Mass NPA surrender in the offing, military says
Two New People’s Army rebels surrendered Friday, and the military expects more to surrender in the coming months.
301st Infantry Brigade commander, Col. Gerardo Layug identified the two as Ali Glemer, 23 years old, and his younger brother Aljon Glemer, 21 years old.
The brothers formally surrendered Friday in Tapaz, Capiz before former Magdalo soldier Milo Maestrecampo of the Office of the Presidential Adviser for the Peace Process, who handed to them checks worth P20, 000 each as initial amount for the livelihood assistance. Military and local officials of Tapaz witnessed the surrender.
Ali was a member of the Sandatahang Yunit Pampropaganda, Squad 3, Limbaong Platoon of the Central Front Committee, while his younger brother was with Team 1 of Limbaong Platoon.
In a statement, Layug said ‘surrender’ may not be the proper term.
“Col. Layug wants to emphasize the term ‘return to the mainstream of the society’ and not ‘surrender’ because according to him, the quest for change and for reform being pursued by our Filipino brothers in the mountains can be achieved here, with the community and not in the mountains,” the statement from the 301st Brigade says.
Layug revealed that negotiations are underway for the surrender of additional rebels in Panay Island and in Negros Occidental.
The Glemer brothers’ surrender, he said, “is just the start of the expected exodus of CPP/NPA members from the mountains, who will avail of the government’s Social Integration Program.”
“It will be a mass surrender,” Layug told The News Today in a phone interview.
Capt. Lowen Gil Marquez of the Armed Forces’ 32nd Civil Relations Unit said that more or less 20 NPA rebels from Panay Island and 11 from Negros Occidental will surrender to the military in the next three months.
The negotiations for the surrender of the NPA rebels, Layug said, are in the various stages.
The rebels surrender because of the hardships they experience in the mountains and disillusionment with the cause, he said.
Moreover, Layug claims that there is a rift in the NPA leadership in Panay.
In fact, he pointed out, rebels under a certain Ka Mayok clashed with those under Ka Tonying in Brgy. Buri, Tapaz town last week.
Layug said that it was not a misencounter but an ambush by one rebel unit on another because of internal disagreement.
The NPA, however, in recorded statements issued to local radio stations denied the military’s claim.