SURRENDER. Two Bangsamoro Islamic Liberation Front combatants surrender to the Army’s 34th Infantry Battalion in Northern Kabuntalan, Maguindanao on Wednesday (Sept. 30, 2020). Northern Kabuntalan Mayor Ramil Dilangalen (2nd from right) and military officials joined the two BIFF surrenderers. (Photo courtesy of 6ID)
COTABATO CITY – Two combatants of the Daesh-inspired Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) yielded to the military in Maguindanao on Wednesday afternoon.
Maj. Gen. Juvymax Uy, commander of the 6th Infantry Division (ID) of the Philippine Army, said the surrenderers, whom he did not name for security reasons, belong to the BIFF Karialan faction under Rasul Dubpaleg operating in the marshlands of Northern Kabuntalan town.
The two surrendered to the 34th Infantry Battalion (IB) in Barangay Balong, the 6ID official added.
“The duo’s surrender will help entice more BIFF to return to the mainstream society while we continue our operation against the BIFF in the province,” Uy said.
The surrenderers brought with them a .50-caliber Barret sniper rifle, an M1 Garand rifle, and an anti-personnel mine explosive rigged from a 105 Howitzer cannon projectile with a mobile phone as a trigger mechanism.
“We just want to live normal lives as we miss our families very much. We are tired,” one of the surrenderers told reporters.
Uy said the surrenderers would be subjected to debriefing before they would be handed over to their local government unit for assistance and eventual return to their families.
Meanwhile, in Kalamansig town of Sultan Kudarat, a communist New People’s Army (NPA) guerilla also surrendered to the Army’s 37 IB in the area on the same day.
Ka Anong, a member of the Platoon Myphone, NPA Guerilla Front 73-Far Southern Mindanao Regional Committee, brought with him one homemade shotgun during his surrender. (PNA)
