Three NPA remnants surrender in Negros Occidental

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD CITY – Three alleged remnants of the dismantled Northern Negros Front (NNF)-D voluntarily surrendered to the Army 79th Infantry Battalion (IB) in Negros Occidental last Sunday.

Captain Dan Carlo Samoza, 79th IB civil military operations (CMO) officer, said these individuals are active members of the rebel group, assigned as Red fighters.

Samoza stated that the surrenderers are adults who were believed to have been recruited as minors, having joined the armed struggle for about 10 to 15 years. He refused to divulge further details of their identities for security reasons.

“Nagiging maingat din tayo. We take time dahil iyong threat po sa kanila ay galing mismo doon sa loob [rebel group],” Samoza said.

The surrenderers were brought to the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (Nocppo) for thorough processing.

Authorities are checking if they have committed offenses that would allow them to avail of the government’s amnesty program.

Samoza noted that these remnants were involved in a series of clashes with military troopers in Barangay Pinapugasan, Escalante City, in February this year, which resulted in the deaths of three NPA rebels and injuries to three soldiers and a militiaman.

With this development, Samoza expressed hope for the surrender of more remnants of the NNF-D. “Iyan naman ang lagi naming panawagan. Ayaw namin ng gyera. Ayaw namin ng barilan. Sumuko kayo kasi tutulungan namin kayo at may pag-asa pa,” he added.

He said they aim to end the movement of the NNF-D remnants by the end of the year or sooner.