COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Another armed group from Parang town surrendered to the police Friday, just 24 hours after ten from the same area turned in their firearms and pledged to reform for good.
Gulam Poloyagan, Lumayon Guiameron, Sanodin Tando, Haisam Maliwanag and Omar Ramalan Malinawag yielded to Police Major Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro, director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, during a simple rite on Friday morning at the office here of the CIDG-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.
Ferro said the five men were former followers of the erstwhile Parang Mayor Ibrahim Ibay, whose third and last term as elected official ended on June 30, 2019.
Parang is a seaside town in the first district of Maguindanao province.
Poloyagan and his companions immediately decided to surrender to the CIDG-BAR after learning that a ten-member private armed group also from Parang, identified with Talib Abu, who also served as mayor in the municipality, handed over assorted firearms to Ferro on Thursday, in the presence of reporters.
The group, led by Ambie Anso Bansil, first sent surrender feelers to two CIDG-BAR officials, Major Esmael Madin and Col. Tom Tuzon, and to their counterpart in Zamboanga del Sur, Lt. Col. Cyrus Belarmino, who is CIDG’s provincial officer in the province.
The CIDG-BAR collected a total of 15 firearms from the two private armed groups that included a .50 caliber Barrett sniper’s rifle, an M203 rifle fitted with a grenade launcher and an M14 assault rifle.
Ferro said he was elated with the surrender of the two private armed groups.
He said their voluntary gesture complemented the normalization agenda of the bilateral peace process of Malacañang and the regional government of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.