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John Unson - Philstar.com
March 17, 2026 | 7:07pm
COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Two longtime members of the New People’s Army, both experts in the fabrication of improvised explosive devices, pledged allegiance to the government on Monday, March 16, in General Santos City and separately confirmed that all of the NPA units in Central Mindanao are now virtually defunct.
The two NPAs separately told reporters at the sidelines of the event that they decided to renounce their membership with the group after learning that hundreds of their companions who had returned to the fold of law ahead of them in recent years, via the units of the 6th Infantry Division in Central Mindanao, are now thriving peacefully in their hometowns, reunited with their families.
The two guerillas, who belonged to an NPA group that forcibly collected ”protection money” on a periodic basis from business establishments and owners of buses operating in Central Mindanao, first turned over their assault rifles and explosives on Saturday to General Santos City Mayor Lorelie Pacquiao, Brig. Gen. Michael Santos, commander of the Army’s 603rd Infantry Brigade and Col. Clairemont Pinpin, chief of the 6th ID’s anti-terror Task Force GenSan, before they signed separate documents stating their tacit acknowledgement of the sovereignty of the Philippine government.
The simple surrender rite was held on Monday at the Office of the City Agriculturist in General Santos City, where they also promised to help local government units in Region 12 convince remnants of the NPAs in Central Mindanao to surrender as a prelude to their reintegration into mainstream society.
Major Gen. Jose Vladimir Cagara, commander of 6th ID, said the two NPA members decided to come out and avail of the government’s reconciliation program for communist insurgents through the intercession of local executives, officials of the 603rd Infantry Brigade and the Army-led Task Force GenSan.
More than a thousand NPA members and supporters had surrendered to units of the 6th ID in different towns and cities since 2021.
Cagara said mayors and provincial governors in Region 12, among them Reynaldo Tamayo Jr. of South Cotabato, who is presiding chairperson of the multi-sector Regional Peace and Order Council 12, were instrumental in securing the surrender of big groups of NPAs in recent years via backchannel dialogues.
The two NPAs who surrendered each received cash assistance from the local government unit of General Santos City that they can spend on their travel back to their homes in provinces nearby.
