COTABATO CITY -- Some 120 former members and supporters of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) torched on Friday, September 27, the flags of the rebel movement before military and local officials in Arakan town, North Cotabato.

Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Dao-on, Army’s 19th Infantry Battalion commander, said the former rebels also broke their loyalty to the movement by signing the “Panunumpa sa Pagsalikway sa CPP-NPA-NDF.”

The CPP stands for the Communist Party of the Philippines, with the NDF or National Democratic Front serving as an anterior political coalition with other left-leaning organizations in the country. The NPA is the communist rebel movement’s armed wing.

The event, held at the Arakan gymnasium, was capped by a peace rally condemning the CPP-NPA-NDF and the burning of communist rebels’ flags.

Before Friday’s NPA flag-torching event, the town government of Arakan, representatives from national government agencies and the Army conducted a peace-building and development seminar for the discontented group in Barangay Poblacion, Arakan last September 20 to 22.

Dao-on said the program aims to affirm the participants’ decision to go back to the fold of the law.

The participants were from the remote villages of Datu Ladayon, Lanao Kuran, Tumanding, Malibatuan, Badiangon, Kabalantian, San Miguel, Salasang, Sto. Nino, Kinawayan, Kulaman Valley, Sumalili, Gambudes, and Binoongan.

“The group’s rejection of the communist rebels’ ideology and presence in their communities eventually led to their burning of the CPP-NPA-NDF flags and signing the peace covenant on Friday,” the military official said.

In the same event, Datu Narro Layura testified against the leftist groups, which he said, are actively helping the NPA to spread anti-government propaganda.

“Now we were awakened by the fact that we were fooled and that the government is now helping us,” he said in the vernacular.

“We no longer run away when we see soldiers,” said Layuran, who formerly headed a group of mass-based NPA supporters in Arakan.

Under Executive Order 70 or the “whole of nation” approach against communist insurgents, the latest batch of ex-rebels from Arakan is eligible to receive livelihood grants from the government.

The CPP-NPA-NDF is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines. (PNA)