1,000 Filipinos Lay Down Arms

MANILA — More than 1,000 communist-led rebels and sympathizers, saying they will “give democracy one more chance,” laid down their arms today in the first mass surrender since President Corazon Aquino launched a drive to end the bloody insurgency, officials said.

Villagers cheered and relatives burst into tears as scores of young rebels laid down their M-16 rifles, .38-caliber pistols and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition in a town plaza outside Catmon, on the central island of Cebu. The ex-guerrillas were welcomed by Bishop Santos de la Serna and Roman Catholic parish priests.