50 leftist rebels surrender in southern Philippines

Fifty leftist rebels, who accused the rebel New People's Army (NPA) of breaking promises to help them, surrendered to the military in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao on Wednesday.

The rebels, most of them belonging to the Manobo tribe, handed over M16 rifles and home-made shotguns to regional military chief Lieutenant General Alberto Braganza in the southern province of Agusan del Sur, the Philippine Star daily online news reported.

The former rebels will receive funds for livelihood projects and will also be organized into a pro-government militia force to protect their communities from NPA attacks, Braganza said.

The surrender of such a large group showed that the rebels were weakening, remarking that "they are now talking of the hardship they are suffering," Braganza said.

The rebels had surrendered because of the hardship of the rebel life and because the NPA had broken promises to help them, according to Felimino Dagiun, the group's 54-year-old leader.

Dagiun said other rebels were also considering surrendering.

However, the local military said the NPA still have a strong influence in the province with some villages known to be sympathetic to the rebels.

The about 8,000-strong NPA has been waging insurgency in the remote areas in the Philippines since 1969, which has claimed thousands of lives.

The rebel called off peace talks with the Philippine government in August, accusing Manila of not doing enough to persuade the United States and other Western governments to remove the NPA from their list of terrorist groups.