A TOTAL of 14 former members of the communist rebels’ Militia ng Bayan in Bukidnon surrendered to authorities last Friday.
The surrenderers were presented to the media by Police Regional Office-10 Director Benjamin Acorda, Jr, together with the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency-10 (Nica-10) head during a press conference Sunday afternoon at Camp Vicente Alagar.
All the surrenderers came from different places in Bukidnon where the New People’s Army (NPA) rebels are operating.
Police Col. Jun Mark Lagare, Bukidnon Police Provincial Director told reporters that the MBs had surrendered to the police in Bukidnon on July 15 at 1:30 pm and it was Police Lt. Col. Gil Agpaoa who presented them to Acorda.
After the press conference, the said surrenderers were given food packs and transportation allowance by representatives of the Department of Social Welfare and Development-10.
All of them are now under the custody of Nica-10 for custodial debriefing and all necessary applications for the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-clip).
The E-clip is a government program that aims to help the rebel members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA-National Democratic Front and Milisya ng Bayan to restore their allegiance to the Philippine Government.
Through this program, Acorda said, they can be reintegrated back into the community, and be with their families.
One of the female surrenderers told the crowd that all of them decided to surrender to the folds of the law due to the reasons that they can’t take anymore the hardship, tiredness, hunger, security of their life, and unfulfilled promises they experienced when they were supporting the NPA.
Police only allowed the attending media to get the first names of the surrenderers for security reasons. They are: Marvin, Jessie, Reborn, Solong, Alysa, Dina, Gabriel, Chris, Nonon, Nanay, Dona, Dayang, and Kulot.
The said surrender was facilitated by a joint effort of the Police Intelligence Unit in Bukidnon, together with Nica-10, PIT BUK, Regional Intelligence Unit-10, and Bukidnon’s 1st Police Mobile Force Company (PMFC), and 2nd PMFC.
