Ex-Rebel Recruiter Warns New Recruits True Future Is With Gov’t Under PRRD, Not With NPA

A former rebel warned those who want to join the communist movement not to be fooled by the Communist Party of the Philippines’ (CPP) the promise of a bright future.

In a speech delivered at the 58th Infantry Battalion camp in Claveria, Misamis Oriental, Rosalie Arona, a former political instructor of the CPP’s armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), said she regrets that she once took part in the decades-long communism in the country.

“Just like you, I was also deceived by the NPA for 10 years and I take back all that I have said,” Arona said during the December 21, 2019 graduation rites for former communist insurgents who joined the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority’s (Tesda) Special Skills Training Program in Northern Mindanao.

The CPP has been recruiting minors to be trained as combatants who will stage attacks against government troops and civilians.

The recruited members of the communist group have also been forced to live in the mountains.

Arona recounted that when she was still a rebel, she was able to recruit teenagers from Salay, Balingasag, and Gingoog City in Misamis Oriental province.

As an NPA member, Arona said she took charge of teaching the recruits about the communist movement’s ideology.

Ten years after living in fear in the mountains, she realized that reintegrating into society would be the best decision for her.

Arona also noted that the government under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte helped her live a normal life after she turned herself into authorities.

She qualified for the cake-making training under the SSTP offered by Tesda 10 (Northern Mindanao).

“I am a witness to all the help the government is extending to former rebels,” Arona said. 

“The true and straight future is right here with the government and not there in the mountains,” she added.

Arona said she would always be grateful to the government, as she can now start her own small business at her hometown in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon.

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The CPP-NPA has been listed as a terrorist group by the Philippines, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

President Duterte has repeatedly urged NPA rebels to surrender and return to the fold of the law, assuring them that a livelihood package and even free housing await them.

In April 2018, President Duterte has created a task force that will handle all government efforts at reintegrating former communist rebels into society.

President Duterte signed on April 3 Administrative Order (AO) No. 10 creating the Task Force Balik Loob, which will serve as the central coordinating body supervising all reintegration efforts.

The task force is empowered to develop a strategic communication plan and the implementing guidelines for the government’s reintegration efforts, address implementation issues at the national and local levels and coordinate with concerned local government units to ensure the effective and timely implementation of reintegration efforts.

It is also tasked to provide capability assistance to LGUs, prepare a mechanism that shall be used by government agencies in checking the status of reintegration efforts and prepare regular consolidated reports on their implementation.

Source: PNA