DATU PAGLAT, Maguindanao — Eleven members of IS-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) surrendered and handed over their rifles to the military on Thursday.
Lt. Colonel Harold Cabunoc, the commander of the Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion, along with local government officials of this town, received BIFF commander Sindatuk Dilna and 10 of his men at the Liguasan marshland here around 8:30 a.m.
Cabunoc said the armed men showed sincerity in returning to the fold of the law, and that their surrender was the result of the army’s combined community engagement and military operations.
“Through unity of effort in our combat operations, various AFP and PNP units have pooled resources together in the conduct of intelligence-driven operations inside the lairs of the known rebel groups,” Cabunoc said.
“We also engaged the people to change perceptions and lure the insurgents back to the folds of the law,” he added.
Among the surrendered weapons were two M16 rifles, two M14 rifles, four Garand rifles, one Carbine rifle and one .50-caliber Barrett sniper rifle. Cabunoc said the surrenderers would be presented to Maguindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu on May 12.
Mangudadatu said his office will provide livelihood assistance to the BIFF rebels equivalent to the cost of the firearms they have turned in, as prescribed under the Comprehensive Local Integration Program of the government. (Edwin Fernandez/PNA)
