Heeding Duterte, 44 Reds yield in Pampanga

SURRENDER Some of the firearms handed over by 44 surrendering communist rebels are displayed on a table at Pampanga’s provincial capitol in the City of San Fernando. NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—Ahead of the resumption of peace talks between the government and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), 44 rebels surrendered to local officials here on Monday to express support for the efforts of President Duterte to end one of the world’s longest insurgencies.

Called the “Sta. Ana 44,” after the name of the Pampanga town where they were born, the rebels were presented to Gov. Lilia Pineda, Vice Gov. Dennis Pineda, Lt. Col. Ramil Anoyo, commander of the Army’s 48th Infantry Battalion, and Chief Supt. Aaron Aquino, Central Luzon police director.

They were accompanied by Sta. Ana Mayor Norberto Gamboa, a former leader of the New People’s Army, the CPP’s armed wing, who surrendered in 2004 to now Gen. Ricardo Visaya, Armed Forces chief of staff.

“These are partisans of the NPA, members of propaganda units and members of CPP branches in the villages. Some are with the Rebolusyonaryong Hukbong Bayan (RHB) and [others are with the] Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan (HMB). They have been operating in the fringes of Pampanga,” said Gamboa, who used the alias “Commander Ros” when he was in the NPA.

Their ages ranged from 35 to 70 years old.

The RHB is the armed wing of the Marxist-Leninist Party of the Philippines, which broke away from the CPP in 1997 over ideological differences. The HMB is the armed wing of the old Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas.

Gamboa was joined by Arayat Mayor Emmanuel Bonifacio Alejandrino, a former military chief of the HMB.

Anoyo said no one in the batch of rebel returnees had criminal cases. He assured one of the rebels, Jeanette Macasaquit, also known as “Ka Joy,” that she was not in the military’s order of battle or on any list of targets.

Former rebels Conrado Galang, Roberto Maniago and Nicolas Nicdao also surrendered six firearms, mostly old ones.

In the program, Gamboa described the former rebels as “victims,” saying “people in high places did not lift a finger to ease poverty while the rebels risked lives defending the poor.”

Both Anoyo and Aquino, however, said that “communism is almost dead in Central Luzon.” The military declared Pampanga, together with Aurora and Tarlac, to be “insurgency-free” as early as 2012.

Pineda said the provincial and local governments will provide funds for livelihood projects for former rebels.