8 more BIFF members surrender in Maguindanao del Sur

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Eight more members of the now-defunct Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters surrendered to the military in Barangay Kabengi in Datu Saudi Ampatuan on Thursday, September 4.

Three of the eight BIFF members are experts in fabricating improvised explosive devices, which they rigged with electronic blasting devices that can be detonated remotely using mobile phones.

Major Gen. Donald Gumiran, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, told reporters on Friday, September 5, that the eight men first turned in their combat weapons and homemade bombs to the 90th Infantry Battalion before renouncing their BIFF membership during a symbolic rite at the 90th IB headquarters in Barangay Kabengi, in the presence of Army officials led by Brig. Gen. Edgar Catu of the 601st Infantry Brigade.

The event was witnessed by local executives in Datu Saudi Ampatuan and representatives from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) government.

Gumiran said the group surrendered through the joint intercession of Catu, Lt. Col. Luqui Marco, commanding officer of the 90th IB, traditional Moro community leaders, and local government officials, including Datu Saudi Ampatuan Mayor Bassir Banjo Utto.

The leader of the group, who requested anonymity for security reasons, said they decided to surrender after learning that earlier BIFF members who had surrendered to different units of the 6th ID in Central Mindanao had been reintegrated into local communities and are now thriving peacefully as farmers, tricycle drivers, construction workers, and livestock raisers.

The mayor of Datu Saudi Ampatuan and representatives of the Ministry of Public Order and Safety-BARMM provided the eight former BIFF members with cash grants and food supplies to aid their return to their respective barangays across Maguindanao del Sur.

In the past three years, more than a thousand members of the BIFF and its ally, Dawlah Islamiya — both known for fomenting public animosity toward non-Muslims and linked to deadly bombings in Central Mindanao since 2014 — have surrendered to units of the 6th ID and the Police Regional Office-BARMM.

All were reintegrated into mainstream society via a joint regional reconciliation program for violent extremists run by the 6th ID, PRO-BAR, line agencies in Region 12, and the BARMM government.