NPA fighter yields to NoCot gov
Peace and Order • 09:45 AM Fri Dec 13, 2019
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By:
Edwin O. Fernandez
Home for Christmas. A soldier accompanied NPA rebel Paquito Mamites (2nd right) to a site where North Cotabato Gov. Nancy Catamco waited for his surrender in Magpet, North Cotabato. (Photo from office of Gov. Catamco)
COTABATO CITY - North Cotabato Governor Nancy Catamco on Thursday afternoon accepted the surrender of a 54-year-old communist rebel who decided to be with his family this Christmas.
Catamco welcomed Paquito Mamites during simple surrender rites at Barangay Don Panaca, Magpet, North Cotabato.
Colonel Gabriel Viray, the Army’s 901st Infantry Brigade commander, who accompanied Catamco in the surrender site, said Mamites is a member of the New People's Army and he has been traced as former resident of Barangay Balite, also in Magpet.
“A child will most likely join the communist movement if the parents have no time taking care of them, especially as they become adolescents and teenagers,” Catamco said.
“But if the parents take care of their children, love them, they have no time wandering until they found rebel recruiters,” she added.
She said the objective of her “Local Serbisyo Caravan” is to bring government services to the far flung villages so that its constituents will have no reason to fight the government because of perceived negligence.
Catamco said Mamites will now have a merry Christmas with his family, something that he has not done for several years for fear of getting arrested or killed by government forces.
Mamites who yielded with his M-16 Armalite rifle received an initial assistance of PHP20,000 through local government unit of Magpet.
He will be qualified to further assistance from the government, including education assistance through the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
The national government refused offers for a bilateral Christmas truce by the communist rebels.