An alleged civilian sympathizer and suspected finance officer of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) operating in the Ilocos-Cordillera area peacefully turned herself to combined police and military authorities in Besao, Mountain Province Tuesday morning.
Anne Margarette Tauli, 70, an alleged civilian sympathizer and suspected CPP finance officer was presented to National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, and Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong, chairman of the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) in the Cordillera after she was fetched by a military chopper in her hometown in Besao.
Police Brig. Gen. R’win S. Pagkalinawan, regional director of the Police Regional Office (PRO) in the Cordillera, and Brig. Gen. Henry Dayaoen, commanding officer of the 503rd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army, together with Tauli’s younger sister and relatives escorted her until she was formally turned over to the National Security Adviser
Esperon praised Tauli for her decision to peacefully return to the folds of the law and clear her name on allegations that she allegedly harboured Julius Giron, the CPP chairman, who was killed in a police and military operation in the city last March 13, 2020.
He pointed out that the willingness showed by Tauli in returning to the folds of the law to clear her name should serve as an example for other civilian sympathizers and CPP leaders to give up their arms and join the mainstream society for the realization of lasting peace in the country.
Esperon assured Tauli and her relatives that the government, through the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), will extend whatever available assistance to her to clear her name and eventually become the partner of the government in the implementation of peace and development programs, especially in the countryside, to prevent the armed groups from taking advantage of the situation.
For his part, Mayor Magalong commended the efforts of the civilians, police and military authorities in working hard to ensure the peaceful return of Tauli to the mainstream society for her to be able to clear her name and be tapped as peace and development advocate in the region.
He claimed that employing various approaches in convincing civilian sympathizers and suspected CPP leaders and armed personnel to give up their arms and return to the folds of the law is highly commendable because it is geared towards the realization of lasting peace in the country.
For her part, Tauli stated that she peacefully yielded because she wants to clear her name and that she will cooperate with the police and military authorities to ferret out the truth in the allegations being hurled against her when in fact, she was locked down in Besao town since the start of the implementation of the Luzonwide enhanced community quarantine last March 17, 2020.
Police and military authorities guaranteed the safety and security of Tauli while under close watch in one of the military facilities in the city. *Contributed by Dexter A. See