MANILA -- The Philippine Army dropped around 1,000 leaflets over Aurora and Nueva Vizcaya to convince members of the New People’s Army to surrender.

Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said the leaflets were dropped by a Black Hawk helicopter of the Philippine Air Force over Barangay Galintuja in Maria Aurora town in Aurora and Barangay Lub-lub in Alfonso Castañeda town in Nueva Vizcaya on March 28.

The airborne leaflet operations were conducted due to the areas’ difficult terrain, she added.

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“We do that. That’s part of our information operations. Target natin dito ang mga nalinlang ng NPA na gusto naman din magbalik loob na pero hindi pinapayagan ng grupo,” Padilla told reporters in a phone interview on Wednesday.

“Ang areas na ito ay very difficult for us to reach and to get our message across. Far-flung areas ito. So, we do the operations by dropping leaflets to get our message across,” she added.

Padilla said the leaflets contained information on the government’s Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program or E-CLIP.

The E-CLIP is a government initiative that aims to provide a comprehensive package of benefits and assistance to former rebels who have decided to return to the fold of the law.

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