22 local terrorists surrender to Bangsamoro police

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — A group of 22 heavily-armed local terrorists surrendered to the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and promised to respect state sovereignty during a simple rite at Camp SK Pendatun in Parang, Maguindanao del Norte on Friday, November 15.

All 22 members of the now moribund Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the Dawlah Islamiya, both fashioned from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, renounced their membership with both groups in the presence of Lt. Gen. Michael John Dubria, the acting deputy chief for operation of the Philippine National Police, and PRO-BAR’s regional director, Brig. Gen. Romeo Jaime Macapaz.

Macapaz told reporters then that the 22 terrorists, many of them experts in fabrication of powerful improvised explosive devices, agreed to return to the fold of law through the intercession of officials of different units of PRO-BAR in Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur and local executives.

Up to 498 members of the BIFF and the Dawlah Islamiya have yielded, in batches, to units of PRO-BAR since 2023.

The group that surrendered on Friday turned in combat rifles, M79-grenade and B40 rocket launchers, bolt-action Barrett sniper rifles and components for IEDs.

The BIFF and the Dawlah Islamiya both have a reputation for bombing passenger buses and business establishments if owners refuse to pay "protection money" and for providing sanctuary to large-scale traffickers of shabu and marijuana who shared with leaders of the two groups fractions of their earnings.