of the 38th IB.
Among the 38 NPAs who returned to the fold of law are 13 guerillas well-versed in producing deadly IEDs and booby traps using easy to obtain components and ammonium nitrate or potassium chlorate as blasting powders.
More than a hundred NPAs have surrendered in batches to units of 6th ID in central Mindanao since January 2022.
Galido said the 36 NPAs who yielded to the 38th IB shall be jointly reintroduced to mainstream communities by the office of Pacquiao and 6th ID with the help of government line agencies.
Galido declined to reveal the names of the 36 NPAs pending their relocation to areas far from reach of former companions.
The NPA is known for venting ire on members who have surrendered and their relatives.