PAGADIAN CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Sept. 19, 2012) – The Philippine Army is holding a ranking member of the communist rebel group New People’s Army who surrendered Wednesday to authorities in Zamboanga del Sur province in Mindanao, officials said.
Officials said Roger Apog, who goes by his aliases Ka Rey and ka Bajik, belongs to the Western Mindanao Regional Committee, and is now being held by the 53rd Infantry Battalion under Lt. Col. Victor Tanggawohn.
Apog surrendered to the army in the town of Bayog and is now cooperating with the investigations by the 1st Infantry Division.
Maj. Gen. Ricardo Rainier Cruz III, the regional army commander, said the surrender of Apog is big blow to the rebel group operating in Zamboanga del Sur.
“Your return to the folds of the law is a joy to your family. We only facilitated your safe surrender and please help the others so they may follow your footstep. Let us all get involved in Bayanihan works to achieve peace and progress in the countryside,” Cruz said told the Mindanao Examiner regional newspaper.
The Philippine Army is expected to provide Apog a package of livelihood assistance and other aid that would help him and his family start a new life under the government’s Social Integration Program (SIP).
The SIP, formerly called Balik-Baril Program, involves a set of intervention for ex-rebels and their eventual transition to civilian life.
The NPA, armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, is fighting for decades now to overthrow the democratic government and install a Maoist state. (Mindanao Examiner)
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