Former Rebels Receive Goverment's Assistance

Fifteen New People’s Army (NPA) rebel returnees from various areas of the province receive cash and livelihood assistance from the national and provincial government of Comval under the Comprehensive Local Integration Program (CLIP) at the Social Hall, Capitol building on March 22. (a. dayao/ids comval)

 

By: Rey Antibo

Compostela Valley province – Fifteen New People’s Army (NPA) rebels from various areas of the province go back to the folds of the law and receive cash and livelihood assistance from the national and provincial government of Comval.

The 15 rebel returnees were presented by Colonel Macairog Alberto, commander of the 1001st Infantry Pag-asa Brigade of the Philippine Army (PA) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to Vice Governor Manuel E. Zamora representing Governor Arturo T. Uy during the Comprehensive Local Integration Program (CLIP) at the Social Hall, Capitol building on March 22.

Each of the rebel returnees received P5,000 as immediate cash assistance, food packs and other materials such as mosquito nets, blankets  and others, for their respective families.

The rebel returnees were also given temporary shelter by the provincial government, meals and other livelihood assistance through a “half way village” somewhere in Nabunturan.

Vice Governor Zamora urged the rebel returnees to completely abandon armed struggle and to become productive members of their respective communities and hoping that this will encourage others.

“Salamat nga inyong gireplayan akong pag sampit kaninyo, salamat pud sa pag testing unsay kinabuhi sa gobyerno kay nalipay ko nga nagbalik-loob mo kay makita ninyo nga kaming naa sa gobyerno kanunay nagalantaw sa inyung kaayohan,” Zamora told the returnees in his message.

Provincial Director PSSUPT Albert Ignatius D. Ferro said Filipinos, whether from the government or rebel sides, have been fighting for years yet the armed confrontations have given nothing but the loss of precious lives to the country.

“Tama na ang patayan at pag-aaway away sa kapwa natin Pilipino, sana yung mga kapatid natin na nasa bundok pa ay bumaba na para magkaisa na tayo dahil pangit tingnan na kapwa Pilipino ay nag papatayan,” Ferro said.

The rebel returnees will also undergo seminars and trainings as part of the evaluation of the Comval Support Units for their educational background. Such as on agricultural production, electrical and other skills and technical education under the CLIP program of the government.

The DILG said the technical education will help the returnees become productive when they are reintegrated to their respective communities.

Also attending the ceremony were Deputy Brigade Commander of the 1001^st  Brigade Col. Gilbert Saret, Executive Officer Battalion Commander of the 46IB Major Crismond Mercado, Provincial Administrator Virgilia S. Allones, Provincial Social Welfare and Development (PSWD) Head Josephine Frasco and other members of the armed forces of the Philippines. 

Communist Rebels Use Miners as Shields

Communist rebels seized dozens of prospectors in a remote Philippine gold rush site and used them as “human shields” against pursuing troops, a military official said on Sunday. 

About 80 members of the New People’s Army (NPA) “prevented” 39 miners, including four children, from leaving the mining site in Compostela Valley on Saturday to stop government troops from advancing and capturing them, regional army chief Lt. Col. Michael Logico told Agence France-Presse.

Capt. Ernest Carolina, spokesman of the Philippine Army’s 10th Infantry Division, said gunmen from the NPA’s Front 2 and Pulang Bagani (Red Warrior) Company 6 herded the 39 residents from Mahayahay village at around 10 a.m. and brought them to Sitio (settlement) Tabon, Panamin, in the nearby town of Mabini. 

In a text message to the Inquirer, Carolina said Juanito Torcende and Alejandro Hoylar Sr., Mahayahay barangay chair and councilor, respectively, reported the alleged hostage-taking to the 66th Infantry Battalion and asked for assistance.

Local officials persuaded the rebels to free most of the miners, although it is believed that around a dozen were still being held at the site. 

“It’s a desperate move,” Logico said. “They are using them as human shields. They know that without the civilians they are vulnerable to an assault.”

Logico said the military launched an assault on two fronts last week to flush out the rebels amid reports that they were harassing villagers. 

“We had been conducting platoon-size combat operations that forced them to flee,” he said, adding that in all, two battalions, or around 800 men, were involved in the operation. 

“Negotiations are still ongoing,”Compostela Valley Gov. Arturo T. Uy said in a text message, without giving further details. 

The NPA still has to issue a statement on the incident.

The mountainous area where the offensives took place is a mineral-rich site that has over the years attracted thousands of prospectors who operate illegal gold mines. 

Entire villages have been set up around such mines, which have also become a lucrative source of extortion money from the rebels, officials said. 

The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, whose Maoist rebellion has claimed tens of thousands of lives since 1969.

AFP and Frinston L. Lim, Inquirer Mindanao

NPA Contact CDO Mayor to Deny Extortion Try Against German Doctors - Interaksyon.com

I was really sad and frustrated to get the news, that Germans closed hospital in Cagayan de Oro. - At the medical facility of the Committee of German doctors there, sadness and uncertainty were indeed written on the faces of patients who have been lining up for free medical treatment when, at around 4 pm two days ago staff members started posting signs that there will be no medical consultations.

Of course, health workers at the hospital operated jointly by the Committee of German Doctors for Developing Countries and the Jose P. Rizal College of Medicine of the Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan are still uncertain about their employment. 

Actually the government and the NDF have signed the "Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL). The NPA (New Peoples Army) fully adheres to it.

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NPA contact CDO mayor to deny extortion try against German Doctors - Interaksyon.com