NPA denies massive surrender of members

BACOLOD CITY — The Leonardo Panaligan Command of the New People’s Army laughed off military claims and that of Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. that hundreds of NPA members in Negros island have surrendered to the government in the past years.

Ka JB Regalado, spokesperson of the NPA Leonardo Panaligan Command, in a statement also dismissed military claims of massive surrender of NPA nationwide, as said earlier by Marañon and the 303rd Infantry Brigade in Negros island.

On the contrary, Regalado said the NPA forces in central Negros even increased by more than 30 percent, excluding other guerilla fronts in Negros, within a year, compared to previous years and their morale are high.

In the 20 tactical offensives they conducted, Regalado reported that they have recovered 30 firearms and other military logistics from the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police, including the ambush of six Guihulngan City policemen last year.

Captain Eduardo Precioso, chief of the 3rd Infantry Division’s Public Affairs Office, said that last month, two more NPA rebels surrendered in Negros and Iloilo, and made themselves qualified to receive financial and livelihood assistance from the government.

A communist rebel who will surrender, without firearms, will get P100,000 cash, and those with highpowered firearms will have P300,000, as announced by Governor Marañon earlier.

Precioso said this is on top of the immediate P15,000 financial aid and P50,000 livelihood aid from the national government’s Comprehensive Local Integration Program (CLIP) for rebel surrenderers.

The CLIP program, implemented by the Department of Interior and Local Government, provides psychosocial and socioeconomic security to former rebels to guide them to become productive members of society.

Precioso said the military estimated that there are still about 200 armed NPA regulars in Negros.

Marañon, a Bayanihan awardee of the AFP, revealed earlier that 80 former rebels in Negros Occidental have responded to his call for them to surrender and abandon their armed struggle.