MikeLigalig.com

By Kit Bagaipo
Published by the Bohol Chronicle

A former commander of the New Peoples Army (NPA) has condemned the "deceptive activities and atrocities" committed by communist insurgents here, both in the armed and legal fronts.

Epitacio Ramirez, popularly known during the 1980s as Commander Vargas, denounced the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the NPA and the National Democratic Front (NDF) during a recent peace rally in Bilar town.

Ramirez himself led armed communist rebels here for over a decade since the early 1980s.

Now 66 years old, the former NPA commander revealed to some 2,000 participants of a 3-day conference of the Federated Barangay Defense System officers and members, including former NPA sympathizers, barangay captains coming from 19 barangays of Bilar town, how he was first recruited by the communist movement in 1976.