• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
A former top leader of the New People’s Army (NPA) Komiteng Rehiyonal-Negros/Cebu/Bohol/Siquijor (KR-NCBS) has quit his involvement in the communist insurgency after more than four decades.
Roy Erecre, former secretary of KR-NCBS, and his partner Judith Jaron surrendered and took their oath of allegiance to support the government before Bohol Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado at the Bohol Provincial Capitol on Nov. 6.
Erecre, who carried a P5.4-million bounty for his capture, has a pending arrest warrant for frustrated murder in Negros Occidental.
He was also linked to several atrocities in Central Visayas, including the ambush-slay of two Philippine Army personnel in Carmen, Bohol.
In a media interview, Erecre, 61, said that Aumentado issued a safe conduct pass on Oct. 29 before his surrender.
Aumentado lauded Erecre’s decision to surrender, describing it as a “courageous and meaningful step toward peace, reconciliation, and lasting progress in the province and beyond.”
A former consultant of the National Democratic Front, Erecre said he had been observing the government’s amnesty program since 2024, before his decision to return to the fold of the law, after seeing genuine governance under Aumentado’s administration.
Erecre and Jaron are undergoing legal processes as part of their reintegration into mainstream society through the amnesty program being offered by the national government. | GB
