Six alleged ex-NPA members surrender in Batangas
Six alleged former members of the New People's Army ( NPA) surrendered Friday morning in Batangas.
According to Police Col. Edwin Quilates, Batangas provincial director, six former CPP-NPA rebels surrendered around 10 am at Camp Miguel Malvar in Barangay Kumintang Ilaya, Batangas City.
The former rebels also turned in their firearms.
Relatives of the surrendered personalities were recruited by authorities as informants. Police said they persuaded the rebels to surrender.
The former rebels are under the custody of Batangas Provincial Police Office for debriefing, processing and documentation.
They will undergo necessary processes for the government's Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-Clip), a program which "seeks to contribute toward achieving the goal of permanent and peaceful closure of all armed conflicts with non-state armed group."
"You can read from the faces of these returnees the excitement of their new found freedom from the false hopes and promises of a crooked ideology, and the hope of a brighter future for them and their families," Quilates said in a statement.
"We shook hands and embraced them to let them feel the care and protection of their motherland who have been yearning and waiting for them to return to the fold of the law," he added. Cristina Eloisa Baclig/DMS
