By Martin Sadongdong
Six suspected members of the New People's Army (NPA) have surrendered to police in Batangas City, the Batangas provincial director said Saturday.
New People's Army (MANILA BULLETIN)
Police Colonel Edwin Quilates, director of the Batangas Provincial Police Office, said the six NPA suspects were urged by their relatives to lay down their arms and be reintegrated with the community.
Their relatives, according to Quilates, were recruited by the Batangas police to be their informants.
The suspects finally submitted themselves to the police around 10 a.m. Friday at the provincial police headquarters in Camp Miguel Malvar, Brgy. Kumintang Ilaya, Batangas City.
"You can read from the faces of these returnees the excitement on their new found freedom from the false hopes and promises of a crooked ideology, and the hope of a brighter future for them and their families," Quilates said.
"We shook hands and embraced them to let them feel the care and protection of their motherland who have been yearning and waiting for them to return to the fold of the law," he added.
The rebel-returnees underwent debriefing, processing and documentation facilitated by the Batangas City police.
They were also assisted in the application of the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP), a government program that seeks to "contribute toward achieving the goal of permanent and peaceful closure of all armed conflicts with non-state armed group."