18 alleged NPA members surrender to police in Eastern Visayas

Eastern Visayas map. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

TACLOBAN CITY — Eighteen communist rebels surrendered to the local police in Eastern Visayas on Friday.

The alleged members of the New People’s Army (NPA) said they decided to abandon their former comrades due to hardships in the mountains and to avail of the government programs for rebel returnees.

Of the 18 surrenderers, seven were from Eastern Samar; six from Samar; and five, from Northern Samar. They also surrendered several firearms and a grenade.

“Ka James” said he went to the mountains and joined the communist armed group after he suffered military abuse during the tenure of the controversial former Major Gen. Jovito Palparan.

Palparan was the region’s top military official in 2015 and was credited for the “significant reduction” of the number of rebels in the region.

READ: FULL TEXT: The conviction of Palparan

He is now detained after a court found him guilty of kidnapping and serious illegal detention in connection to the abduction and disappearance of two University of the Philippines (UP) students, Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan, in 2006.

Brig. Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil, police regional director, said he was glad that the rebels decided to return to the folds of the law and live a normal life.

“And to those who are still in doubt of the government, please, this is your time to live anew. Make your children proud of you for choosing the right path,” he said.

“Indeed, their reintegration into the government is the best decision they have made to welcome genuine development for peace and progress,” he added.

Since the start of the year, 93 former NPA members have surrendered to government forces in the region.

Marbil commended the efforts of his personnel who have been relentless in the campaign against insurgency and other lawless elements.

“It is through your dedication and commitment to public safety and orderliness that our brothers and sisters in the armed struggle have realized to come back to our one government,” the police regional director said.

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