11 ‘rebels’ surrender

By Jennifer P. Rendon

 

Eleven alleged members of the New People’s Army (NPA) operating in Southern Panay surrendered on June 20, 2020 to government troops following weeks of negotiation.

The Antique Police Provincial Office (AnPPO) and the 61st Infantry Brigade facilitated the surrender of purported NPA members at Poblacion, Culasi, Antique.

Police Brigadier General Rene Pamuspusan, Western Visayas police chief, said the youngest surrenderer is 23 years old while 58 is the oldest.

Pamuspusan only identified the surrenderees as a certain Paner, squad leader of Igabon Platoon; and Anton/Minmin or Dario also a squad leader of Napoleon Tumagtang Command.

The nine others are combatant of Napoleon Tumagtang Command and the NPA’s Northern Front. They were identified as Bobet, Dodoy, Tams, Boy, Nini or Omar, Boy/Ontor/Ronot, JR, Amar, Jojo, and Jan-Jan.

They also turned over two homemade shotguns, a caliber .45 pistol with ammunition, three handheld grenades, five rifle grenades, 2.40mm ammunition, nine 12-gauge shotgun shell, and a magazine and 7 ammunition for caliber .45 pistol.

Pamuspusan said authorities have validated that the surrenderees are indeed NPA members.

 

RELENTLESS CAMPAIGN

Pamuspusan said the surrender was also due to the relentless law enforcement campaign and active combat operations against the CPP-NPA operating in Western Visayas, with the active support of the Armes Forces of the Philippines, through the implementation of Executive Order No. 70.

Signed on Dec. 4, 2018, EO 70 is about “Institutionalizing the Whole-Of-Nation Approach in Attaining Inclusive and Sustainable Peace, Creating A National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, and Directing the Adoption of A National Peace Framework.”

Pamuspusan said EO 70 has been instrumental for several surrenders in the past several months.

“Unti-unti na silang nalalagas. They want to project that they are still a force to reckon with,” he said.

Authorities claimed they received surrender feelers from several active NPA combatants.

“I think this is also one of the positive effects that they saw that their comrades who surrendered were treated nicely by authorities… that the government is accepting them openly,” Pamuspusan said.

He said that they are now processing the inclusion of the 11 surrenderees to the Enhanced – Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP).