Ex-NPA rebels, militias, supporters yield to gov’t in Quezon, Batangas

LUCENA CITY – More former New People’s Army (NPA) rebels, militias, and supporters in Batangas and Quezon provinces declared their allegiance to the government on Friday, police said in a report Saturday.

Quezon police reported that in Lopez town, 20 former members of the rebel’s “people’s militia,” 39 local members of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), and 839 supporters, most of them belonging to the alleged “fronts organizations,” pledged their loyalty to the government in a ceremony held on Friday morning that was witnessed by local government officials, police, and the military.

In Taysan, Batangas, at least 13 members of the CPP-NPA “people’s militia” surrendered to the Army’s 59th Infantry Battalion in Barangay (village) San Marcelino, also on Friday, the Batangas police reported.

The former rebels on both occasions had no firearms when they surrendered.

The National Task Force for Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict will also give the former rebels financial and related assistance.

On Thursday, Nov. 3, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief-of-staff Lt. Gen. Bartolome Bacarro, claimed that the NPA only has 2,112 forces, while their so-called guerrilla fronts have been reduced to 24 from 89.

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