DUMAGAT IP REBELS SURRENDER. Outgoing Police Regional Office (PRO4A)-Calabarzon Regional Director, Brig. Gen. Edward Carranza, presents the 26 former communist New People’s Army (NPA) terrorist rebels belonging to the Dumagat Indigenous Peoples (IPs), under the NPA Sub Regional Military Area operating in the areas of Rizal, Quezon and Laguna, during a press conference at the regional command headquarters in Camp Gen. Vicente Lim, Calamba City on Oct. 21, 2019. The former rebels are now undergoing a process under the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program. (Photo by Saul E. Pa-a)
CAMP GEN. VICENTE LIM, Calamba City -- Some 26 former members of the New People’s Army (NPA) belonging to the Dumagat tribe surrendered to authorities last week.
At a press conference, outgoing Police Regional Office-Calabarzon (PRO-4A) Director, Brig. Gen. Edward Carranza, presented the former rebels and the surrendered firearms, explosives, and ammunition.
He said the rebels surrendered to joint operatives of the Regional Intelligence Division, Police Regional Mobile Force Battalion 4A and 202nd Brigade through the 801st and 1st Battalions of the Philippine Army in coordination with the Quezon police provincial office last Oct. 16 and 17.
The rebels were members of the NPA Sub Regional Military Area operating in the provinces of Rizal, Quezon, and Laguna, he added.
"The indigenous peoples are easy to recruit since they did not feel the government presence in the far-flung areas then. So, we have the Executive Order 70 on the creation of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict which identifies problem areas like provision of roads, irrigation, schools, among others," he said.
He said the mass surrender of the rebels is the result of the information operation efforts of the Calabarzon police force and the 202nd Brigade with concerned local government units, RTF ELCAC member-agencies, and the communities.
One of the former rebels, who is a minor, said in Filipino, “Now, we are given this opportunity to change our lives and correct the wrong we have committed due to fear and deception, during the two years that I joined the rebel movement when I was 15 years old."
Carranza also appealed to the other rebels to lay down their arms and surrender to authorities.
“This is now the time to return to us, as your government is here to really take care of you,” he said in Filipino.
He said the 26 surrenderers are now undergoing a process under the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP) program which provides a holistic package of benefits that they can avail of, such as livelihood, medical, education, housing, and legal assistance.
Some of the former rebels were involved in the burning of a heavy equipment on Sept. 21, 2018 in Barangay Maragondon, Real, Quezon; another burning incident of heavy equipment last April 22 in the Kamagong sub-village of Barangay Magsaysay in Infanta, Quezon; and in clashes with government troops in Barangay Kanaway, General Nakar town last May 1; and another skirmish at Lagmak sub-village in Barangay Pagsanghan in Real, Quezon, said Col. Serafin Petalio II, chief of the PRO4A Regional Investigation and Detective Management Division. (PNA)
