SOME 100 members of the New People’s Army (NPA) operating in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) voluntarily surrendered from January to September 2020.
Brigadier General R’win PAgkalinawan, Police Regional Office-Cordillera (Procor) regional director, said through the efforts of their counterparts in the Armed Forces of the Philippines(AFP), they expect the number of surrenderees to increase.
“We are expecting more rebel returnees even before the year ends because from what we see based on previous surrenderers, most of them have seen the hardships of their supposed struggle and decided to go back to society through the various livelihood assistance that will be provided to them by the government,” Pagkalinawan said.
Most of the surrenderers were supporters of the Kilusang Larangang Guerilla (KLG) – Marco that operates in Mountain Province, the town of Alfonso Lista and Aguinaldo in Ifugao. KLG-North Abra operates in the municipalities of Boliney, Daguioman, Bucloc, Sallapadan, Malibcong, Lacub, Tineg and Baay-Licuan.
This year’s number of surrenderers logged the highest compared to 2019 (72) and 2018 (69).
The surrender is also attributed to the government’s Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program.
“This could not have been possible without the united efforts and support of the local government units, the Indigenous People communities and peace partner stakeholders under the Task Force in Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict,” Pagkalinawan added.
Procor is also set to destroy firearms under the normalization program for the Cordillera Bodong Administration-Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army at Camp Major Bado Dangwa in La Trinidad, Benguet.