4 men linked to crimes surrender in Maguindanao town

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines — Four men accused of criminal activities in Datu Blah Sinsuat town surrendered to the police Wednesday.

Brig. Gen. Samuel Rodriguez of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region told reporters Norodin Sinsuat and followers Thong Usman, Amil Sla and Esmael Mohammad yielded after talks with the Datu Blah Sinsuat police and the municipal peace and order council.

The multi-sector council, whose members include local Teduray and Maguindanaon elders, is led by Mayor Marshall Sinsuat.

The Datu Blah Sinsuat local government unit received last year a special citation from Bangsamoro Local Government Minister Naguib Sinarimbo and Juvenal Azurin, director for the Bangsamoro region of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, in recognition of its unrelenting effort to rid its 13 constituent-barangays of drug traffickers.

Rodriguez said Sinsuat and his followers turned in two M16 assault rifles, a .30 caliber Garand rifle and an M79 grenade launcher with four explosive projectiles.

Rodriguez said Sinsuat went underground and engaged in criminal activities for money needed to sustain himself and his coddlers after he was implicated in a 2010 murder case filed at the Regional Trial Court Branch 12 in Cotabato City.

The criminal case, docketed 2010-3908 and handled by the now retired Judge Bansawam Ebrahim, eventually got dismissed for lack of evidence.

“He and his followers decided to surrender after having been convinced that they can be reintroduced to the local communities for them to start life all over again,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said the LGU of Datu Blah Sinsuat, a seaside town in the first district of Maguindanao, assured to help provide interventions needed to hasten the return of the four men to mainstream society.