NPA Leader, 16 Others Yield In Southern Philippines

PAGADIAN CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 15 Mar) – At least 17 New People’s Army (NPA) rebels, including their leader, surrendered to the Philippine military after a series of negotiations in the southern province of Zamboanga del Sur, officials said on Thursday.

Officials said the rebels headed by Erwin Moli, of the Front Kara Command of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines, handed over four automatic rifles two shot guns, an automatic pistol and two fragmentation grenades to the Army’s 102nd Infantry Brigade.

Maj. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer, commander of the First Infantry Division, said the rebels surrendered late Wednesday in the village of Tininghalang in Lapuyan town in Zamboanga del Sur province.

“The surrender is the result of our series of negotiations with the NPA. We have received many surrender feelers and more rebels wanted to surrender and start a new life with their families. There is really no reason to continue with their unnecessary struggle because we are living in a democratic government,” Ferrer told the Mindanao Examiner.

He said the rebels are currently undergoing debriefing. Those who surrendered told interrogators that they wanted to avail of the government amnesty and Balik-Baril program.

Under the Balik-Baril, which means "Bring a Rifle Improve your Livelihood," the government pays as much as P25,000 for weapons surrendered by rebels, aside from at least P18,000 in initial aid.

Those who surrender also undergo livelihood training of their choice. The amnesty program aims to convince the rebels to abandon their armed struggle and return to the fold of the law.

The NPA, armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front (CPP-NDF), is fighting the past three decades to topple the government and install a Marxist state in the country.

The United States and the European Union blacklisted the CPP and NPA, including its political wing, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, on Manila's prodding and froze their assets abroad.

Peace talks between rebels and the government collapsed in 2004 after the CPP-NPA-NDF pulled out from the negotiations because of their inclusion on the terror lists of the United States and the European Union.

The rebels demanded that President Gloria Arroyo asks the US and EU to strike them off from the terror lists before they resume peace talks. Manila rejected the demand and suspended safety and immunity guarantee for rebel peace negotiators.

Mrs. Arroyo has ordered the military to crush the communist insurgency in two years and set aside an additional budget of P1 billion for the Armed Forces of the Philippines for this purpose. (Mindanao Examiner)