2 NPA rebels surrender in Abra

BAGUIO CITY — Two New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas gave up their lives in the mountains and officially surrendered to the police on Sunday in Bangued, Abra.

Nancy Ballena Sabado, alias Ka Jamy, allegedly the medical officer of the Kilusang Larangang Gerilya-De Vera of the Abra-based Agustin Begnalen Command of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), earlier surrendered to Lacub town Mayor Cesar Baroña on April 3 with her caliber .45 pistol. Sabado claimed she joined the underground movement in October 2001 when she was recruited by a certain communist leader named Procopio Tauro.

Tauro reportedly heads a unit of the CPP-NPA front committee in north Abra involved in numerous armed encounters with authorities in the past and had been involved in the execution of former rebel-priest Conrado Balweg in December 1999.

Sabado, 31, is a native of Barangay Talampac, Lacub town. She claimed that she suffered difficulties during her four-year stay with the CPP-NPA and finally realized that such a life was not for her. Police said Sabado has a standing warrant of arrest for arson in connection with the Sept. 12, 2003 reported burning of government properties in Sitio Vera, Barangay Alaoa in Tineg town, also in Abra.

Mayor Baroña, himself a rebel returnee who once held very high positions at the CPP-NPA command in Abra, facilitated Sabado’s surrender to the police.

Meanwhile, Aurelio Balansi Malaga, 31, alias Ka Dayna, a native of Barangay Lat-ey, Malibcong town also returned to the fold of law and was welcomed by no less than PNP Director General Arturo Lomibao.

Malaga, a rifleman in the communist movement, earlier surrendered to the Abra Police Office last Feb. 28, 2005. He had been with the CPP-NPA for four years and authorities claimed he had the same reasons as Sabado as to why he opted to return to the fold of the law. He is reportedly a member of the Sandatahang Yunit Pampropaganda under the Kilusang Larangang Gerilya De Vera allegedly operating in Lacub and Malibcong towns.

Lumibao appealed to all communist guerrillas in Abra to come down from the mountains and live a peaceful life. — Artemio Dumlao