SURRENDER. One of two surrendering members of the terror group Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters turns over a rocket-propelled grenade launcher with ammunition to Mayor Rafsanjani Bimbo Ali (in white shirt) of Gen. Salipada K. Pendatun, Maguindanao during simple surrender rites held at the municipality on Sunday (Oct. 11, 2020). The two surrenderers vowed to live normal lives for good together with their families. (Photo courtesy of 40IB)
CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao – Two more "disgruntled" combatants of the Daesh-inspired Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) have yielded to authorities in General Salipada K. Pendatun (GSKP), Maguindanao on Sunday and vowed never to take up arms against the government again.
Major. Gen. Juvymax R. Uy, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division and concurrent chief of Joint Task Force Central, said the surrenderers turned over their firearms to the Army’s 40th Infantry Battalion and local police at the GSKP municipal police station in Barangay Midpandacan.
“The two belonged to the BIFF Karialan faction operating in the peripheries of the municipality,” Uy said, without identifying the surrenderers' identities for security reasons.
The surrendered weapons consisting of a homemade rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launcher with two RPG ammunition and a hand grenade were presented to Mayor Rafsanjani Bimbo Ali.
“We are confused and we do not know what we are fighting for anymore,” one of the surrenderers was quoted by the military as saying, adding that comrades who earlier surrendered have also convinced them to return to the fold of the law.
On Oct. 9, six BIFF members also yielded to the military in President Quirino town of adjacent Sultan Kudarat province, saying they were already exhausted from running from the law and just wanted to be reunited with their families. (PNA)
