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EX-TOP REBEL Epitacio Ramirez, alias
Kumander Vargas. |
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A
former commander of the New Peoples Army (NPA) has condemned
the "deceptive activities and atrocities"
committed by communist insurgents here, both in the
armed and legal fronts.
Epitacio
Ramirez, popularly known during the 1980s as Commander
Vargas, denounced the Communist Party of the Philippines
(CPP), the NPA and the National Democratic Front (NDF)
during a recent peace rally in Bilar town.
Ramirez himself led armed communist rebels here for
over a decade since the early 1980s.
Now 66 years old, the former NPA commander revealed
to some 2,000 participants of a 3-day conference of
the Federated Barangay Defense System officers and members,
including former NPA sympathizers, barangay captains
coming from 19 barangays of Bilar town, how he was first
recruited by the communist movement in 1976.
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He
was in Mindanao then which was where he also started operating
with armed communist insurgents after his recruitment.
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Operating
in the provinces of Davao and Agusan, Ramirez said he
rose from the ranks and was elevated as a District Committee
Chairman of the CPP-NPA.
He was then moved to Bohol in 1983 to initiate the underground
movement in the whole province.
Ramirez
said he was responsible for a series of violent incidents
including the raid of Batuan municipal hall in 1984.
During his testimony, Ramirez mentioned that the CPP-NPA-NDF
headed by Jose Maria Sison, ordered the conduct of atrocities
like bank robberies, extortion and other criminal activities
to generate funds and support their organization.
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The
former rebel leader lamented that in spite of his more than
20 years in the movement with so many accomplishments to his
credit, he has never been recognized by the organization.
He
disclosed that if such "misfortune" happened to
him despite his role and contribution to the movement, how
much more the thousands of members all over the country who
were "merely deceived and manipulated by the communist
leaders."
He
likewise bared that human rights group Karapatan which the
CPP-NPA-NDF established, is "a front organization masquerading
as human rights advocate whose real purpose is to protect
their armed comrades."
Commander
Vargas was feared by Boholanos for more than a decade because
of his exploits as an NPA commander.
He
returned to the folds of the law in 2000 and availed of the
Amnesty Program of the Government through the Office of the
Presidential Assistant on the Peace Process.
Ramirez
was given livelihood assistance and financial support for
the establishment of a cooperative by the provincial government.
After
years of living a normal life, the testimony was the very
first time that Ramirez came out in public and denounced the
communist movement.
The
peace rally, held in front of Bilar public market, was the
culminating activity of a 3-day Peace and Development Forum
organized by the municipal government of Bilar and the Philippine
Army's 79th Infantry Battalion based at barangay Riverside,
Bilar under the command of Lt. Col. Nestor Porlucas.
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