111 Cordillera guerillas undergo military training

LA Trinidad, Benguet – At least 111 former members of the militia group Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army (CPLA), a splinter group of the New People's Army, are now being trained to become regular soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

They successfully passed the screening process to become “candidate soldiers” and are now being trained at the 5th Infantry Division Training School of the Philippine Army in Gamu, Isabela.

Their rigorous training started December last year.

1st Lt. Rowena Abayon, spokesperson of the Army's 5th Infantry Division, said the former militiamen's integration into the regular force of the AFP is part of the final closure process for Administrative Order 18.

The administrative order mandates the inegration of CPLA members into the AFP.

A total of 264 members of the militia group have been integrated into the military more than a decade ago.

“Despite of the intricate task in the implementation of the integration program of the CPLA, another batch of 168 CPLA applicants into the Regular Force, AFP as stipulated under Executive Order Nr 49 which was signed by the President Benigno S Aquino III on July 19, 2011 mandating the implementation of the CPLA’s final disposition of its arms and forces, and transformation into a potent socio-economic and unarmed force,” Abayon explained.