Military winning vs terrorism, insurgency

THE military claimed on Wednesday that it had gained ground against terrorists who suffered defeat in battles across the country.

Recently, four remnants of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) laid down their arms following a relentless military campaign against terrorists.

As government forces pushed hard on the terrorists, army troops scoured through New People's Army (NPA) combatants' lairs and recovered seven war materiel after a fierce clash in the hinterlands of Minsalay town in Oriental Mindoro.

Government forces identified the ASG members with their aliases Jims, Juksin, Amin and Pugus.

Recovered from the four were a caliber 50 Barrel rifle, two Springfield M1 Garand rifles, an M16 rifle, and assorted ammunition.

The ASG fighters' surrender was made possible through the efforts of Marine Battalion Landing Team 11 (MBLT-11), Naval Special Operations Unit 6 (Navsou-6), Marine Battalion Landing Team 6 (MBLT-6), 1102nd Infantry Brigade, Ministry of Public Order and Safety of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (MPOS-BARMM) and the intelligence units.

Meanwhile, a member of the weakened Guerrilla Front Sendong of the NPA surrendered without firearms to the troops of the 10th Infantry Battalion in Sitio Tonggo, Barangay Namut, Tudela, Misamis Occidental, over the weekend.

An NPA insurgent, known only as Rain, husband of alias Jean, who also surrendered this year, yielded to authorities through negotiation by his family and relatives.

Maj. Gen. Steve Crespillo, commander of Western Mindanao Command, said that the snowball of surrender exemplifies the positive result of the holistic approach employed by the military in adherence to Executive Order 70.

«Rest assured that we will continue to employ the whole-of-nation approach to encourage our lost and deceived brothers and sisters to walk with us on the path toward lasting peace and development here in Mindanao,» Crespillo said.

Battle awards

Meanwhile, the Visayas Command (Viscom) awarded its troops for the series of successes in the fight against the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)-NPA.

Lt. Gen. Benedict Arevalo, Viscom commander, said officers and enlisted personnel were conferred awards for gallantry