11 NPA rebels yield to Bicol cops
ELEVEN hardcore New People’s Army (NPA) rebels on Monday surrendered to officials of the Area Police Command-Southern Luzon and the Police Regional Office 5 (PRO5) and turned over a cache of high-powered weapons and explosives, the Journal Group learned.
The 11 members of the CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines)-NPA Bicol Region Party Committee are now being subjected to routine processing if they need to avail of the government’s comprehensive livelihood program for rebel returnees, said APC-SL Deputy Director, Brigadier General Jonnel C. Estomo.
The surrender of the 11 included in the Periodic Status Report on wanted CPP/NPA personalities in the national intelligence list dealt “another major blow to the communist movement still reeling from their series of defeats at the hands of government forces in the country,” Estomo added.
Members of the Regional Intelligence Unit 5, the PRO5 under Brig. Gen. Mario A. Reyes, the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (PNP-SAF), and the Army’s 9th Infantry Division facilitated the surrender of the 11 following a series of talks.
The rebel suspects surrendered a 12-gauge homemade shotgun, a Garand rifle, two M-16 automatic rifles, one KG9 machine pistol, 15 fragmentation grenades, and a 100-meter long detonating cord, ammunition, and various components being used to manufacture improvised explosive devices (IED).
APC-SL Commander Maj. Gen. Rhoderick C. Armamento told PNP Officer-in-Charge (PNP-OIC) Lt. Gen. Vicente D. Danao Jr. that the 11 surrendered following talks with authorities tasked to help “put an end” to the decades-long communist armed conflict in the country specifically in Bicol region and other parts of Southern Luzon.
The identities of the 11 were withheld for their protection.
“We’re further intensifying our program to convince more NPA rebels to return to the mainstream of the society and at the same time account for those who are wanted by the law,” the official said.
