GRATEFUL. Marcelo Tejano, 31, a former rebel from Barangay Alubihid, Buenavista, Agusan del Norte thanks the government for the livelihood assistance he received in a distribution activity in the province on Tuesday (Dec. 7, 2021). A total of 145 former rebels and 15 associations from conflict-affected areas in Agusan del Norte received PHP7.2 million in financial aid from the government through the Department of Social Welfare and Development. (PNA photo by Alexander Lopez)
BUTUAN CITY – Marcelo Tejano, a 31-year-old former guerrilla from Agusan del Norte, said he plans to cultivate his farm and set up a small electrical shop using the livelihood assistance he received from the government on Tuesday.
Tejano, from Barangay Alubihid, Buenavista, is among the 125 former rebels who received PHP20,000 each via the Sustainable Livelihood Assistance (SLP) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
The distribution of the assistance at the Agusan del Norte capitol covered court was led by Gov. Dale Corvera and DSWD Caraga Director Ramel Jamen.
“I was lost for more than eight years when I joined the New People’s Army (NPA). I was the vice commanding officer of the Sandatahang Yunit Pampropaganda of Guerrilla Front (GF) 14 operating in Surigao del Sur area,” Tejano said in a media interview.
Tejano surrendered in Agusan del Norte in July 2020 to the 23rd Infantry Battalion and has since been reunited with his family and community.
“The NPA failed to fulfill their promise of support that enticed me to join the movement. For eight years, the communist movement took me away from my family, especially my children. I abandoned the NPA because I want to be back to my family and renew my life,” he said.
After his surrender, he has since undergone different livelihood training in organic farming, and electrical installation and maintenance.
“I will use the cash assistance I received to develop my farm and at the same time venture into electrical works,” Tejano said.
Twenty other former rebels also received PHP10,000 cash each under the DSWD’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS).
Nancy Borja, 20, of Butuan City, was among the 20 beneficiaries of the AICS program and was grateful for the support she received.
“I was with the NPA movement for more than a year. I was a medic at GF-4A. I am a victim of the sweet promises of the NPA movement,” she said.
Borja said the NPA guaranteed her schooling if she agreed to join them.
“Unfortunately, they did not allow me to enroll and continue my education,” she said.
Her family, she added, now intends to send her back to school, where she will enroll in Grade 7, the level she left when she joined the NPA movement.
During the distribution of assistance, 15 grassroots associations in conflict-vulnerable areas in Agusan del Norte also received financial assistance worth PHP300,000 each from the SLP of the DSWD.
The associations are from Barangays Casiklan, Durian, Ibuan, Lingayao and Maningalao in Las Nieves town; A. Beltran, Baleguian, Cuyapo, Libas and Maraiging in Jabonga; and Bangayan, Canaway, Hinimbangan, Jaliobong, and San Isidro in Kitcharao.
A PHP7.2-million livelihood assistance was handed over by the government to the FRs and different associations.
The Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
The Anti-Terrorism Council also formally designated the National Democratic Front as a terrorist organization on June 23, 2021, citing it as “an integral and inseparable part” of the CPP-NPA that was created in April 1973. (PNA)
