671 communist rebels surrendered in five months: Army

A total of 671 rebels of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) have surrendered to the authorities in the past five months, the Philippine Army said in a statement yesterday.

It said the rebels had cited disillusionment, demoralization and corruption as the main reasons for abandoning the communist struggle.

The statement said those who surrendered included a number of senior NPA commanders but did not elaborate.

According to the military, some 320 NPA rebels surrendered last year.

The NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, has been waging a Maoist armed struggle for a communist state in the hinterlands of the country for the past 36 years.

The military has estimated the NPA’s strength today to be between 7,000 and 8,000.

Peace talks between Manila and the rebels were indefinitely suspended in August last year after the communist insurgents charged that the government was not doing enough to get their group removed from US and European lists of "terrorist" organizations. — AFP