548 NPA rebels avail SIP livelihood program; surrender 330 firearms
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MANILA, Sept. 7 – A year after it was launched, the innovative Social Integration Program (SIP) is proving to be
the most potent anti-insurgency weapon of the government without the use of guns and bullets.
Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Avelino I. Razon Jr. said that as of today (Sept. 7, 2009) a total of
548 rebels of the New People’s Army (NPA) have voluntarily surrendered to avail of the SIP scheme that have
given them livelihood for their families.
Razon said that under this program, the government has released so far P109.6 million in livelihood funds for
the 548 NPA rebel returnees with each one getting P20,000 as seed money to start a small business of their
own.
“Many of these former rebels are now owners of sari-sari stores or tri-cycle operators,” he said.
“Others have bought hand tractors or working animals for their farms and some of them have formed
cooperatives by pooling their resources together to put up a bigger business,” Razon added.
He said that out of the 548 NPA rebels who have surrendered, 330 of them yielded their firearms with the
government paying the corresponding amount ranging from P5,000 to as much as P50,000 each gun turned
in.
Under the SIP, a rebel who surrenders an M-16 assault rifle or an equivalent caliber of other type of weapon, is
paid P50,000 in addition to the P20,000, Razon said.
In addition, a rebel returnee may get another P50,000 in kind if he qualifies after under a seminar on livelihood
program conducted by various government agencies such as the Technical Education and Skills Development
Authority (TESDA), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), to name a few.
He said SIP is a comprehensive package to attract rebels to return to the fold of the law by giving them
livelihood to eradicate poverty, especially in the countryside.
“It is making headway as the NPA strengthen has continued to dwindle,” Razon said.
The military has estimated the NPA fighting force at just under 5,000 at the end of June 30.
The government aims to crush the communist insurgency before President Arroyo steps down in June next
year.
Razon said the SIP is making waves, attracting NPA rebels to avail of the program.
Razon also revealed that the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) is processing
the papers of another batch of 261 former communist rebels, who have recently surrendered to avail of the SIP.
“The program has three basic components, namely: community awareness and acceptance, force and arms
management, and socio-economic intervention,” Razon said.
“This is in line with the government’s pursuit of a comprehensive peace process agenda that seeks a
principled and negotiated settlement with all armed rebel groups ordered by President Gloria-Macapagal-
Arroyo,” he said.
The President issued Administrative Order No. 172 in March 2007 to lay down the mechanism for
implementing package of intervention under the SIP for former rebels and their dependents seeking re-entry
into the mainstream of society.
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