Nine communist rebels trained to make and use powerful roadside bombs surrendered to the military on Sunday.
The nine supposed New People’s Army guerrillas turned themselves in to the Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion in Barangay Malegdeg in Senator Ninoy Aquino, Sultan Kudarat.
They yielded six newly-assembled IEDs, “subversive” documents, medical supplies and lists of traders they were to subject to collection of “protection money” on a periodic basis.
The nine men, whose identities municipal officials asked to withhold pending the grant of government security clearances and to protect their relatives from the ire of their leaders in the NPA’s Guerilla Front 73, are now confined in a military camp.
More than 20 NPAs from Senator Ninoy Aquino and nearby towns in Sultan Kudarat have pledged allegiance to the Philippine flag in the past six months through the joint efforts of the 33rd IB and municipal officials.
Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc of the 33rd IB said on Monday that the nine NPAs willingly appeared at a designated site in Barangay Malegdeg in Senator Ninoy Aquino town where local leaders were to meet and fetch them.
“It was good that they also turned over powerful improvised explosive devices,” Cabunoc said.
Source: Philstar.com