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AFP says NPA preventing rebels from surrendering during Christmas truce
By Ben Cal

MANILA, Jan. 1 (PNA) – The military has said the New People’s Army (NPA) is preventing rebels who want to surrender during the 19-day Christmas truce –- an indication that many rebels would like to abandon the movement.

"The suspension of offensive military operations (SOMO) by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in observance of the Yuletide season “has encouraged some members of the NPA to return to the fold of the law,” the AFP said in a statement.

But despite the move by the NPA leadership, eight NPA fighters, including a ranking guerrilla leader defied the order and surrendered to Mayor Vicente Imano of Cagayan de Oro City.

They also yielded high caliber weapons, including an M60 machine gun.

The AFP said that in Occidental Mindoro, a group of NPA rebels sent fillers to surrender and the military arranged a rendezvous site where they would meet. However, other rebels got wind of the impending surrender.

“Some NPA members were on their way for a pre-arranged surrender before the commander of the 80th Infantry Battalion, Lt. Col. Roger Percol, when other members of the rebel group fired upon the military men waiting, forcing the soldiers to take combat position,” the AFP said.

The mass surrender was aborted, the AFP said, but this did not prevent one NPA rebel from sneaking in and surrendering to the government troops. The rebel also turned in one M-16 assault rifle.

The AFP has called on the NPA leadership not to harass rebels who want to surrender peacefully so they can live a normal life.

“Instead of preventing them, they should reconsider why their own comrades would leave the revolutionary movement and join the mainstream society,” the AFP said.

Despite this incident, however, all AFP units in the country shall continue to observe the ceasefire agreement during the duration of the holidays, but shall remain prepared to address any untoward or violent incident that might be perpetrated by lawless group, the AFP statement said.

The flow of NPA rebels returning to the fold of the law is expected to continue this year with the implementation of the new AFP Internal Peace and Security Plan (IPSP) dubbed as “Bayanihan.”

The new strategy calls for a multi-stakeholder approach to peace and security and the protection of human rights. Its focus is winning the peace and not just defeating the enemy.

The AFP said the NPA is known for its violent act of purging their own members –- young and old –- suspected of planning to surrender or acting double agents for the government.

Col. Antonio Parlade, spokesman of the Philippine Army, said the latest victims of NPA purging were Bobong Lumbanayan Anduyo, alias “Iso,” and Rito Mawang, alias 'Jeffrey’ whose bodies were exhumed by joint military and police operatives in a remote village in Sitio Pundasyon, Barangay Concepcion, Laak, Compostela Valley in Davao.

Anduyo and Mawang were both members of the Southern Regional Guerrilla Unit, Southern Mindanao Regional Committee (SMRC).

It may be recalled that the NPA purging started in the early 1980s when hundreds of NPA rebels suspected as “spies” were executed by their own comrades in various parts of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

The purging was labeled as “Operation Zombies.” (PNA)

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