Saturday Dec, 02 2023 04:10:03 AM

29 BIFF members surrender to Army in Maguindanao Norte

Mindanao Peace Process • 09:15 AM Wed Feb 22, 2023
717
By: 
John M. Unson

COTABATO CITY --- A large group of religious extremists from a local group fashioned from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria surrendered to the Army in Maguindanao del Norte Tuesday.

Major Gen. Alex Rillera, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said Wednesday the 29 members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters agreed to return to the fold of law through the efforts of the 1st Brigade Combat Team based in nearby Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao del Norte.

“Credit for their having agreed to surrender should also partly go to local executives in the provinces of Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Sultan Kudarat and Cotabato,” Rillera said.

The 6th ID withheld, meantime, the names of the 29 BIFF men for their safety. The BIFF is known for harassing former members who have availed of the 6th ID's reconciliation program for violent religious extremists.

The group turned in assorted firearms and explosives before renouncing their membership with the BIFF during a surrender rite at the headquarters of the 1st BCT in Barangay Pigkalagan in Sultan Kudarat.

The BIFF and its allies, the Dawlah Islamiya and the Al-Khobar, have a reputation for bombing commercial establishments and buses whose owners refuse to shell out “protection money” on a monthly basis.

More than 200 BIFF members have surrendered in the past 13 months through different units of 6th ID in central Mindanao.

Local officials told reporters 11 of the 29 BIFF members who surrendered to the 1st BCT were experts in fabrication of improvised explosive devices that can be detonated from a distance using mobile phones. 

6 assault rifles, shabu seized from 3 Cotabato City residents

COTABATO CITY - The police seized six M16 assault rifles, assorted ammunition and shabu from three residents here in a raid before dawn Friday....

AboitizPower, Cotabato Light and NDU sign MOA, MOU for collaboration, partnership

COTABATO CITY - Today marks a pivotal moment as AboitizPower Distribution, and Cotabato Light take a giant leap towards empowering dreams through the...

6th ID, JTF Central confiscate 80 FAs in 2 months

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao del Norte – In a span of two months, the Army-led Joint Task Force Central, headed by Maj. Gen. Alex Rillera, has...

Motorist dead, 9 badly hurt in Digos City highway accident

COTABATO CITY - A motorist died instantly while a driver and eight commuters were seriously hurt in an accident involving a motorcycle, a...

100 children with disabilities in Cotabato City receive essential kits from MSSD

COTABATO CITY — A total of 100 children with disabilities (CWDs) were given essential kits by the Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD)...