REBEL-RETURNEES. Some 26 former members and supporters of the CPPA-NPA formally pledge allegiance to the national government during a turn-over ceremony at Mabini, Pangasinan on Wednesday (Nov. 20, 2019). During the event organized by the Pangasinan Police Provincial Office, they received farm equipment/ machineries and other government services from different government agencies. (Photo by Hilda Austria)
MABINI, Pangasinan -- Some 26 former members and supporters of the CPP-NPA (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army) have lauded the efforts of the national government in reaching out to them with government services, livelihood programs, and encourage other rebels to return to mainstream society.
“Salamat sa mga ahensya ng gobyerno. Maraming nabigay na tulong sa amin lalo na at ang buhay namin ay mahirap na mahirap. Ito yong matagal na naming hinahanap sa gobyerno. Malinaw na ang pamamalakad ng gobyerno ngayon sa pamamalakad ni Presidente Rodrigo Duterte (We thank the government agencies. They have given us so much help especially that we are very lacking in this life. This is what we have been looking for the government to do. The government now has a clear direction under President Rodrigo Duterte),” Romulo Manzano, a former rebel and now the president of the Barlo Farmer’s Association here, said in an interview Wednesday.
He said they gave up their lives as rebels during the time of former President Fidel Ramos but they felt the support of the government via various counter-insurgency programs.
“Mas maganda kung babalik na sila sa pamahalaan para hindi na magulo. Andito na suporta ng pamahalaan para hindi na kami babalik sa pamumundok. May isang hiling na lang kami sa pamahalaan na sana maipamahagi na sa amin ang indibidwal na titulo ng aming agrarian reform lands (It is better for the rebels to surrender to the government so that there will no longer be armed-conflict. The support of the government is here now so that we don’t have to go back to the mountains. There is just one request we ask and that is for the individual land titles of the agrarian reform lands to be distributed to us),” Manzano said.
Life as a rebel in the mountains, Manzano said, was never easy to which the other rebel-returnees agreed.
In a turn-over ceremony held on Wednesday at the town plaza, the rebel-returnees received farm machineries or implements from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Ilocos regional office, food packs from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, among others.
“We intend to give more to them as they are also in need of livelihood assistance, especially next year that we have fresh funds,” DOLE-1 regional director Nathaniel Lacambra said.
Pangasinan provincial police director, Col. Redrico Maranan said the Technical Skills and Development Authority will also provide skills training to the former rebels while the Philippine Health Insurance Incorporated enrolled them as beneficiaries.
The Philippine Postal Corporation, through the municipal government, provided identification card for them while the provincial government of Pangasinan provides PHP1 million worth of agricultural package to the returnees who are mostly farmers, he said.
“This is all of government approach involving all agencies. This is just the first batch of rebel-returnees to receive support and services from the government,” he said.
The Pangasinan Police Provincial Office and the Philippine Army (702nd Infantry Brigade), he added, will continue to account for rebel-returnees who are from threatened barangays or those under geographically isolated and disadvantaged area (GIDA).
“They are those from far-flung barangays that are not easily reached or cannot easily access government services thus, are vulnerable to recruitment of the rebel-group. Before they are even recruited (back), we will let them know of the available government services and programs they could avail,” Maranan said.
Pangasinan has been insurgency-free in the past years under given parameters but some still support the ideology of the CPP-NPA, he added.
Maranan said the accounting of former rebels in the province remains a challenge since they do not want to be exposed.
The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
Meanwhile, Governor Amado Espino III said the provincial government will continue to help the returnees to ensure they can better take care of themselves and of their family’s welfare.
“We are here for you and we promise we will not leave you. We will continue to help you,” he said. (PNA)
