3 NPA recruiters surrender in Maguindanao

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines — Three elusive New People’s Army recruitment officers surrendered Tuesday through the efforts of local officials and the Army’s 603rd Infantry Brigade.

John Eras, Marin Kuner and Leary Bernabe separately renounced their NPA membership and pledged to reform for good during a simple surrender rite at the Army’s Camp Siongco in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao.

The event was jointly presided over by the commander of the 6th Infantry Division, Major Gen. Diosdado and Brig. Gen. Wilbur Mamawag of the 603rd Brigade.

Senior members of the municipal peace and order councils in South Upi, Maguindanao and in the neighboring seaside Kalamansig and Lebak towns in Sultan Kudarat said Eras, Kuner and Bernabe have eluded more than a dozen attempts by the military to corner them in the hinterland border of the two provinces via operations assisted by vigilant barangay officials.

“We are tired. We want a change from this kind of life. The NPA has been here for about five decades now and virtually achieved nothing but deaths of members duped into so many promises that never came true,” Eras said in Filipino, in between sobs.

He and his two companions turned in two assault rifles and a .45 caliber pistol to Carreon and Mamawag in the presence of reporters.

They separately told reporters Tuesday that they agreed to surrender after having been convinced by officials of the 6th Infantry Battalion, a unit of the 603rd Brigade, and local leaders in South Upi on the government’s sincerity in helping reintroduce NPAs into mainstream society via psycho-social and economic support.

The 6th ID, which has jurisdiction over military units in Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat, North Cotabato, South Cotabato and Sarangani provinces, have secured the surrender of more than a hundred NPAs in the past 18 months via backchannel dialogues.

The three NPA recruiters who yielded Tuesday at Camp Siongco also confessed to their roles in overseeing the group’s extortion rings collecting “protection money” from farmers and business establishments to sustain the needs of rebel forces.