20 ex-NPA rebels complete TESDA course

20 former NPA rebels and 7 other individuals completed the first batch of the Skills Training Program in Carpentry initiated by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Institute of Motorbike and Auto Mechanics Incorporated (IMAMI) and 19th Infantry Battalion at Barangay Manobo, Magpet, Cotabato last week.

According to First Lieutenant Prolen Bonacua, Commanding Officer of Alpha Company, 19th Infantry Battalion, the 20 participants who were members of the New People’s Army (NPA) surrendered during the start of 19IB’s counterinsurgency campaign in Arakan Valley Complex on the first semester of this year.

Engr. Franklin Beltran, representative from TESDA said that the participants were able to complete their training, in line with the agency’s National Integration Scholarship Program (NISP), which seeks to empower the former rebels and help them go back to the mainstream society.

Aside from receiving their National Certificate (NC) from TESDA, the participants were also provided with starter tool kits for them to start their own livelihood. They also received Php 2,400 as cash allowance during their 24 days of skills training.

For his part, Lt. Col. Ehrlich Noel Paraso, Commanding Officer of 19IB believed that it will be easier for the rebels to return to the mainstream society if they are equipped with

skills that will help improve their families’ standard of living.

“Government interventions cited in the Enhanced-Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP) such as the skills training provided by TESDA through the Institute of Motorbike and Auto Mechanics Incorporated (IMAMI) is one of their doors towards embracing a new life together with their family. Again, I am calling for the remaining bandits who are still out there in the mountains to grab the opportunities the government has offered: surrender and live a normal life”, Paraso said.