SURRENDER. Jessie Pularan, 38, (seated, center), a former Anakabayan member turned New People's Army rebel, surrenders to the Municipal Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict of Tigbao, Zamboanga del Sur on Sunday (Nov. 22, 2020). Pularan says at least five other Anakbayan members are still with his former rebel unit. (Photo courtesy of 53IB)
ZAMBOANGA CITY – A former Anakbayan member turned New People’s Army (NPA) rebel has surrendered to the Municipal Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (MTF-ELCAC) of Tigbao, Zamboanga del Sur, officials said Monday.
Tigbao Mayor Eleazar Carcallas identified the NPA surrenderer as Jessie Pularan, 38, of the Main Regional Guerrilla Unit (MRGU) of the NPA’s Western Mindanao Regional Party Committee (WMRPC).
Pularan, a native of Dipolog City, Zamboanga del Norte, surrendered Sunday to the Army's 53rd Infantry Battalion (53IB) and the Tigbao Municipal Police Station.
“The surrender was a proof that the community now cooperates to achieve the peace they are longing for,” Carcallas said, adding that Pularan also yielded an M-14 rifle.
Pularan was first recruited as a member of Anakbayan, then as a member of Kabataang Makabayan, before joining the NPA in August 2010, according to Carcallas.
Pularan also revealed that five Anakbayan members are still with the NPA’s MRGU when he left, the mayor added.
Anakbayan and other leftist youth groups have long been suspected of being recruitment grounds for the communist rebel movement.
Lt. Col. Jo-ar Herrera, commander of the 53IB, said Pularan's surrender is a proof that the NPA unit operating in its jurisdiction is on the brink of collapse.
“From the surrender of alias Kins (Pularan), we can see that the enemy's will to fight is totally weakened, if not totally destroyed,” Herrera said.
Meanwhile, Brig. Gen. Leonel Nicolas, commander of the 102nd Infantry Brigade, vowed that all ongoing operations against the remnants of MRGU would continue.
“We will not stop the conduct of our Army operations until we achieve sustainable peace in Zamboanga Penisula,” Nicolas said. (PNA)
