Ata IPs of Talaingod renounces CPP-NPA-NDF

 

DAVAO DEL NORTE, Feb. 28 (PIA)---- More than 200 former officers and members of the Southern Regional Committee of the Southern Mindanao Regional Command of the CPP-NPA-NDF this afternoon renounced their allegiance to the communist terrorist group and committed their full support to the national and local government.

 

They marked their declaration to abandon the CTG with a ceremony done at the Balimba Hills Activity  Center, Sitio JBL, Baarangay Sto  Nino,  in the municipality of Talaingod.  

 

An indigenous peoples ritual known in their dialect as “Panubag-tubag” was made, killing a white pig and a white chicken as offerings to the spirits. The combined blood of which, was made to stamp through a thumbmark, their renewed commitment to work for  peace and development in their respective communities.

  

All the tribal Datus or chieftains  particularly  of villages which formerly were mass bases of the CTGs were present,  as confirmed when Provincial Governor Edwin I Jubahib recognized them one after the other.

 

Others who were part of the so-called “Community Surrender and Declaration of ‘Pagsalikway’ against the CPP-NPA-NDF” were former Salugpungan teachers  and students recruited to form part of the communist underground movement, members of Komiteng Rebolusyonaryo sa Barangay and Komiteng Rebolusyonaryo sa Munisipyo  and remnants of  the sub-regional guerrilla unit (SRGU).

 

In his address, Provincial Governor Jubahib expressed appreciation and gratefulness of their allegiance and support for peace and development cause of the government.

 

He vowed to support the aspiration of the IPs of Talaingod to protect and preserve their ancestral lands  while also banking on the back up of the military, the police and the municipal government of Talaingod.

 

Wanting to ultimately end the operation   of CTGs in Talaingod, Jubahib offered to the chieftains a cash of P50,000 to each of the six identified NPAs who have yet to  come back to  the folds of the law. He also asked the Datus to call on their relatives to finally surrender.

 

Meanwhile, 1003^rd Inf Brigade commander, Col Consolito Yecla cited the mass renouncement from the Southern Regional Committee of the CPP-NPA-NDF as a significant contribution to efforts to severely weaken and eradicate such stronghold of the CTG.

 

Yecla revealed that the SRC of SMRC used to be the most advanced force of CPP-NPA-NDF especially in terms of organizing community structures of mass support systems of  their insurgency movement. (PIA XI/ Jeanevive Duron Abangan)