Ex-rebel tips site of NPA arms cache

The weapons belonged to former NPA guerillas operating in the mountain ranges of Sierra Madre.

A soldier inspects one of the high-powered rifles recovered from the NPA. (7ID)

Firearms of Communist New People’s Army Terrorist (CNT) were recovered at Barangay Villa in Maria Aurora on Thursday after a former rebel tipped its location.

The 91st Infantry (Sinagtala) Battalion, elements of the 1st Police Mobile Force Company-Aurora (1PMFC) and troops of the 303rd Regional Mobile Force Battalion recovered the arms cache in a military operation.

The firearms belonged to former members of the Komiteng Larangang Gerilya (KLG) Sierra Madre, an armed NPA guerilla front that operates in the mountain ranges of the Sierra Madre.

It has now greatly weakened due to the relentless operations of the 7th Infantry (Kaugnay) Division’s 91IB that has operational jurisdiction in the Province of Aurora.

Alias Dave, a former KLG Sierra Madre member, said the cache contained five high-powered firearms.

Dave said he revealed the location of the weapons to show their sincerity in leaving behind the armed struggle and totally surrendering the use of firearms for a peaceful life. True enough, when the government forces found the cache, there were five M16 rifles inside.

7ID commander Major General Lenard T. Agustin stated that “the credit goes not just to the hardworking team of the 91IB, but to all government security forces who helped in the surrender of the former rebels and in the retrieval of the arms cache.”

“The things we have achieved, we owe to the implementation of the ‘whole-of-nation approach’ which is the break we needed to get the full support of the government units and agencies, and most especially of the people, to believe in us and trust us to do what needs to be done, to end the local communist armed conflict and achieve lasting peace and sustainable development for all,” Agustin added.