10 more Dawlah Islamiya, BIFF members surrender

COTABATO CITY— Ten more members of the now-defunct allied groups Dawlah Islamiya and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters surrendered to local officials and the Army’s 90th Infantry Battalion in a symbolic ceremony at Barangay Kabingi in Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao del Sur, on Monday, November 17.

Three of the ten terrorists who pledged to reform during the surrender ceremony at the 90th Infantry Battalion headquarters in Barangay Kabingi, Madsid Salik Mantas, Omar Paming Said, and Munir Bantuas Makud, are experts in fabricating improvised explosive devices using either ammonium nitrate or potassium chlorate as blasting charges, which can be detonated remotely via mobile phones.

Their two leaders, Abusama Kanot Ibra and Mursid Abdullah Guinaid, told reporters that they agreed to surrender and renounce their membership in both groups after the mayor of Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Bassir Utto, officials of the 90th Infantry Battalion, and Brig. Gen. Edgar Catu, commander of the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade, assured them during early backchannel dialogues that they would be reintegrated into mainstream society.

Major Gen. Jose Vladimir Cagara, commander of the 6th Infantry Division, said that credit for the surrender of the 10 terrorists should partly go to traditional Moro datus and members of the Islamic religious community in Maguindanao del Sur, who helped convince them to participate in the division’s reconciliation program for violent religious extremists.

"It was actually a concerted peace effort, a multi-sector peace and reconciliation initiative," Cagara said.

The 10 Dawlah Islamiya and BIFF members first surrendered their combat rifles, 40-millimeter and B40 anti-tank launchers, and homemade bombs to officials of the 90th Infantry Battalion, led by Lt. Col. Loqui Marco and Brig. Gen. Edgar Catu, before pledging allegiance to the government in the presence of Datu Saudi Ampatuan municipal officials.

Monday's surrender followed the turnover last week of 29 rifles, pistols, and grenade launchers by villagers from Datu Saudi Ampatuan and nearby towns to the 90th IB. This was in support of the Small Arms and Light Weapons Management Program of the 6th Infantry Division and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity, which has been implemented since July 2024 across the division’s territory to bolster the national government’s Mindanao peace process.