SURRENDER. Alias Sam (right), turns himself in to the military on Monday (Jan. 18, 2021), bringing with him firearms and ammunitions that he surrendered to Col. Orlando Edralin (left), officer-in-charge of the 301st Infantry Brigade, Philippine Army. He is already the 310th supporter of the NPA who surrendered in Panay Island from January 1 to date. (PNA photo courtesy of 301st Infantry Brigade)
ILOILO CITY – A former village chief who claims to be a member of the Milisya ng Bayan, a local military unit of the New People’s Army (NPA), has turned himself in to the military last Jan. 18.
A certain alias Sam voluntarily went to the radio station, 100.1 K3 FM, which is located within the camp area of the 12th Infantry Battalion (12IB) in Barangay Libot, Calinog, Iloilo.
He also surrendered to the military a .38 magnum handgun with five ammunition, a homemade Rambo type shotgun with five ammunition and magazine and a homemade firearm with seven M16 ammunition and magazine.
In a phone interview on Wednesday, Jan. 20, Capt. Ruel Llanes, acting Civil Military Operations (CMO) officer of the 301st Infantry Brigade (301Bde), said Sam was once a village chief of Barangay Ginbunyogan, also in Calinog.
During the time that Sam was a barangay official, he was also a supporter of the communist terrorist group (CTG), Llanes said.
“We could not reveal other (information) because the interview is still ongoing,” he said.
As per record of the Philippine Army, Sam is already the 310th supporter of the NPA who surrendered in Panay Island from January 1 to date.
“We look at the waves of surrender and for less than a month, we already have over 300. We announced this so others will also surrender,” Llanes said.
The surrender could be the result of the operations launched by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the community support program of the CSP, which is deployed in their area, he said.
He said those who surfaced could have been encouraged because they saw that a lot of other supporters have surrendered.
Once the profiling and interview is completed, Sam will be enrolled in the government’s Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP), in which he will be entitled to livelihood benefits and remuneration for the firearms that he surrendered.
Col. Orlando Edralin, officer-in-charge of the 301st Infantry Brigade who welcomed Sam at the radio station, said “people are now more discerning and are now able to distinguish the truth from the lies”.
“They have already awakened and have realized that the NPAs’ ideologies are only based on deception and are used only to further their own vested interests,” he said in a press statement on Tuesday.
He also reiterated the call of the Army for the remaining members and supporters of the NPA to abandon the group's violent ways. (PNA)
