Army expecting surrender of more BIFF members
Mindanao Armed Conflict • 16:30 PM Tue Oct 26, 2021
704
By:
John M. Unson
Photo: 6th ID personnel search for BIFF bandits somewhere in Maguindanao. (John Unson)
COTABATO CITY ---- The military is expecting the surrender soon of more members of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
Major. Gen. Juvymax Uy, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said Tuesday their units in the adjoining provinces of Maguindanao and North Cotabato have been receiving surrender feelers from bandits who want to renounce their membership with the BIFF and return to the fold of law.
No fewer than 300 members of the BIFF have surrendered in batches to units of 6th ID since 2017.
“Many of them have been reintroduced to the local communities with the help of different government agencies and the regional government of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao,” Uy, also commander of the anti-terror Joint Task Force Central, said Tuesday.
Three confessed contract killers working for politicians in the second district of Maguindanao and their five BIFF cohorts surrendered to the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region Monday.
The group pledged allegiance to the government during the simple surrender rite held at Camp SK Pendatun in Parang, Maguindanao and witnessed by reporters.
“It is never too late yet. We shall welcome them with open arms if they decide to surrender,” Uy said.
The BIFF has been trying to sabotage the peace process between the national government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
It has a reputation for bombing establishments and public utilities if owners refuse to pay “protection money” on a monthly basis.
The group is using the flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria as its banner. (John Unson)