Hunger and intimidation were used to force people to ‘surrender’ ceremonies. Food packs and small aid in exchange for land, service, and justice. This is not peace—it is counterinsurgency.

MANILA — A Lumad leader and former lawmaker criticized the reported “mass surrender” of New People’s Army (NPA) members in Southern Mindanao, saying it is part of a “manufactured counterinsurgency narrative” to obscure the continuing poverty and repression of Indigenous resistance.

Former Bayan Muna representative Eufemia Cullamat questioned the Philippine Army’s presentation of 92 “rebel returnees” reportedly under the NPA’s Southern Mindanao Regional Committee (SMRC), considering its previous “insurgency free” claim in the region.

In a report by Davao-based Mindanao Times, the Army’s 10th Infantry Division declared in June last year that there were no active NPA members under its operational area, including Southern Mindanao, after the remnants of SMRC were arrested in Bunawan, Agusan del Sur, in the same month.

Bulatlat reached out to the chief of the army division’s public affairs office on Thursday, February 5, through text to get the exact dates when those former rebels surrendered, but there was no response as of this writing.

The presentation of the so-called former rebels took place in Barangay Sto. Niño, Talaingod, Davao del Norte, on January 27. They received food packs and financial aid from the government.

“Hunger and intimidation were used to force people to ‘surrender’ ceremonies. Food packs and small aid in exchange for land, service, and justice. This is not peace—it is counterinsurgency,” Cullamat said.

Kapatid, a support group for political prisoners, questioned this army-led activity, asking the latter’s process on how they were able to verify that those individuals were former rebels.

“If these surrenders keep happening despite claims that the NPA is already defeated, the question must be asked whether this has become an incentive-driven or even money-making scheme as reported in congressional hearings,” Kapatid said in a Facebook post.

The group wondered if this is a factor in the increasing number of political prisoners. It called for a congressional investigation to ensure how public funds are being used.

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Talaingod Mayor Jonnie Libayao and Bae Pilar Libayao, chairperson of the Talaingod Indigenous Political Structure, were in attendance during the recent presentation.

Cullamat lamented the collaboration of the Philippine Army, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), and the Libayao administration to showcase a representation of peace, while Lumad communities remain the poorest sector in the country.

She cited the 2023 report of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), where Indigenous Peoples (IPs) were the sector in the country that had the highest poverty incidence with 32.4 percent. This was followed by fisherfolk (27.4 percent) and farmers (27.0 percent).

“If the program of the government and the whole-of-nation approach are truly effective, the [IPs] should not be the poorest,” Cullamat said. “The data itself shows the failure of their intervention.” (AMU, RVO)