TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, July 17 (PIA) – Now is the perfect time for former rebels and their families as well as identified mass base supporters to finally clear their names.

This was the statement of Task Group Bohol Commander Captain Jayrod Cabahug amid reports of seven armed men of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed group, the New People’s Army (NPA), who figured 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 Brgy. Dagohoy, Bilar, near their known mass base supporters.       

In the last recorded encounters between the government troops and the crew of armed fighters, all are located in the proximity of the houses of their former members.

Speaking during the recent Kapihan sa PIA, 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 (E-CLIP) Program of the government is for those who wish to return to folds of the law.

Starting 2018, those who can avail of the benefits listed under the E-CLIP 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.

E-CLIP benefits include P21,000 reintegration assistance, firearms, explosives and ammunition remuneration, P15,000 immediate assistance, P50,000 livelihood assistance, livelihood materials and implements assistance, and 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 host local government units.

The call to clear their names and surrender surfaced as the Philippine Army confirmed that the seven 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 cannot be apprehended unless they are armed, they can be caught in the crossfire, said Cabahug.

Driven out of 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, people in the communities are reporting the presence of armed groups when they spot them in their area, the military official said. 

In the case of the last encounter, the troops sent a peace and security patrol in the area when they received a report from the community.

They chanced upon the men who set up 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/PIA7 Bohol)