Tesda-12 to train ex-NPA rebels

COTABATO CITY: Some 45 former New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in South Cotabato are set to undergo skills training under the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) programs as part of the national government’s enhanced reintegration program.

As members of Militia ng Bayan (MB) and members of the Under Ground Mass Organization have already rejected communist ideology and returned to the fold of the law as the government continues its efforts to end the insurgency in the country amid the coronavirus pandemic in a program held recently in Barangay Ned, Lake Sebu municipality of South Cotabato.

Rafael Abrogar II, Tesda- 12 regional director, on Friday said preparations are ongoing for the training of the rebel returnees under I- PEACE -- the Indigenous Peoples Empowered as Agripreneurs towards a Collective End.

“We will assure you that Tesda will guide them every step of the way to change lives through TechVoc,” Abrogar said during the program.

One of the Tesda programs is for food security in the area through an agriculture program that would provide proper training not only to the rebel-returnees but for their families as well.

Ronnie, an NPA supporter for six years, said because of the continued efforts of the government to reach out to them, they have agreed to surrender and promised to support government efforts to curb the insurgency in the province.

“I have my family and there is a need to protect them and it has been a long time that I wanted live with them, but I could not because we had to keep on hiding from the government military. I’m tired of that life,” Ronnie said in the local dialect.

Together with representatives from government agencies, South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo Jr. extended cash assistance to the returnees.

Lake Sebu Mayor Floro Gandam assured his support for members of the Indigenous Peoples, who were former members of the rebel groups.