58 NPA rebels in Visayas give up arm struggle in 2008
ROXAS CITY – Fifty-eight members of the New People's Army (NPA) from the Visayas region have returned to the fold of law and avail the livelihood assistance program of the government.
The statistics comprises the 255 hardcore members of the NPA, 149 of them with firearms have returned to the fold of the law during the second half of 2008, based in a yearend report of Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Hermogenes C. Esperon Jr. posted in the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) website.
Esperon noted that 99 of the former communist rebels came from Mindanao, 68 from Luzon and 58 from the Visayas.
In his yearend report, Esperon said a total of P18.813 million in livelihood assistance was given to the former NPA rebels who have given up the armed struggle in favor of living a peaceful and normal life.
Esperon said that under the Social Integration Program (SIP) implemented by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), the 225 rebel returnees were given P20,000 as immediate cash assistance upon their surrender or a total of P4.5 million.
he government paid another P3.163 for the 149 firearms surrendered by the rebels, Esperon said.
An M-16 rifle surrendered will fetch P50,000. Lower caliber will get lesser remuneration. (OPAPP/PIA)