COTABATO CITY — Eleven more members of the Dawlah Islamiya surrendered to the Philippine Army on Friday and promised to help convince their former companions to come out and avail of the government's reconciliation program for violent religious extremists.
The group first turned in assault rifles, fragmentation grenades and components for improvised explosive devices before they pledged allegiance to the government in a surrender rite at the headquarters of the 1st Mechanized Infantry Brigade in Camp Leono in Barangay Kalandagan in Tacurong City, in the presence of senior Army officials and representatives from the provincial governments of South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat.
Major Gen. Alex Rillera, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, on Sunday said that the 11 Dawlah Islamiya members agreed to surrender through the intercession of Brig. Gen. Andre Santos of the 1st Mechanized Infantry Brigade, Lt. Col. Carlyleo Nagac of the 5th Special Forces Battalion and local executives in the two provinces.
The Dawlah Islamiya and its allies, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the Al-Khobar, are tagged in all deadly bombings in central Mindanao since 2014.
The three groups have a reputation for bombing establishments and buses if owners refuse to pay “protection money” on a monthly basis.
Three of the 11 men who returned to the fold of law, Hatib Sarigumba Mansur, Salik Hashim Minandang and Ibra Kader Maniri, were senior leaders in the Maguid faction of the Dawlah Islamiya, according to members of different municipal peace and order councils in Sultan Kudarat and in South Cotabato.
Their symbolic surrender was witnessed by representatives of different local government units and agencies, including South Cotabato’s provincial social welfare officer, Sonia Bautista.