Ex-rebel leads troops to arms cache in Agusan Sur

DAVAO CITY – A communist rebel who surrendered to the military has led soldiers to a huge arms cache hidden in a remote village in La Paz town in the southern Philippine province of Agusan del Sur, officials said Tuesday night.

 

Photos of recovered New People's Army weapons were released by the Eastern Mindanao Command to the Mindanao Examiner regional newspaper, saying a former rebel led troops to the huge arms cache in Agusan del Sur's La Paz town. 

Lt. Gen. Greg Almerol, chief of the Eastern Mindanao Command based in Davao City, said the weapons were recovered Monday after the former New People’s Army rebel pointed the location and led troops to the arsenal.

Almerol did not reveal the name of the rebel, but said soldiers managed to recover in the village of Kasapa 2 the following weapons - 10 Kalashnikov assault rifles with five magazines, seven M16 rifles, one Ultimax light machine gun with one drum magazine, one M14 rifle, one M79 grenade launcher, and one M1 rifle.

He said two other rebels who surrendered recently also led soldiers to separate hideouts in Davao de Oro province where they hid nine high-powered weapons.

“The series of arms cache discoveries is a clear manifestation of CTG's ultimate loss of members due to fear of continuous military operations conducted by government troops,” he said, referring to the NPA which the military now branded as communist terrorist group.

“They are now hiding their firearms since they no longer have members who would bear them. Their recruitment was also ceased when their former mass bases rejected the terrorist group and pledged their support to the government. With this recent accomplishment, we could say that the Guerrilla Front 3 will have no chance of recuperating. They are incapable without firearms to wield against their former mass bases," Almerol said.

The NPA’s Guerrilla Front 3 operates in the region.

Almerol lauded the soldiers under the 10^th Infantry Division which has operational control in eastern Mindanao for their accomplishments against the NPA and also the local government leaders and former rebels.

“The support of local leaders and former rebels who have shared a bulk of information is crucial to the success of the series of accomplishments, including the total dissolution of the GF3. We have once again proven that the collaboration of all agencies of government is the best way to end the local communist armed conflict. Let us continue this fight to achieve utmost peace and development in this part of our country,” he said.

The rebels have been fighting for many decades now to overthrow the democratic government and install a Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)