• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
A combatant of the New People’s Army, who figured in renewed armed clashes with Army soldiers on March 1 in Brgy. Carabalan, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental, surrendered yesterday to the 94th Infantry Battalion.
Capt. Eduardo Rarugal, 94IB Civil Military Operations officer, disclosed that the NPA combatant, whose identity is being withheld for security reasons, also surrendered an M16 assault rifle with several magazines of ammunition.
Rarugal said that the hungry NPA fighter, who have been with the rebel movement for several years, decided to surrender after two days of evading government troops, as he could no longer endure the hardship in the mountains.
The NPA fighter was immediately fed and provided medical attention, and other basic necessities, by the same troops, he and his group engaged in firefights merely two days ago, the 94IB spokesman further said.
Four suspected NPA rebels died during the March 1 encounter.
Rarugal said that the surrendered rebel is also expected to avail of the government’s Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP), which provides social, economic, and psychological support to former rebels who have decided to return to the folds of the law.*
