MORE SURRENDERERS. Along with their firearms, five more persons who claimed to be active combatants of the communist New People’s Army surrendered on Monday (Nov. 25, 2019) to the Army's 8th Infantry Battalion based in Bukidnon. (Photo courtesy of Army's 8th IB)
IMPASUGONG, Bukidnon -- Five more persons who claimed to be active combatants of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) surrendered on Monday to the Army's 8th Infantry Battalion (8IB).
This came following the surrender of 14 NPA members on Saturday (November 23), putting the total number of surrenderers within the three-day span to 19, according to the 8IB.
The NPA surrenderers belong to the same group, the Sub-regional Committee 2 of the NPA's North Central Mindanao Regional Command who are harassing residents in Cabanglasan town, Bukidnon, the military said.
All of them surrendered along with their firearms, said Lt. Colonel Ronald Illana, 8IB commanding officer.
Illana said the heightened promotion of the government's Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-Clip) by the Army Community Support Program Teams and the continuous military operations played major role in their surrender.
One of the surrenderers identified only as "Branch," 31, a former squad leader of SRC 2, was quoted by 8IB as saying that his surrender was prompted by the government's program for rebel returnees.
“I received information about the ECLIP, that it is a program of the government intended for us so I decided to yield as the others did," he was quoted in the dialect.
Illana said they are expecting "more NPA members to surrender as we intensify our combat operation and CSP (community support program) immersion. We will not allow them to rest until they choose to surrender".
He reiterated his call for the remaining members of the rebels in Bukidnon to "surrender now to the CSP Teams in their community because the government is there ready to help them". (PNA)
