Forty-four members of the New People’s Army in Pampanga surrendered to the military and local government officials on Monday.
In a statement, the Northern Luzon Command said that this move was made possible through the military’s anti-insurgency campaign and the efforts of Sta. Ana Mayor Norberto Gamboa and Major Ericson Bulosan of the Civil Relations Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
The rebels, who also laid down their firearms, were presented to Governor Lilia Pineda at the Pampanga capitol.
Nolcom said that Gamboa himself was a communist rebel during the time that Armed Forces chief Gen. Ricardo Visaya was commander of the 69th Infantry Battalion in Pampanga in 2004.
“This is a time for us to embrace the path to peace so that progress and development can finally creep in to our shores and the countryside up to the far flung communities,” Brig. Gen. Rhoderick Parayno, commander of the Civil Relations Service of the AFP, was quoted as saying. JE/rga
RELATED STORIES
15 NPA militia, 15 kin surrender to Army