NPA SURRENDERER. Brig. Gen. Pablo Labra II, director of Police Regional Office in the Caraga Region, reports the surrender of Rem-Rem, a squad leader under the New People's Army's Guerrilla Front 4A, on March 14, 2023. The surrenderer handed over a .38-caliber revolver with four ammunition. (Visual courtesy of PRO-13 Information Office)
BUTUAN CITY – Less than a week after the arrest of two New People’s Army (NPA) hitmen in Cabadbaran City, a ranking rebel leader surrendered to police authorities in Agusan del Sur on Tuesday.
Brig. Gen. Pablo Labra II, director of the Police Regional Office in the Caraga Region (PRO-13), identified the surrenderer only as alias Rem-Rem, who turned himself in to the personnel of Regional Mobile Force Battalion 13 in Esperanza, Agusan del Sur.
In a statement Thursday (March 16, 2023), Labra said Rem-Rem, 26, served as the Squad Leader of Sandatahang Yunit Pampropaganda SIKOP of Guerrilla Front (GF) 4A, North Central Mindanao Regional Committee (NCMRC) of the NPA.
Rem-Rem also handed over to authorities a .38-caliber revolver loaded with four live ammunition.
“Based on information, he was an active Communist Terrorist Group (CTG) member from 2016 to 2020 but decided to lie low because of hardships in the armed struggle and the dwindling support from the masses,” Labra said.
He said Rem-Rem also wanted to reunite with his family.
“The increasing figures of the rebel returnees prove that the CTG continues to weaken. Soon, victory will rest on our hands as more former rebels are convinced to surrender upon seeing their former comrades now living a peaceful life,” the police official said.
He also reiterated his call for the remaining NPA rebels in the region to surrender "and totally abandon the armed struggle."
Meanwhile, in a separate statement on Thursday, the Butuan City Police Office (BCPO) also reported the surrender of two NPA rebels on Wednesday.
The BCPO identified the NPA insurgents only as Rexon, 30, and Bebs, 42, who are both members of the Sangay sa Partido Lokalidad under the dismantled GF4, Sub-Regional Committee 3 of NCMRC.
The two rebels surrendered to the personnel of BCPO Station 5 and the Army's 23rd Infantry Battalion of the Army. (PNA)
