COTABATO CITY — A group of 12 local terrorists turned in firearms and explosives to an Army unit and pledged allegiance to the government on Thursday, August 29.
The 12 members of the now apparently moribund Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and Dawlah Islamiya renounced their membership with both groups during a surrender rite facilitated by the Army’s 57th Infantry Battalion in its headquarters in Barangay Mirab in Upi, Maguindanao del Norte.
Major Gen. Antonio Nafarrete, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, told reporters on Friday, August 30 that the 12 erstwhile terrorists agreed to return to the fold of law through the backchannel intercession of local executives in the adjoining South Upi, Guindulungan, Datu Hoffer and Datu Unsay towns in Maguindanao del Sur.
Each of them assured to help convince their few remaining companions in secluded areas in Maguindanao del Sur to get reintegrated into mainstream society via a joint reconciliation program of local government units in the province and the 6th ID.
Besides assault rifles, IEDs (improvised explosive device) and components for powerful home-made bombs, the group also turned over to Lt. Col. Aeron Gumabao, the commanding officer of the 57IB, and his immediate superior, Brig. Gen. Michael Santos of the 603rd Infantry Brigade, a 60 millimeter mortar, B-40 rocket launchers and anti-tank rockets before they promised to thrive in peace once reunited with their families.
Units of 6th ID and local executives in Central Mindanao’s Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato, Sarangani, Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte provinces had secured the surrender in batches, since 2017, of 712 members of the outlawed allies Dawlah Islamiya and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and 397 New People’s Army guerillas via backdoor dialogues
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