(Courtesy of PRO-Mimaropa Facebook)
MANILA – A total of 113 members and supporters of the Communist Party of Philippines - New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) have surrendered to the Police Regional Office-4B (Mimaropa) since January.
Data showed 44 firearms were likewise surrendered or recovered.
The latest NPA rebel to cut his ties with the NPA was alias Ka Lawrence, 38, who hails from Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro.
He surrendered to the Occidental Mindoro Police Provincial Office’s 2nd Provincial Mobile Force Company, led by Lt. Col. Arnold Calingasan, in Barangay Payompon, Mamburao on Sept. 8.
He likewise gave up one revolver with two live ammunitions and one hand grenade and will receive incentives for doing so.
“This is a direct outcome of the PNP’s relentless counter-insurgency campaign in active partnership with the Armed Forces of the Philippines, LGUs (local government units), and other government agencies through the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC),” Brig. Gen. Sidney Hernia, PRO-4B chief, said in a statement on Sunday.
Ka Lawrence used to belong to NPA units operating in Sta. Cruz, Mamburao, Abra De Ilog and Paluan, all in Occidental Mindoro.
He is undergoing custodial debriefing prior to enrollment to the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program that offers livelihood and financial assistance.
“This is a concrete evidence that the government’s whole-of-nation approach under the NTF-ELCAC to end the decades-long local communist terrorism in the country is indeed effective and cures the root problem of insurgency," Hernia said. “May the continuing success of this campaign ripple through and finally convince the remaining NPA members to finally surrender and return to the fold of the law and become productive citizens.”
The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, 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 created in April 1973. (With a report from Christopher Lloyd Caliwan/PNA)
