ISULAN, Sultan Kudarat – The provincial government has distributed financial assistance amounting to P2.7 million to 137 former communist rebels who yielded to police and military authorities in this province.
THE provincial government of Sultan Kudarat distributes aid to rebel returnees in the province. (Photo via Joseph Jubelag)
Gov. Pax Ali Mangudadatu said they each received P20,000 under the Sustainable Livelihood Program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Mangudadatu said the financial assistance will be used by the rebel returnees for livelihood projects as they pledged allegiance to the government and returned to mainstream society.
Police Col. Christopher Bermudez, Sultan Kudarat police director, said the surrenderers yielded to the Sultan Kudarat Provincial Police Office, Police Regional Mobile Force Battalion, and Philippine Army following negotiations that enticed them to return to the fold of the law and avail themselves of the government’s localized peace initiatives.
He welcomed the former rebels’ decision to embrace peace and abandon the communist underground movement.