Manila: Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana reiterated the government’s call for insurgents to join mainstream society, saying there are a number of successful examples of former rebels who had availed the offer.
In a statement, Lorenzana said the offer from President Rodrigo Duterte to members of the New People’s Army (NPA) still stands and has been revitalised under the new administration.
“The President has offered homes and livelihood to every NPA [New People’s Army] fighter that returns to the fold of the law. He is wholeheartedly giving a chance to former insurgents to lead new and honourable lives under the fold of the society,” Lorenzana, a former general, said.
Duterte, at the start of his administration in July 2016, said that one of the priorities of the new government is to put an end to the nearly five-decade old insurgency conflict led by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the NPA.
The new administration formed a negotiating panel, led by Labour Secretary Silvestre Bello III, and parlays were held in the Netherlands and Norway with self-exiled leaders of the Philippine insurgency movement. But months into the talks, efforts to arrive at a settlement collapsed as rebels continued attacking government forces along with sabotaging the facilities and operations of companies doing business in the country.
Duterte called off the negotiations with the CPP-NPA and its negotiating arm, the National Democratic Front, and reverted to dealing with rebels who want to surrender and return to the society on the local level.
Just this Friday, a portable banana processor and packing plant of fruit company, the DOLE Philippines, Inc. was burned by members of the NPA in Sitio Sta. Cruz, Barangay Casisang, Malaybalay City, Bukidnon.
Army Captain Norman Tagros, the civil-military operations officer of 403rd Infantry Brigade, said the damage to the plant will affect at least 50 workers. He added it is likely that the rebels burned down the establishment because it refuses to give in to their attempts at extortion.
Similar incidents of extortion from businesses had long been reported in other parts of the country.
Major General Noel Clement, commander of the 10th Infantry Division based in the Davao peninsula, said: “Some people joined the NPA and took arms against the government due to some promises of insurgent leaders. For now, it is high time to convince our brothers [in the] NPA to go back to the fold of the law and think of their families and the future of their children.”
Lorenzana said that instead of engaging in violence and extortion from companies doing business in the country, the rebels should instead surrender and lead gainful lives under the society.
“We are delighted to note that a number of NPAs have accepted the offer [to return to the society] and are now restarting to live normal lives,” Lorenzana said, adding the numbers of surrendering rebels are increasing.
An estimated 4,000 insurgents remain operating in various parts of the country.
