CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Days after President Rodrigo Roa Duterte called on members of New People’s Army (NPA) to quit from armed struggle, two ranking NPA leaders and five of their fighters surrendered to the government, the Army said March 13.
The NPA leaders who surrendered were Armando Daluniag, commander of Headquarters Force (HQF) Neo of the Northern Central Mindanao Regional Committee and former deputy secretary of Guerrilla Front 89, and Roland Lagunday, squad leader of HQF Neo.
Daluniag goes by the aliases Ambo, Satur, Pega, and Dario, while Lagunday is also known as Ben.
The Army’s 403rd Infantry Brigade did not identify the other five surrenderees.
Brigadier General Ferdinand Barandon, brigade commander, said the former rebels turned over 11 high-powered firearms – four M16 rifles, three AK47 rifles, two M653 rifles, an M230 grenade launcher and an M14 rifle.
The surrender took place in Barangay Manalog, Malaybalay City, Bukidnon, on March 9.
The Army report said Daluniag and companions decided to surrender because they have grown tired of their superiors’ failed promises of better living condition, including that of their families.
“I surrendered due to the unfulfilled promises of the movement and it did not do well to my family. I call on our fellow comrades to leave the armed group. It is not true that we will be tortured once we surrender. In our case, we were entertained properly by the soldiers,” the Army quoted Daluniag to have said.
Barandon said the surrender of the seven NPA fighters was a “great development to the campaign against insurgency.”
Major General Andres Centino, 4th Infantry Division commander, said more NPA fighters are expected to surrender in the coming days, stressing that the recent surrender will have domino effect as it will convince other fighters to follow.
“We expect that more NPAs will follow their leaders by heeding to the call of the President to return to the fold of the government,” Centino said.
During his March 5 visit here, Duterte has assured the communist rebels that the government will provide all the necessary assistance such as livelihood, skills training, housing, among others to those who will lay down their arms and pledge their allegiance to the government.
The NPA is the armed group of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
Centino has assured the former NPA fighters that all the benefits mentioned by President Duterte in his speech will be given to the surrenderees under the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program. Newsline.ph
