Mom of 6 abandons CPP-NPA to reunite with family

By Rhaydz B. Barcia

CLAD with black bonnet, face mask and face shield, May Dacorda, 46, (not her real name) mother of six from Libmanan town in Camarines Sur, a New People’s Army (NPA) rebel for 13 years, met PNP chief Guillermo T. Eleazar as she received a P10,000 cash assistance, one sack of rice and grocery items from the country’s top cop on Monday, May 31, in Camp simeon Ola, Legazpi City.

May was able to come to Camp General Simeon Ola to receive the government assistance after abandoning the communist movement, which she had embraced for 13 years.

May joined the NPA along with her husband in 2004 when her eldest child was 12 years old and her youngest was two years old. They have six children.

She left her children under the care of her mother-in-law for 13 years. May said that she and her husband were in the rebel movement together, but in 2017, she thought of leaving her group, the Larangan 2 guerilla front, to be with her children.

But the plan of surrendering didn’t work out well, she said. May said that her husband was posted in Albay province where the Santos-Binamira command is operating.

When asked why she abandoned the NPA, she said that she wanted to be a full-time mother to her children whose youngest is now a teenager.

“My children were left under the care of my mother-in-law for 13 years and we were away from them during their formative years. I want to be with them in their growing up years,” she said in local dialect.

May is among the 25 members of rebel returnees who gave up their guns and communist idealism to reunite with their families and return to the fold of law.

Major Maria Luisa “Malu” Calubaquid, PNP Bicol regional spokesperson, said that May is one of the two mothers among the 25 rebels who surrendered in April this year.

Eleazar tapped May’s shoulder as he expressed his gratitude to her for abandoning the NPA while he handed over the P10,000 cash assistance and groceries items.

He urged the rebel returnees not to be afraid as they will be supported by the government.

“We want to change the mindset of fear and terrorism. We want to stop the terrorism and you are the living testament,” Eleazar said. He added that President Rodrigo Duterte is allocating funds to alleviate the lives of the rebel returnees wherein in Bicol at least 49 villages will be benefiting from barangay development projects.