RPA-ABB agrees to yield guns without remuneration

ILOILO CITY , Philippines — The Tabara-Paduano Group (TPG) of the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa Pilipinas-Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPMP-RPA-ABB) has agreed to lay down its firearms, even without monetary remuneration.

Undersecretary Luisio Montalbo, executive director of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), announced this while saying that the government and the RPMP-RPA-ABB are now on the final stages of crafting the closure agreement of the peace process.

Last January 2012, the government and the TPG of the RPMP-RPA-ABB conducted a joint write-shop on the drafting of the closure agreement, along with laying out the aspects of the implementation mechanisms and corresponding timelines.

The government and the RPMP-RPA-ABB forged a peace agreement in 2000 during the term of President Joseph Estrada. In 2007, the RPMP-RPA-ABB split into two factions, the TPG and the Nilo Dela Cruz Group (NDCG). A separate negotiating table with the NDCG is also underway, with the help of NAPC Secretary Eliseo Rocamora.

The rebel group’s inventory pegged the number of RPA-ABB members at 716, and more than 500 of them are based in Negros Occidental while the remaining are scattered in the provinces of Negros Oriental, Iloilo, Antique, and Aklan.

“Ang ating pong gobyerno ay magbibigay ayuda sa lahat ng myembro ng RPA-ABB. Kapalit po nito ay pag-surrender ng lahat ng baril nila at explosives sa gobyerno,” Montalbo said adding that the group has about 400 plus firearms and more than 300 explosives. 

The rebels will be compelled to turn these over within six months from the signing of the closure agreement, said Montalbo. “Walang balik-baril o remuneration na magaganap kasi po ang napag-usapan was the economic assistance they would be receiving from the government represents the remuneration for the firearms and explosives that they would turn over to the government,” he added.

Other salient points of the closure agreement are the two strategies or approaches that government would lay down in providing RPMP-RPA-ABB members with economic assistance. “We would be establishing settlement sites. Meaning, most of the members will settle in government land,” Montalbo said. The other approach will be provisions of economic assistance in these particular sites.

Three of these resettlement sites are in Negros Occidental and one each in Negros Oriental and Aklan. Since the rebels won’t get cash but only livelihood, Montalbo said they are planning to enrolling them in PhilHealth.

Yesterday, the OPAPP and the PNP in Western Visayas discussed the process on what to do during the turnover of firearms to the government and the process of providing security arrangements in the communities that the members will settle down