Last 168 CPLA ex- guerrillas join AFP

CAMP MELCHOR DELA CRUZ, Gamu, Isabela — Some 168 former armed rebels of three Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army were integrated into the Armed Forces of the Philippines Tuesday --  the last of CPLA forces, according to the military  here. “This is the end. It is the final closure,” said Mayor Gabino Ganggangan of Sadanga, Mountain Province, also the secretary general of the CPLA’s Cordillera Bodong Administration (CBA), at simple rights at this camp in Gamu town.

Marcelina Bahatan, chairman of the CBA and Major General Lysander Surte, commander of the 5th Infantry Division (5th ID), signed a document titled “Joint Declaration on the Successful Completion” which would formally end the clamor for integration of the CPLA.

“There can longer be a CPLA because the government has already made good its promise to integrate our members into the AFP,” added the former rebel leader.

He cited the realization of the government’s commitment to the region as contained in Executive Order 220 issued during the term of President Corazon Aquino.

The EO220 was issued by the late former president to prepare for the creation of the Cordillera autonomous region. Ganggangan said that the government has already complied with its commitment and they are thankful for that.

Yesterday, a total of 168 former CPLA members, the last of their kind, have been integrated. Among them are 62 former armed fighters from Kalinga; 52 from Mountain Province; 29 from Abra; 17 from Apayao; four from Benguet; and four from Ifugao.

This brings to 1,564 the total number of former CPLA members who are now formally with the country’s armed forces. There are 49 who became officers; 661 enlisted personnel; and 888 Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit Auxiliary Group (CAFGU-CAA).

Aside from integration, a total of 511 from CPLA were employed as forest guards in the different provinces of Cordillera and a total of 915 peoples’ organization were established for their livelihood program.