By BONITA ERMAC
BALOI, Lanao del Norte – A squad leader of the New People’s Army (NPA) has abandoned the armed struggle to reunite with his family this Christmas.
Ilan Talha Binongkasan, alias “King,” surrendered to the military’s 41st Mechanized Company at Purok Poblacion in Barangay Rogongon on December 14, 2020.
He was a squad leader of Squad Uno, Platoon Dos, Ace Company, Sub-Regional Committee 5, North Central Mindanao Regional Command, according to Western Mindanao Command commander Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan, Jr.
Binongkasan, 35, said that even before his wife convinced him to surrender, he had been thinking about going back to his family this Christmas and to stop his children from taking the same path that he did in the armed struggle.
He was exposed at a young age to communism as his parents were NPA members. At age 17, he already held a gun, he said in an interview.
“Hindi ko gusto magaya sa akin mga anak ko. Doon sa loob, ang taas ng pangarap ngunit walang nakamtang benepisyo para sa pamilya,” he said.
“Wala talaga kaming ibuhay sa aming pamilya,” he said as they were dependent on what their leaders would give to their families. It was not enough though and it was not done as promised every month.
His desire to be with his family this Christmas was what pushed him to surrender. “Ito iyong naka-dasig (encourage) sa akin na mag-surrender ngayon na,” he said.
Binongkasan expressed gratefulness to the government for accepting him twice. He had surrendered in 2009.
He and his wife, alias Marie, 32, met in 2009 when she was working as a saleslady in Bukidnon and he had just surrendered to the government. In 2010, they were married at a mass wedding ceremony in Cagayan de Oro. After their second son was born in 2012, King went back to the armed struggle in Agusan del Norte.
“Tinitirhan namin ay gubat, malayo sa baryo, maraming NPA, daanan nila ang bahay namin. Siyempre nai-ingganyo siya dahil inutus-utusan siya,” Marie said. She said it was difficult when her husband rejoined the armed struggle. She supported their children by taking in laundry jobs. It was their eldest son, then 10 years old, who looked after his younger siblings aged 6, 3, 2 while she was doing laundry for other people.
Whenever she would hear about military operations in the area, she feared for her husband’s life. Her only contact with him were the intermittent text messages he would send her.
Marie admitted that there was a time when she wished her husband be killed so she could marry one who has no conflict with the government.
She even tried to break up with him after giving birth to their 4th son. She returned home to Cagayan de Oro but King followed her.
“Pero naaawa ako sa kanya, ama siya ng mga anak ko,” Marie said.
Now that King has rejoined his family, Marie said: “Masaya ako dahil siguro love niya ako at bumalik siya sa amin ng mga anak ko.”
4th Mechanized Infantry Battalion Commander Domingo G. Dulay, Jr., said Christmas is the time for the family to be together. He said King asked for his family when he surrendered.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Department of Interior and Local Government on Saturday gave P5,000 cash assistance to King and to the three other rebels who surrendered.
