DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 1, 2014) – A communist rebel leader has surrendered to the Philippine military after his family convinced him to abandon his struggle and live peacefully again together with them in Mindanao.
Geneng Ambas, alias Chong, surrendered to the 72nd Infantry Battalion in the village of Linao in Davao del Norte’s San Isidro town, according to Capt. Alberto Caber, a spokesman for the Eastern Mindanao Command.
He said Ambas was a political officer of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing New People’s Army and involved in its operations in the province. “He is the brain of the NPA’s illegal activities in the municipalities of Davao del Norte. The surrender of Ambas was arranged by his relatives and village officials,” Caber said.
Caber said more some 230 rebels also surrendered in eastern Mindanao since 2013 and availed of the government’s amnesty program.
Lt. Gen. Ricardo Rainier Cruz III, the division commander, said the strong support of the communities to the military’s campaign and the government’s amnesty program have largely helped in convincing rebels to surrender peacefully.
“The huge number of rebels who are peacefully surrendering to the government is concrete evidence that the spirit of Bayanihan among us is alive,” Cruz said.
Bayanihan refers to a spirit of communal unity and cooperation and is also the government’s anti-insurgency campaign plan.
The NPA is fighting for decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)
20