COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Xinhua) - At least seven leftist rebels involved in series of attacks on government facilities in the southern Philippines have surrendered to the military, a military official said Sunday. Major Adolfo Espualas Jr., a local military commander under 73rd Battalion, said the returnees of New People's Army (NPA) were operating in the township of Malapatan in Sarangani province. The rebels also turned over their weapons, Espualas said. The NPA, armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines ( CPP), has been waging a guerrilla campaign in the countryside for more than four decades.
The Philippine military estimates that there are some 4,700 NPA guerrilla fighters scattered in more than 60 provinces throughout the Southeast Asian country. Formal peace talks between the Philippine government and the leftists bogged down in 2004 after the United States included the NPA and its parent body as foreign terrorist organizations. In the latest development, the Philippine government and CPP- led National Democratic Front (NDF) agreed on Jan. 18 in Norway to resume the formal peace negotiation from Feb. 15 to 21, with the hope of completing it within 18 months.
