22 MILFs yield to Guingona

COTABATO CITY — Twenty-two guerrillas of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels, led by a foreign-trained commander implicated in last year’s series of bomb attacks in the South Cotabato-Sarangani-Gen. Santos City (Socsargen) area, voluntarily yielded to the government the other day.

The latest batch of surrenderees, who pledged allegiance to the government before Vice President Teofisto Guingona in a simple rite in Gen. Santos City, brought to 91 the number of MILF rebels who have returned to the fold of law since last week.

Maj. Julieto Ando, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said the 22 rebels, under Najib Akmad, also known as Commander Faisal, willingly turned themselves in through the joint intercession of the Police Regional Office 12 and the 601st Brigade based in Sarangani province.

"The police command in Region 12 and the 601st Brigade have succeeded in convincing them that the administration of President Arroyo is really sincere in addressing peacefully the Muslim rebellion in the South," Ando said.

Akmad, who trained abroad in guerrilla warfare, also promised to help local authorities maintain peace and order in the areas where they once operated.

Last week, 69 MILF rebels from Lanao del Sur surrendered to Sr. Supt. Acmad Omar, police director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, after a month-long negotiation for them to lay down their firearms and avail of the government’s reconciliation program. — John Unson