and VICTOR REYES
PRESIDENT Duterte on Monday night offered a P2-million reward to anyone who can provide information that will lead to the arrest or neutralization of “top commanders” of the communist New People’s Army (NPA).
The President assured the informants that they and their families would be given protection and aid similar to those under the witness protection program.
“Pag nakapatay kayo ng commander o nakapagturo kayo kung saan natutulog yung commander o nakitulog, sabihin lang ninyo sa akin at P2 million, basta yung top commander,” he said Monday night during a meeting with members of the Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging and Infectious Diseases, which was aired Tuesday morning.
The President said the government would relocate the tipster and his or her family and even give them a new identity. They will also be given lands. “I will give you lands. Marami pang lupa,” he said.
He also told the tipster to give the information directly to the military as he said many local officials support the communists.
The President again chided the NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, following the death of two soldiers who were escorting aid workers in Aurora. Duterte previously criticized the NPA for attacking government forces and attempting to grab aid being distributed to those affected by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lockdown.
Armed Forces chief Gen. Felimon Santos Jr on Tuesday said the P2-million reward would hasten the defeat of the rebel movement.
“Good news for the AFP. That will be an additional reward for those informants, aside from what is already on the AFP Reward System,” Santos said.
The military has a reward system against top leaders of various security threats, including the NPA and the Abu Sayyaf Group.
Santos assured the informants of their safety.
Military estimates the NPA strength at 3,000 to 3,500 members. The President has said he wants the NPA defeated before the end of his term in June 2022.
Santos said he is confident the military, in collaboration with the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, can end the insurgency problem before Duterte steps down from the presidency.
In Zamboanga del Sur, meanwhile, two NPA rebels were killed in a firefight with government forces in Midsalip town in Zamboanga del Sur on Monday.
Troops from Army’s 53rd Infantry Battalion were on combat patrol when they clashed with an undetermined number of rebels in Sitio Pisyo in Barangay Balonai at around 11:05 am.
Maj. Arvin Encinas, spokesman of the Zamboanga City-based AFP Western Mindanao Command, said the rebels fled after a 25-minute gunfight.
While scouring the encounter area, troops recovered two cadavers, two AK47 rifles, and a backpack, said Encinas
