Negros Oriental Governor Roel Ragay Degamo has vowed to continue to open his doors to members of the New People’s Army who are still in the mountains fighting against the government.

Governor Degamo enjoins them (NPAs) to come and lay down their arms, to go back to folds of the law and to live a normal life in the mainstream of society as he does not see any more reasons why they continue to fight against the government.

The governor made the call again during the short ceremony held at the 79th Infantry Battalion in Barangay 4, Siaton, Negros Oriental in the occasion of the surrender of Alyas Ka Raylin who is a self-confessed member of the New People’s Army.

Ka Raylin was among the five NPA members who engaged in a gun battle with the members of the 79th Infantry Battalion in Sitio Makasa-kasa, Barangay Balayong, Pamplona recently where two NPA members were killed with one wounded and captured by the Philippine Army.

Ka Raylin was formally presented to Governor Degamo by the Philippine Army was accompanied by her father Ka Rebas, himself a rebel returnee, who surrendered to the military late last year. Her decision to surrender came after she realized she could no longer take the lies and pretentions told to them about the government.

Governor Degamo joined the Philippine Army officials in thanking the father and daughter for making the right decision while at the same time calling on other members of the NPA to do the same.

“I am happy for both of your decisions as there are no more reasons for you to go against the government. We are seriously attending to the needs of the people especially in the hinterlands,” the governor said.

He added that this will definitely bolster the desire of all stakeholders in the province to curb the insurgency problem for the attainment of real peace and development in Negros Oriental especially at this point when the province had been declared conflict manageable and development ready.

The Governor believes that any form of fighting will only result to divisiveness among the people which in return will hamper any plan to achieve peace and development.