5 NPA rebels surrender in Abra

After the reported surrender of three high-ranking communist rebel leaders in Abra three months ago, came another five others over the weekend.

Senior Superintendent Charlo Collado, Abra police provincial director said the NPA rebels, Bastian Luting, 27; Froilan Lingbaoan, 24; Sammy Ortega, 26; Jimmy Garcia, 27; and Benjo Lingbaoan, alias Ka Roy decided to rejoin the mainstream of society after getting tired of fighting fellow Filipinos.

Earlier, Tineg town residents Joel Billedo Zapata, 32, gave up with his US caliber .30 garand rifle, three magazines and 16 ammunitions and Hermes Medlang Zapata, 29, giving up with his M16 armalite rifle.

Collado said the surrender of the NPA rebels came through the initiative of Abra Vice Gov. Victorino Barona and Lacub Vice Mayor Lysander Barona.

The surrender is in line with the project of newly-installed Cordillera police director Chief Superintendent Orlando Pestaño to win the heart and minds of the people in Abra, especially the hinterland towns which are hotbeds of the insurgency problem.

“The return of four of Lacub’s prodigal sons marks a growing realization that the progress for their home municipality does not come from the barrel of a gun,” said Pestaño.

Pestaño said Luting, alias Ka Solo/Rashid joined the NPA three years ago. He fought in the Mountain Province for three years and returned to Abra two years ago to head the guerilla front covering the Budabosa area.

Luting started out as a vice-squad leader of the dreaded Marao, the fighting unit of Abra’s NPA organization.

In 2003, he was one of the architects of the bloody encounters in Mountain Pro­vince as one of the NPA’s squad leaders.

Returning to Abra in 2006, Luting was promoted to the rank of 1st Deputy of Kilusang Larangan Gerilya South Central, directing the mass work effort in the Budabosa area.

Squad leader

Froilan Lingbaoan, alias Ka Region, was a hunter, and this skill was capitalized upon by the NPA, who made him a squad leader of their fighting unit.

Lingbaoan was responsible for ambuscades that claimed the lives of police and Philippine Army troopers.

But he too heard the call for peace, and it made him realize that family meant more as unit for development in his community rather than killing fellow Filipinos.

Ortega, alias Ka Warren, was in his first year in college when he joined the NPA movement with the thought that he could bring about change in the government as a squad leader of the Yunit Gawaing Masa of KLG South Central in 2006.

Garcia, alias Ka Eddie joined the NPA last year.

He was one of the raiders of the police and civilian volunteers detachment at Gangal, Sallapadan in June 2008, and in the heat of battle, the realization came that he was fighting his own tribesmen.

He was the first of the four Lacub natives to come down from the mountains and hope for a new start with the PNP’s call for peace.

Meanwhile, Benjo Lingbaoan alias Ka Roy turned himself in before Pestaño, during his visit to Abra on March 8.

Lacub, a mineral-rich town is one of those being watched by the military in Abra after Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro ordered the Armed Forces to be on their toes for rebel influence in mineral-rich areas in the country including Abra because rebels reportedly are getting so much of their funds from these mining towns through extortion.