FEMALE FIGHTERS. A female leader of the New People's Army (NPA) and two others, who are still recuperating from gunshot wounds, separately surrendered to the military amid offensives against the group in Kampo Ranaw, Marawi City, and Barangay Litapan, Josefina, Zamboanga del Sur, on Sunday (May 28, 2023). They surrendered through the efforts of the military and police forces in Lanao del Sur and Zamboanga del Sur provinces. (Photo courtesy of 1st Infantry Division)
ZAMBOANGA CITY – A female New People’s Army (NPA) leader and two other women rebel fighters have separately surrendered to the Joint Task Force (JTF)-Zamboanga Peninsula and Lanao (ZamPeLan) amid offensives against them in the region.
Maj. Gen. Antonio Nafarrete, JTF-ZamPeLan commander, said the female NPA leader identified only as Ka Maui surrendered Sunday to the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade in Kampo Ranao, Marawi City.
Nafarrete said Maui, 34, served as the secretary of the Sub-Regional Committee-5 of the NPA’s North Central Mindanao Regional Committee.
She was recruited as a member of the NPA youth sector in 2007 and became a full-time guerilla fighter in 2011.
Meanwhile, Nafarrete said the other two NPA surrenderers identified as Ka Baby, 19, and Ka Jean, 25, also surrendered to the troops of the 10th Infantry Battalion Sunday in Barangay Litapan, Josefina town, Zamboanga del Sur.
Both Baby and Jean are members of the Iskwad Dos, Platoon Uno of the NPA’s Guerilla Front Sendong. They were wounded in a clash against government troops in Barangay Siloy, Calamba, Misamis Occidental on March 31 this year.
Lt. Gen. Roy Galido, Western Mindanao Command chief, attributed the surrender of the three NPA rebels to the "relentless efforts" of the Army’s 102nd and 103rd Infantry Brigades and police counterparts in the Zamboanga Peninsula and Lanao provinces. (PNA)
