TGroup Bohol head urges NPA, party

regulars, kins, masa: Come out clean

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, July 14, (PIA)—If there is any perfect time for former rebels and their families as well as identified mass base supporters to finally clear their names, this is the time.

Task Group Bohol commander Captain Jayrod Cabahug said this, even as the remnant 7 armed men of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed group the New People’s Army (NPA), figured yet again in a short exchange of gunfire with government troops in the afternoon of July 8, 2023, in a temporary encampment in a forested area of barangay Dagohoy in Bilar, near their known mass base supporters.

In the last recorded encounters between the government troops and the ragtag crew of armed fighters, all are located in the proximity of the houses of their former members who are now peacefully living, giving up the life of endlessly hiding in the forests and suffering the bitter cold nights and tension-filled bivouacs.

Speaking at the recent Kapihan sa PIA, Capt. Cabahug said that with then President Rodrigo Duterte signing Administrative Order No. 10 last April 3, 2018 and its implementing Rules and Regulations, the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP Program) of the government is for those who return to the welcoming embrace of the law starting the day the order was signed.

Those who surrender to the law to clear their names starting 2018, which includes the regular members of the CPP-NPA-NDF, their spouse, children or partners, parents and siblings and the members of the Militia ng Bayan, who wish to finally settle down and live with their families in peace, can avail of benefits listed under the E-CLIP.

E-CLIP benefits include P21K reintegration assistance, firearms, explosives and ammunition remuneration, P15K immediate assistance, P50K livelihood assistance, livelihood materials and implements assistance, employment assistance.

It also includes access to government services, medical and legal assistance, housing assistance, modified cash transfers, loans and market access, alternative learning systems, psychosocial assistance, college tuition and stipends, conditional and transitional grants and community projects for the hostlocal government units.

The call to clear their names and surrender surfaced as the army confirmed that the 7 remnants of the 2010 force are now insistent in their attempt to recruit back the mass base to afford the armed fugitives safe harbor.

While former active members can not be apprehended, unless they are armed, they can be caught in the crossfire, said Capt. Cabahug, during the radio forum.

Driven off the province in 2010, the CPP-NPA and National Democratic Front members were left with the option to re-establish command in other places in the region or slide back to the mainstream and pretend nobody knew their connection to local insurgency.

With the recent development however when the communities which were gripped with fear then simply zip their mouths and cower, people now which see their communities change, are reporting the presence of armed groups when they see one, the military official said.

In the case of the last encounter, when the report came, the troops sent on peace and security patrol in the area, chanced upon the mem pitched in a temporary camp and the firefight ensued.

After about ten minutes, when the gunbattle stopped, the mop up operations team found abandoned fire arms and ammunition, cooking utensils, subversive documents, first aid kits and other important jungle survival tool. (RAHC/PIA_7/Bohol)

CLEAR YOUR NAMES. Task Group Bohol commander Captain Jayrod Cabahug calls on Boholanos who used to be actively involved in insurgency then but have started living peacefully now, to come out and clear your names via the Joint Army Police Intelligence Committee, so these names can be deleted from the government troops’ order of battle. (PIAbohol)