‘Terrorist’ tag forcing NPAs to surrender – Army

CAMP BANCASI, Butuan City – The regional Public Affairs Office (PAO) of the Army’s Northeastern and Northern Mindanao Fourth Infantry (Diamond) Division (4th ID) on Tuesday disclosed that declaring members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) as “terrorists” by President Rodrigo R. Duterte has led to the exodus of its fighters and supporters in various parts of Mindanao.

After declaring them as terrorists, the President also ordered the re-arrest of negotiators of the CPPNPA and National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) after the peace talks with the government were derailed.

“We believed that the orders of the President made these NPA regulars and supporters voluntarily surrender to field units as some of their officials were also arrested,” First Lt. Teresita Inghente of the 4th ID-PAO said.

The proclamation of the CPP and NPA as terrorist groups, which is in accordance with the Human Security Act (Republic Act No. 9372), also allowed Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea to instruct the Department of Justice (DOJ) to pursue charges against communist rebels and their leaders.

The 4th ID-PAO cited the recent separate arrests of the two highranking CPP-NPA officials in Misamis Occidental and Butuan City that caused the surrender of more NPAs in Mindanao.

“The NPAs are also tired of continuous running in the mountains and already wanted to live peacefully and be productive citizens in their respective localities,” the officer of the 4th ID-PAO said.

She added that the peace, liveli- hood and development programs of the government also helped in convincing the NPA regulars and supporters to surrender.

Just recently, six members of the SYP Platoon 3 of the CPP-NPA Southern Mindanao Regional Committee surrendered to Lt. Col. Jaime R. Datuin of the Army’s 75th Infantry Battallion (75th IB) in Barangay Maharlika, Bislig City, Surigao del Sur.

Inghente said the surrenderers were convinced by their families, through the continuous information provided by the 75th IB in coordination with the local government unit (LGU) on the plans and programs of the government, including the Comprehensive Local Integration Plan, to return to the fold of law.

She said the surrenderers usually cited as reasons for their giving up life on the lam as their hunger, hardships in living in the mountains and fear of possible encounter with the government forces.