MORE SURRENDERS. Four more communist New People’s Army rebels operating in the Caraga Region decided to abandon the group and return to mainstream society in Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur provinces on March 29, 2023. Brig. Gen. Pablo Labra II, the regional police director, said among the surrenderers was an NPA collector in the past three years. (Photo courtesy of PRO-13)
BUTUAN CITY – Four New People’s Army (NPA) rebels separately surrendered in the Caraga region on Wednesday, in time for the rebel group’s 54th founding anniversary, a police official reported Friday.
In a statement, Brig. Gen. Pablo Labra II, the Police Regional Office-Caraga (PRO-13) director, identified one of the surrenderers as a certain Jan-Jan, a Militia ng Bayan member who also served as a collector of the Sandatahang Yunit Pampropaganda 16, NPA Guerilla Front (GF) 16, North Eastern Mindanao Regional Committee (NEMRC).
“Jan-Jan yielded to the Santiago Municipal Police Station in Agusan del Norte after being in the communist movement for more than three years,” Labra said.
The NPA collector also handed over to police authorities an improvised shotgun. On the same day, three other NPA insurgents surrendered to police field units in the region, Labra said.
He identified them only through their aliases “Manuel” and “Marlon”, both from the dismantled NPA GF 88, Sub-Regional Committee (SRC) 3 of NEMRC; and “B.C.” from Squad 2, NPA Platoon Banglas, SRC 3, NEMRC.
The three surrendered to the Agusan del Sur Police Provincial Intelligence Unit and the San Luis Municipal Police Station, respectively.
They handed over three .38 -caliber revolvers, two 12-gauge shotguns, and ammunition.
“Instead of continuing the NPA's lost ideology during its anniversary, they returned to the government’s fold and their families,” Labra said.
He noted that as PRO-13 raised its guards ahead of the NPA anniversary on March 29, no atrocities were committed by the rebels in the region. (PNA)
