17 gunmen in Sultan Kudarat surrender to Army, yield rifles, machineguns

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — A 17-member armed Moro group surrendered on Friday and turned in 31 assault rifles and two machineguns after soldiers had surrounded their hideout in Barangay Lagandang in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat.

The operation of the Army’s 7th Infantry Battalion in the area that resulted in their surrender was to prevent escalation of hostilities between them and a rival group, locked in a deadly "rido," or clan war, that local executives are trying to settle amicably.

Lt. Col. Tristan Rey Vallescas, 7th IB's commanding officer, reported on Saturday to Major Gen. Antonio Nafarrete, commander of the 6th Infantry Division, that the leader of the armed lawless group and his 16 followers yielded peacefully when they sensed that their location had been surrounded by soldiers, dispatched to disengage them and their adversaries.

Police officials and local executives told reporters that the two feuding groups are squabbling for control of strategic patches of lands in Barangay Lagandang, whose residents they force to shell out money and food on a periodic basis.

Personnel of the 7th IB had shot dead two men from another group that attacked them while patrolling in an upland area in Barangay Lagandang early this week.

Vallescas said the 17 armed men who surrendered to them are to undergo individual profiling and religious reorientation by Islamic preachers and barangay officials.

They turned in 19 M16 rifles, six M14 rifles, three 5.56 Bushmaster Carbines, three Kalashnikov AK 47 rifles, an M60 machinegun, a .50 caliber machinegun, a .30 caliber Browning Automatic Rifle, an M203 rifle fitted with a 40 millimeter grenade launcher, a bolt action .50 caliber sniper rifle and a 9 millimeter Uzi machine pistol.

Nafarrete, who is also commander of the anti-terror Joint Task Force Central, said they are thankful to barangay officials and villagers who led soldiers to the hideout of the 17 gunmen, who had agreed to surrender peacefully when they sensed that they had been surrounded and could be killed if they provoke a gunfight.