Protecting the ‘returnees’

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor PATRICK PANGILINAN Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

The Philippine Army has called for more security for rebel returnees after the assassination of some of them, after they had given up their membership in the insurgency movement to return to the folds of the law.

This is a very important aspect of the government effort to put an end to the rebel movement that has hounded the country for several decades now. Not only has it caused the loss of thousands of lives, it has also crippled the programs intended for the benefit of the countrysides where most of the members of the rebellious group keep themselves.

Only last Saturday, a returnee, identified as Freddie Sanchez, was mercilessly gunned down just in front of his house in Barangay Minapasok, in Calatrava, Negros Occidental.

The suspects in the killing of Sanchez are reportedly hitmen of the New People’s Army who are believed to be sending warnings to their other members about what may happen to them if they leave the movement and given up to government authorities.

Sanchez was not the first victim of such assassination. A few weeks ago, a former militia man, Edwin Flores, was also gunned down in Moises Padilla town. That the killings are taking place in two towns, one in northern Negros Occidental, and the other in the south, seems to indicate that the warnings they carry are intended for rebels in the ranks to realize what could happen to them if they, too, leave the movement.

There is therefore sense in the suggestion to relocate such returnees and their families if we are to protect their lives and make them an example for those who are now thinking twice about staying on as fugitives of the law.

Otherwise, all the government’s plans, efforts and enticements for those on “the other side” to come back and resume their roles in a peaceful and democratic community, will be to no avail.*