Ex-rebels help in relief operations for Mindanao quake victims

COTABATO CITY — Former members of two southern terror groups and New People’s Army guerillas are involved in military humanitarian missions in areas devastated by the magnitude 7.8 earthquake on June 8, working alongside soldiers from units that facilitated their return to the fold of the law.

Local executives confirmed to reporters on Monday that erstwhile terrorists from the now-defunct Dawlah Islamiya and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, as well as NPA guerillas are in remote quake-stricken barangays in the Soccsksargen area, helping soldiers, local government units and state relief agencies provide displaced villagers with necessary assistance in evacuation sites and makeshift shelters.

The Soccsksargen area covers Region 12’s adjoining provinces of South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani, as well as General Santos City.

Regional officials of the Philippine Information Agency 12 and the Office of Civil Defense 12 reported that the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck General Santos City and the provinces of South Cotabato and Sarangani last June 8 affected 73,436 families, or 331,305 individuals.

Many of them became homeless after their houses, made of semi-permanent materials, were flattened by a strong tremor that lasted for about two minutes.

Local executives, including South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo Jr., separately told reporters on Monday that they were moved upon learning that former members of the Dawlah Islamiya, the BIFF and the NPA, who have surrendered in batches in recent years, are helping personnel of units of the Army’s 6th and 10th Infantry Divisions deliver relief supplies to residents of Soccsksargen area affected by the June 8 earthquake.

Salik Muntas Abdullah, 36, and his 40-year-old cousin, Munib Abanto Mursid, who once belonged to a BIFF group in Shariff Saydona Mustapha in Maguindanao del Sur and later relocated to a predominantly Moro barangay in Maitum, Sarangani after they surrendered to the 6th ID in Aug. 17, 2022, separately told reporters that they entrusted their families to community leaders on June 10 and, subsequently joined soldiers from different units of the 6th ID that its commander, Major Jose Vladimir Cagara, dispatched to tremor-affected towns to support disaster impact mitigation operations of local officials.

Abdullah and Mursid are among the 2,023 Dawlah Islamiya and BIFF members who have availed of the 6th ID's reconciliation program for former violent religious extremists from 2019 to May 16 this year. 

Tamayo and four barangay officials from three towns in the province separately said that NPA guerillas who surrendered to different units of 6th ID between 2019 to 2024, helped emergency responders search for villagers reported missing by relatives after the earthquake.

Twelve former Dawlah Islamiya and BIFF members, now peacefully engaged in farming in Moro enclaves in three South Cotabato towns, were also reported to have joined soldiers in assisting communities in Koronadal City that were displaced by the earthquake. 

One of them, Madsid Samaon Dinglah, 38, now a tricycle driver, said he left his wife and two sons, both elementary school pupils, in the care of his parents-in-law in Tantangan, South Cotabato, before joining soldiers from 6th ID and a team from Tamayo's office in carrying out relief operations in the province. 

“We are touched by the goodness of these former enemies of the government. We are very grateful to them,” said Tamayo, speaking as presiding chairperson of the multi-sector Regional Development Council 12, covering all of the four provinces and four cities in Region 12.

Muslim community leaders in South Cotabato and Sarangani provinces were quoted in radio reports on Monday as thanking their Christian governors for the extensive humanitarian assistance provided to their constituents displaced by the earthquake.

Major Gen. Alvin Luzon, commander of 10th ID, said the military had deployed an all-female Army disaster response group to General Santos City and towns in Sarangani to attend to the needs of women and children in evacuation sites.

Some members of the 10th ID's all-women emergency response group, including Muslims, are now involved in relief efforts for pregnant women and girls in evacuation centers.