Mindanao Peace Process

MARAWI CITY --- Local officials in three towns surrendered unlicensed firearms Saturday in compliance with the government’s disarmament campaign as part of the Mindanao peace process.

In a statement Sunday, the Army’s 103^rd Infantry Brigade said the unlicensed firearms were voluntarily turned over by owners to the 82^nd Infantry Battalion based in Barangay Pawak in Saguiran, Lanao del Sur.

CAMP SK PENDATUN, Maguindanao - As PRO BAR adheres to the directives of the National Task Force on the Disbandment of Private Armed Groups (NTF-DPAGs) and the program under the security aspect of the normalization track of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro that focuses on the disbandment of armed groups in BARMM, it managed to once again facilitate the surrender of one of the Private Armed Groups operating in the province of Maguindanao.

COTABATO CITY --- Sampung mga teroristang Abu Sayyaf sa Sulu ang sumuko sa pamahalaan noong nakalipas na linggo, ayon sa ulat ng Western Mindanao Command.

Mismong si Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan, Jr., commander ng WestMinCom na naka-base sa Zamboanga City, ang siyang nag-kumpirma ng naturang pagsuko ng mga myembro ng Abu Sayyaf na nais nang magbagong buhay.

SOUTH COTABATO --- Ethnic T’boli villagers got from the government solar power generating sets, among them women weaving T’nalak fabric at night after a daylong farm work.

Brig. Gen Roy Galido of the Army’s 6^th Infantry Brigade said Saturday 150 households in Barangay Ned in Lake Sebu, South Cotabato received the packages from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority during a symbolic rite early this week.

KORONADAL CITY --- More than 70 reforming former New People’s Army guerillas from across South Cotabato province are now being reintegrated into the local communities, officials said Thursday.

Brig. Gen. Roy Galido, commander of the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade, said Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo and the Department of the Interior and Local Government facilitated last Monday the grant of P5.7 million worth of livelihood assistance to the 73 NPAs who have returned to the fold of law.

The symbolic event was held in a government facility in Koronadal City.

MAGUINDANAO --- A ranking leader of local terror group, tagged in all deadly bombings in central Mindanao in the past six years, and five followers surrendered Saturday.

Abunawas Ibad and his henchmen renounced their membership with the group during a symbolic rite Saturday at the headquarters of the Army’s 1^st Mechanized Brigade in Barangay Kamasi in Ampatuan, Maguindanao.

Abunawas is a self-styled division commander in the BIFF, which operates in the fashion of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao – The 1st Brigade Combat Team (1BCT) was welcomed and received by Major General Juvymax R Uy, Commander of JTF Central and 6ID last April 6, 2021, in a simple ceremony inside Camp Siongco, Awang, DOS, Maguindanao.

The brigade-sized troop augmentation arrived in Joint Task Force Central (JTFC) Joint Area of Operation (JAO) starting on March 23, 2021, to strengthen security forces’ presence in support of the current peacebuilding and development efforts in South-Central Mindanao.

ZAMBOANGA CITY – A program geared to minimize, if not eradicate, loose firearms in Basilan province, will get going following the signing of the deal on Thursday.

The Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) was finalized through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) among military, provincial, and municipal officials.

COTABATO CITY --- A brigade-size Army contingent from Luzon is arriving in central Mindanao to help the 6^th Infantry Division neutralize the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in the region.

The BIFF, operating in the fashion of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, is tagged in all deadly bombings and other terror attacks in central Mindanao’s adjoining Maguindanao, North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat provinces since 2014.

COTABATO CITY --- Another armed group from Parang town surrendered to the police Friday, just 24 hours after ten from the same area turned in their firearms and pledged to reform for good.

Gulam Poloyagan, Lumayon Guiameron, Sanodin Tando, Haisam Maliwanag and Omar Ramalan Malinawag yielded to Police Major Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro, director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, during a simple rite on Friday morning at the office here of the CIDG-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.