COTABATO CITY — The last four remaining Abu Sayyaf terrorists in Basilan province in the Bangsamoro region pledged allegiance to the government on Thursday, December 26.
Major Gen. Antonio Nafarrete, acting chief of the military's Western Mindanao Command, and the commander of the Philippine Army, Lt. Gen. Roy Galido, separately told reporters on Friday, December 27, that the relatives Tawakkal Bayali, Abul Bayali, Julhair Bayali and Hasib Tularan promised to reform for good in the presence of military and police officials and local executives during a surrender rite in Barangay Guiong in Sumisip town in Basilan.
Nafarrette, concurrent commander of the 6th Infantry Division based in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao del Norte, said the four Abu Sayyaf members agreed to return to the fold of law through the intercession of Sumisip Mayor Jul-Adnan Hataman, Basilan Gov. Hadjiman Salliman and Army officials in the province led by Brig. Gen. Alvin Luzon of the 101st Infantry Brigade.
The four Abu Sayyaf members first surrendered their firearms to Luzon and municipal officials and representatives of different police units in Basilan before they promised to reform for good in the presence of local religious leaders and representatives of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front from across the Island province.
Both Moro fronts have separate peace agreements with the national government and are now managing different agencies of the Bangsamoro regional government.
Officials of the League of Mayors in Basilan on Friday, December 27, said that Luzon and local executives in Sumisip and Salliman convinced the Bayalis and Tularan to surrender and reunite with their families.
Luzon said officials of four Army units under him, the 32nd Infantry Battalion, the 4th Special Forces Battalion, the 18th Infantry Battalion and the 45th Infantry Battalion were instrumental in securing the surrender of the four Abu Sayyaf members.
"We can safely say now that there is no more Abu Sayyaf presence in Basilan," Salliman, chairman of the multi-sector Basilan Provincial Peace and Order Council, said.
Salliman and his constituent-mayors, Army and police officials and Basilan's congressional representative, Mujiv Hataman, had worked out the surrender, in batches, of more than 400 Abu Sayyaf terrorists since 2015.