3-"I'm tired of running" - Payot
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By Ben Cal
Manila, Jan. 31 (PNA) - "I'm tired of running in the jungles. I'm not
getting any younger. I want to live in peace with my family."
This was the statement made today by Amado Payot, a.k.a. Commander
Benzar, the top rebel commander of the New People's Army (NPA) in Davao,
prior to his face-to-face meeting with President Joseph E. Estrada in
Malacanang four days after his surrender to the military last Thursday.
He brought with him his younger brother, Avelino Payot, a.k.a.
Commander Beloy, commanding officer of Front 51 of the NPA operating in
the Davao area.
Payot hogged the national limelight on June 25, 1989 when he was
tagged as the one responsible for the massacre of 39 civilians in Digos,
Davao del Sur.
The 41-year old NPA commander denied the accusation by the military,
saying he was two kilometers away when the gory incident happened. But
he said it was a group of NPA who perpetrated the mass killing.
Three of those massacred were tribal leaders, one of them was
identified as Rev. Abadia Ayap who was beheaded.
The bloody carnage was triggered after the tribal leaders refused to
give revolutionary taxes to the NPA.
Charges of robbery in band with multiple murder and frustrated murder
against Payot at the Digos Municipal Court.
Payot who jumped bail last year following his capture in Barangay New
Bulatukan, Makilala, North Cotabato on March 2, 1998, surrendered to
Brig. Gen. Roy Cimatu, commanding general of the 4th Infantry Division
of the Philippine Army based in Cagayan de Oro City last Thursday.
With regards to his P470,000 bail bond for his temporary liberty,
Payot admitted for the first time that he himself was surprised where
the NPA got the money.
"Wala ako mahibalo na ila (NPA) akong piyansahan (I did not know that
the NPA was going to put a bail bond for me)," Payot who could hardly
speak in Tagalog said in Cebuano dialect.
"Kapoy na kaayo ug dagandagan sa lasang. Di na gud ta siging bata.
Gusto ko nang malinao sa pagpuyo sa akong pamilya (I'm tired of running
in the jungles. I'm not getting any younger. I want to live in peace
with my family)."
Payot was referring to the relentless combat operations being
launched by the military in Mindanao.
In an exclusive interview with PNA, Payot said he joined the NPA in
1978 when he was only 18 years old.
He said he was forced to join the movement because of abuses
committed by elements of the 57th PC Battalion.
Commander Benzar said he was arrested several times by PC soldiers
everytime he went to the town proper on suspicion he was an NPA.
But what infuriated him was when his friends and neighbors were not
only arrested but tortured and women were allegedly raped.
"The soldiers put my friends inside barrels and roll them after which
they were ordered to carry the barrels," Payot said.
The military admitted that Payot was the most feared rebel commander
in Mindanao.
His surrender, together with his brother, is a big blow to the NPA
movement in Davao, Agusan and Surigao provinces where the rebels are
strongest.
Payot's return to the fold of the law will have crippling effects in
the NPA, Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Angelo T. Reyes said.
Benzar is also an executive committee member of the Southern Mindanao
Regional Committee (SMRC) and secretary of Front 2, SMRC.
The surrender of Payot was the result of the government's new
campaign drive, the National Peace and Development Plan launched by the
President last Jan. 21.
Local officials had worked hard to convince Payo and his brother to
yield peacefully
They have realized that the armed struggle by the NPA would not lead
them anywhere.
Benzar said he was convinced the sincerity of the government to end
the insurgency war through economic upliftment of the people,
particularly in the rural areas.
His surrender and that of his brother came a few months after
another NPA leader in Davao, Leoncio Pitao, a.k.a. Commander Parago was
captured. (PNA) fpv/RBC
PNA 01311021