• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The en masse surrender of New People’s Army combatants continues to snowball, as another batch of armed rebels abandoned the armed struggle, as they gave themselves up to the 94th Infantry Battalion in Negros Occidental, bringing along their firearms.
Capt. Mervin Rosal, spokesperson of the Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade, yesterday said that four armed NPA rebels pledged their allegiance to the government in a ceremony held in Kabankalan City.
This was after 25 rebels surrendered last week to the 94IB in Himamaylan City, also turning in eight firearms, Rosal said.
The 29 former rebels are all members of the weakened Central Negros 2 of the Komiteng Rehiyonal Negros/Cebu/Bohol/ Siquijor.
Since the start of this year, Rosal said they recorded 75 disgruntled NPA rebels who surrendered to various Army units in Negros Occidental.
During their presentation to Mayor Benjie Miranda in Kabankalan City, Rosal said that each of the four former rebels got P20,000 cash and livelihood assistance, food packs from the local Task Force ELCAC (Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict).
The 25 other former rebels who surrendered in Himamaylan City also got assistance from the administration of Mayor Rogelio Raymond Tongson.
In a statement, Brig. Gen. Orlando Edralin, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, lauded the decision of four more rebels in choosing the path of unity and transformation.*
