BRGY. TILING, Cauayan - Two more armed fighters of the Rebolusyonaryong Hukbo ng Bayan, a breakaway communist rebel faction, yesterday surrendered to the 61st Infantry Battalion, after their political officer signified his intention to avail of the government's amnesty program.

The rebel returnees identified as Joebert Andales and Donie Canonoy also surrendered two .38 caliber revolvers with ammunition, Lt. Col. Norman Flores, 61st Infantry Battalion commander, said.

On March 5, Jesus Daguia, alias Ka Jess, political officer of the RHB, gave himself up to the 61st IB and surrendered an M-16 assault rifle with ammunition.

The RHB is the armed component of the Marxista-Leninista Partido ng Pilipinas, military records show.

Flores said that, under the government's Balik Baril program, Daguia will receive P35,000 and Andales and Canonoy are expected to get P8,000, in exchange for the M-16 assault rifle and two .38 caliber revolvers they had surrendered.

Maj. Gen. Alphonsus Crucero, Army's 3rd Infantry Division commander, has increased the cash value of firearms surrendered by members and sympathizers of various communist rebel groups in Western and Central Visayas.

Rebels who surrender either M-16 or M-14 assault rifle, will now receive P35,000, instead of P18,000, under the government Balik Baril program.

Flores said they have also received surrender feelers from members of the New People's Army in southern Negros, but did not elaborate on the details.

"I am not interested in the type of firearms that they are surrendering but in their act of surrender and their desire to return to the folds of the law," he stressed.

Daguia said he had joined the New People's Army in 1988 and rose to the rank of political officer, before he and 17 other comrades joined the RHB in 1995.

Disgusted at the involvement of the RHB in the series of robbery-hold-up incidents in southern Negros, Daguia said he decided to quit and re-unite with his family and live a normal life.

Andales who joined the RHB in 2004, said he was among those who survived in a previous encounter with a team of 61stst IB soldiers in Sitio Cagay, Brgy. Mambugsay, Cauayan.*GPB

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