Former Rebel Gets PHP117,000 Cash Assistance

Impasug-ong, Bukidnon (PNA) – A former rebel of the New People’s Army (NPA) received PHP117,000 cash and livelihood assistance from the military and the local government here, a military officer said Tuesday.

Capt. Norman Tagros, spokesperson of the army’s 8th Infantry Battalion, said that Jonathan B. Nacar, a.k.a “Totong,” received a check of PHP52,200 from the 8IB.

Tagros said that the amount was a remuneration of the AK-47 assault rifle that Nacar turned over when he surrendered to the army’s 8IB in Impasug-Ong, Bukidnon.

Nacar, 24, a Higa-onon tribe of Bukidnon, and a former member of the Guerrilla Front 4B of the North Central Mindanao Regional Committee, surrendered to the military in September 2014.

Lt. Col. Lennon Babilonia, commander of the army 8IB, personally handed the check to Nacar during the formal turnover at the town hall of Impasug-ong last Monday.

Aside from the said amount from the military, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process (OPAPP) also extended PHP50,000 cash for livelihood assistance on top of the PHP15,000 cash assistance from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in Bukidnon.

During the turnover ceremony, Babilonia also announced the promotion of two soldiers for gallantry in action during an encounter with the armed communist NPA rebels in Bukidnon, which resulted in the recovery of three AK-47, improvised explosive device, blasting caps, several rounds of live ammunitions and subversive documents.

Tagros said that army Sgt. Nestor S. Sabaldana was promoted to the rank of Staff Sergeant while army Private First Class Aberto A. Bugtay, to Corporal. (PNA) FFC/CD