20 NPA ‘couriers, lookouts’ surrender in Laguna

SAN PEDRO CITY – Twenty suspected members of the New People’s Army (NPA), mostly from indigenous Dumagat communities on Sierra Madre mountain ranges, surrendered to the government in Laguna province.

Calabarzon police director Chief Supt. Edward Carranza said most of the surrenderers served as couriers of messages and food supply or lookouts for the communist rebels.

Three, identified only as alias “Bonay,” “Raul,” and “Canlas,” were tribe chieftains in sitios (sub-village) Pulot, Magalolon, and Balat Kahoy, all in barangay San Antonio in Kalayaan town, according to police.

A female returnee, named “Deling,” was identified as the wife of a certain “Tatay Kardo” who was killed by soldiers in 2003 in Luisiana town. Deling’s son, Mario, is a member of the progressive group for indigenous peoples, Bigkis at Lakas ng Katutubo sa Timog Katagalugan (Balatik), while her two other children, Aldin and Kokoy, had joined rebels after being “harassed by soldiers,” Carranza’s report on Monday indicated.

In a statement Monday, Carranza said 19 of the returnees turned themselves in on January 11 in Barangay San Antonio to a military unit in Laguna. The other surrendered the following day to police intelligence officers in the region.

He said government forces seized 14 firearms, including .38 caliber pistols, rifles, and a submachine gun, as well as several rounds of ammunitions from surrenderers.

The government under President Rodrigo Duterte has been conducting intense military operations against communist rebels, as it vowed to end insurgency by the end of Duterte’s term. The government has also terminated its peace negotiations with the Communist Party of the Philippines. /kga