CAGAYAN de Oro City–A rebel, who defected and surrendered to the military, guided the military to a hidden arms cache of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) in Bayugan City, Agusan Del Sur, the military said.
An army report reaching here said that three caliber 30 Garand Rifles were unearthed in the hinterlands of Hugmakan, a mountain village of San Juan, Bayugan City.
Lt. Krisjuper Andreo Punsalan, the spokesperson of the army’s Special Forces Battalion in Bayugan, said that a rebel, a tribal member, who defected to the military disclosed the exact of the arms cache.
He said that the recovered firearms were buried on February 2019, two days after the terrorist NPAs released 14 hostages – the two Army Enlisted Personnel and 12 CAFGU Active Auxiliaries (CAAs).
Punsalan said that the rebel defector disclosed the exact location because he was the rebel who was ordered to hide the firearms.
He said that the rebel identified only as a.k.a. Sion defected on August 13, 2019, and surrendered to the military after experiencing the continuous exploitation and abuses committed by NPA terrorists to the tribal community.
Punsalan said that “Sion” could avail of the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP) of the government where a rebel is extended financial assistance for livelihood and payment of firearms.
In Bukidnon, the military also recovered several high powered firearms believed to be owned by the communist NPA rebels. -0-
