Young rebel leader surrenders to police in Benguet

BENGUET, Philippines - A 20-year-old communist guerilla turned himself in to policemen, bolstering efforts by the government to bring down the number of rebels operating in the highland region.

Juliver Linglingon Hambon alias “Ka Joker”, a native of sitio Nampaling, Barangay Namal, Asipulo town in Ifugao, surrendered after negotiations initiated by Ifugao policemen led by Senior Superintendent Angelito Casimiro.

An active member of the New Peoples Army’s (NPA) Nona Del Rosario Command operating in the western part of Ifugao and Nueva Vizcaya, Ka Joker went down from his group’s mountain lair on February 21 without a firearm in Barangay Amduntog, Asipulo town, also in Ifugao.

Casimiro said that Ka Joker is ranked No. 15 in their Periodic Status Report on Threat Group (PSRTG) watch list for the 3rd quarter in 2012.

Cordillera police director Chief Superintendent Benjamin Magalong said: “with the social integration program of the local government units to improve the living condition and raise the social stature of the rebel returnee, NPA rebels surrender and return to the folds of the law."

Last month, a ranking rebel leader in remote Lacub town in Abra also surrendered to the authorities.

Connie Santiago Valera, 29, who is using the aliases "Ka James" and "Ka Yasser” surrendered in Sitio Abubutok, Barangay Lenneng, Licuan-Baay town in Abra.

The town is the gateway to Lacub town from Bangued, the province’s capital town.

Magalong said that Valera was an alleged ranking leader of the Ilocos-Cordillera Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and is listed as No. 5 in the police regional office's 4th quarter “Order of Battle of 2012”.

The communist movement, meanwhile, had denied that Valera was a ranking leader of the group.