COTABATO CITY, Philippines — More than 200 former rebels have reassured of their commitment to the government’s peace process for communist insurgents during a gathering over the weekend.
Army Major Gen. Allan Hambala, commander of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division, said the group also promised, in the presence of Special Assistant to the President Antonio Ernesto Lagdameo Jr., to support the government’s effort to reintroduce to society the few remaining members in Mindanao of the now moribund New People’s Army.
Lagdameo’s dialogue with the former 232 NPAs, who had surrendered to units of the 10th ID in recent months, was held at the 10th ID’s headquarters in Barangay Toboran in Mawab, Davao de Oro.
“It was a fruitful dialogue. Presidential Assistant Lagdameo was happy seeing the former rebels complacent with what they have become after their return to the fold of law,” Hambala told reporters in Cotabato City via text message.
Hambala said representatives from the Police Regional Office-11, the Department of Social Welfare and Development-11, the chairperson of the Mindanao Development Authority, Leo Tereso Magno, and local executives also attended the event.
The activity, organized by officials of the 10th ID, was capped off with the presentation to Lagdameo of dozens of firearms surrendered to different units of the division by NPAs who had pledged allegiance to the government, in batches, in the past 16 months.