• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
A rebel couple has surrendered to the 79th Infantry Battalion in northern Negros to avail of the government’s amnesty program.
1Lt. Dan Carlo Somoza, 79IB Civil Military Operations chief, said that the surrender of the rebel couple on Aug. 23 was made in collaboration with the Escalante City government.
Somoza said the surrendered couple occupied positions in the dismantled Northern Negros Front as squad leader and finance and logistics officer, respectively. However, their identities have been withheld by the 79IB for security reasons.
Of more than 200 former rebels who filed government amnesty applications, 53 of them surrendered to the 79IB, military records showed.
Somoza said that the rebel couple surrendered out of love for their family.
A day before they surrendered, a rebel couple died in an encounter with 94th Infantry Battalion soldiers in Brgy. Buenavista, Himamaylan City.
Lt. Col. J Jay Javines, spokesperson of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, said that rebel couple Joan Lacio Encarnacion and Jolina Martinez, who got married in 2017 by the rebel movement, were facing multiple crimes such as murder, attempted murder, and homicide. | GB
