COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Four more members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters trained in fabrication of improvised explosive devices surrendered to the Army Friday.
They first turned in two .30 caliber Garand rifles, an M14 rifle, a bolt-action sniper rifle and explosives before they renounced their membership with the BIFF during a simple surrender rite at Camp Leono in Barangay Kalandagan in Tacurong City.
Major Gen. Alex Rillera, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said Saturday the four men agreed to return to the fold of law through the intercession of the 1st Mechanized Infantry Brigade and local officials in central Mindanao’s adjoining Maguindanao del Sur and Sultan Kudarat provinces.
Local officials, among them members of the municipal peace and order council in Sultan sa Barongis, said Saturday the four erstwhile BIFF members, whose names were withheld for their safety, belonged to a group tagged in recent bombings of buses in central Mindanao.
Rillera said Col. Andre Santos of the 1st Mechanized Brigade, his subordinate-officers in the 1st Mechanized Battalion and the local government unit of Sultan sa Barongis in Maguindanao del Sur cooperated in securing their surrender via backchannel dialogues.
More than 300 members of the BIFF and its allies Dawlah Islamiya and Al-Khobar had surrendered to units of 6th ID since 2021.
All three terrorist groups have a reputation for fomenting hatred for non-Muslims and for bombing public conveyances and establishments if owners refuse to shell out “protection money” on a monthly basis.