Lt. Col. Isabelo de los Reyes, 303rd Infantry Brigade Civil Military Operations officer, yesterday said the military expects more New People’s Army rebels to surrender, after the grant of livelihood and financial assistance to 27 rebel returnees who recently returned to the mainstream society.

De los Reyes said the returnees availed of assistance from the provincial government of Negros Occidental, through the efforts of Col. Oscar Lactao and other government agencies.

Army Major Eugenio Julio Osias IV, a Bacoleno, also reported the surrender 80 rebels in Bukidnon seven of them minors, who also turned in 25 high-powered firearms to the government.

Under the government’s Internal Peace and Security Plan dubbed “Bayanihan”, Osias, commander of the 4th Civil Military Operations Battalion, said the surrenderees will receive financial and livelihood assistance from the Bukidnon provincial government through its local integration program while other benefits and privileges will still be determined by the Joint Validation and Authentication Committee.

Col. Oscar Lactao, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, meanwhile, lauded the effort of Governor Alfredo Maranon Jr. in helping in the reintegration of the 27 former rebels, three of whom surrendered to the 3rd Civil Military Operations Battalion. The others gave themselves up to the 62nd and 47th Infantry Battalions, military records show.

The Communist Party of the Philippines, in a statement, called on human rights organizations to investigate the incident of alleged surrender and determine whether they were forcibly rounded up by the military and made to pose as NPA fighters.

The CPP dismissed the alleged surrender ceremony as public relations gimmicks and said the AFP round up local residents and tell them to attend a military-sponsored assembly, where they are made to sign an attendance sheet, and they later discover that they are being accused as NPA fighters.*GPB

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