Fearing for their lives, 2 NPA rebels surrender in South Cotabato

KORONADAL CITY – Two members of the communist New People’s Army have surrendered to military authorities in South Cotabato, following military offensives that claimed the lives of at least 10 Red fighters in nearby Sultan Kudarat.

Brig. Gen.Roy Gallido, commander of the 601st Infantry Brigade, said the two NPA rebels who surrendered with their firearms and explosives to the 5th Special Forces Battalion in Lake Sebu, South Cotabato, also turned in assault rifles.

Galido said the rebels decided to surrender after learning that more than 10 guerillas were killed in a military operation in Mt. Lumuton in Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat.

Those killed were among the group that tried to celebrate the 52nd founding anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) on Dec. 26, when the military launched an air and ground assault in the area, using smart bombs.

“We decided to surrender now and return to our parents before we get killed,” a returnee who identified himself as “Ton” told reporters.

He said he planted improvised bombs in passenger buses and burned construction equipment of firms that ignored NPA demands for “revolutionary taxes.”

Galido lauded local officials of Lake Sebu and Lt. Col. Randy Banaag, 5th Special Forces commanding officer, for the surrender of the two rebels.

In Magpet, North Cotabato, five former NPAs who surrendered to the 1002nd Brigade, urged their comrades to come down and surrender.

Colonel Potenciano Camba and North Cotabato Gov. Nancy Catamco presented the five surrenderers to the media in Magpet on the day that the CPP celebrated its 52nd foundation anniversary.

The firearms turned in by communist rebels in North Cotabato. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Datu Ramon Bayaan, former secretary-general of Apo Sandawa Lumadnong Panaghiusa sa Cotabato (ASLPC) and who was among those that surrendered, said the NPAs had been recruiting indigenous peoples, considered “vulnerable sectors,” because they were “uneducated, poor and easy to dupe.”

The military presented 80 assorted firearms and explosives surrendered by the NPAs in the last 10 months within the area of operation of the 1002nd Infantry Brigade.

/MUF