TARLAC CITY — About 313 members of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Regions 1,2,3 and Cordillera returned to the folds of government this 2020.
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Northern Luzon Command (NOLCOM) Commander Lt.Gen. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos Jr. said a total of 96 assorted firearms have been turned-over to government security forces during these series of mass surrenders.
“Commensurate remunerations depending on the state and caliber of firearms will be given to the surrenderers as part of government grants under the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program prior to the weapons’ demilitarization,” Burgos explained.
“Formal surrender is an overt expression of the former rebels’ withdrawal of support from the Communist Party of the Philippines, something which the underground movement dreads more than losing fighters during encounters because it only shows that people are already enlightened and no longer support their so-called cause,” he furthered.
These surrenders are on top of the 4,378 persona non-grata declarations across the 4 regions and 22 provinces under NOLCOM’s area of responsibility (AOR).
“This further solidify our assessment that insurgency in this part of the country will soon be extinct and, later on, its existence will only be remembered as a dark chapter in Philippine history,” Burgos said.
The official assured the public that they will relentlessly reach out and collaborate with local chief executives, residents and other stakeholders as they continue to push the communist rebels to a state of irrelevancy.
NOLCOM has the largest AOR among all the Unified Commands of AFP wherein
The vast maritime domain that the unit is mandated to guard is 10 times larger than that of the land domain.
“Such peculiarity of our AOR has placed us in a position to simultaneously fight and win our battles in three fronts — internal security, territorial defense and disaster response. Thus, our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines have that sense of urgency in defeating insurgency in the soonest possible time so that we can fully refocus our efforts in the greater challenge of preserving the Filipinos’ sovereignty over every inch of Philippine territory,” he said.
Just last month, NOLCOM ordered the deployment of unprecedented number of aircraft, disaster response units and rescue equipment immediately after a historic flood hit Cagayan Valley.
Military reservists and engineers were then dispatched to assist local government units as they shifted their efforts from relief and rescue to recovery and rehabilitation operations.