Eastern Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Greg Almerol (PNA file photo) DAVAO CITY - The Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) reiterated on Monday its call to other communist New People's Army (NPA) members to surrender to avoid bloodshed. Lt. Gen. Greg Almerol, the Eastmincom commander, made the call following the death of five members of the communist New People's Army (NPA) in an encounter on February 24. In a statement, Almerol condoled with the families of the slain NPA members, whom he said were victims of deception and wrong ideology. The slain NPA members identified as Chad Booc, Jojarain Alce Nguho ll (alias Rain), a certain alias Daday, and two still unidentified men figured in an encounter in Purok-8, Barangay Andap, New Bataan, Davao de Oro. Booc, 27, graduated cum laude from the University of the Philippines-Diliman with a Bachelor of Computer Science degree. "This would not have happened if they took heed with our offer to abandon the armed struggle. Their only choice was to yield instead of sacrificing their lives for a terroristic cause," Almerol said. On February 15, 2021, Booc was one of the personalities arrested by authorities at the University of San Carlos - Talamban Campus in Cebu City after some parents from Talaingod, Davao del Norte reported about the alleged kidnapping of their indigenous people (IP) children. The court in Cebu, later on, released him together with six others. "After his release, Chad decided to join the armed movement, believing the deception of his superiors that bearing arms is the highest form of struggle," Almerol said. During a press briefing at the 1001st Infantry Brigade on February 26, Rurelyn Bay-ao, an IP youth leader from Talaingod, Davao del Norte who previously confessed the radicalization in NPA-linked schools to use them in mass protests and eventually join the armed group, revealed that Booc was his teacher in Haran, Manila, and Cebu Bakwit Schools. "We had a sigh of relief, at least the IP children and youth will now be spared from recruitment," she said. Almerol said the death of Booc has paved way for the identification of NPA breeding grounds, which are hiding behind the walls of so-called Lumad Schools. "They are recruiters of the terrorist organization, pretending to be activists and volunteer teachers," he said. Almerol said all NPA-operated schools in the Eastmincom area were closed down by the Department of Education (DepEd) and communities due to incomplete submissions of documentary requirements and complaints from parents on their ways of teaching. He also reported that since 2019, Eastmincom's military engineers, in partnership with DepEd and local government units, have built 34 schools in communities formerly influenced by the armed group, while dormitories are also being built to house IP students who choose to study in mainstream communities. "For those who will choose to surrender, various government services through the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP) are waiting on your return. For those who will remain, we will relentlessly hunt you down until you will have no other option but to lay down your arms," Almerol said. The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines. The Anti-Terrorism Council also formally designated the NDF as a terrorist organization on June 23, 2021, citing it as "an integral and inseparable part" of the CPP-NPA that was created in April 1973. (PNA) }