Google map of Lebak, Sultan Kudarat. (Courtesy of 6ID)
DATU ODIN SINSUAT, Maguindanao – A platoon leader of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) and two of his followers surrendered to government forces in Sultan Kudarat province Wednesday.
Lt. Col. John Paul Baldomar, commanding officer of the Army's 37th Infantry Battalion (IB), identified the surrenderers as NPA platoon leader Hadji Jok Marianing, 37, a certain Joker, 25, and a certain Leslie, 25.
They belonged to the East Daguma Front of the NPA operating in Central Mindanao.
“Leslie is the medic of the group,” Baldomar said in his report to Maj. Gen. Roberto Capulong, the Army’s 6th Infantry Division commander in Central Mindanao.
The trio turned over an M16 rifle and a .45-caliber pistol.
Baldomar, whose unit is based in Lebak, Sultan Kudarat, said initial debriefing with the surrenderers indicated that they were drawn to the government’s peace and reconciliation program.
“Lack of support from their leaders was also a factor,” the Army official said, citing one of the surrenderers.
He said the trio is undergoing debriefing for their eventual enrollment with the government’s Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program.
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 National Democratic Front has been formally designated as a terrorist organization by the Anti-Terrorism Council on June 23, 2021, citing it as “an integral and inseparable part” of the CPP-NPA created in April 1973. (PNA)
