Leader of Philippine Private Army Gives Up

Carlos Lademora, head of the “Lost Command,” an 800-strong private, anti-Communist army, has surrendered but denied engaging in banditry in the southern Philippines, military headquarters said Monday.

Lademora said the surrender of his force, the most powerful armed group on Mindanao Island, was in response to government calls for national reconciliation. A military spokesman said that he will meet President Corazon Aquino in Manila next week.

Lademora, 57, a retired colonel and veteran guerrilla fighter, formed the Lost Command as an anti-Communist vigilante group in 1975. It includes army deserters, many of them accused of murder, rape, robbery and other crimes.