Philippine Army Accepts Surrender of 6 Terror Group Bomb Makers

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Six more remnants of the now-defunct Dawlah Islamiya and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, all experts in the fabrication of improvised explosive devices, pledged allegiance to the government during a surrender rite in Maguindanao del Sur on Wednesday, July 29. The group first turned over their combat weapons and IEDs to the Army’s 1st Mechanized Infantry Battalion before promising to reform for good in the presence of local executives and Brig. Gen. Edgar Catu, commander of the 601st Infantry Brigade, during a surrender ceremony on Wednesday in Barangay Midtimbang, Datu Anggal Midtimbang, one of the 24 towns in Maguindanao del Sur province in the Bangsamoro region. The six terrorists separately told reporters that they agreed to surrender through the joint intercession of Catu, Lt. Col. William Sabado, commanding officer of the 1st Mechanized Infantry Battalion, and local executives after confirming that hundreds of members of the now-inactive Dawlah Islamiya and the BIFF who had surrendered ahead of them had been reintegrated into mainstream communities and provided with livelihood support by different ministries in the Bangsamoro region and line agencies in Region 12. “We have also realized that the Dawlah Islamiya and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters are nothing but terror groups, victimizing both Christians and Muslims,” said one of the six terrorists, Kamid Ibrahim Maskud. One of Maskud’s five companions, Ali Manduh Salik, said what was painful for them was their involvement in collecting money and rice from marginalized Moro farmers and fishermen at gunpoint on a periodic basis during the height of the Dawlah Islamiya and BIFF’s presence in far-flung areas of Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte and Cotabato provinces from 2014 to 2022. Maj. Gen. Jose Vladimir Cagara, commander of the 6th Infantry Division, said on Thursday that the 6th ID is grateful to local executives who helped work out the surrender of the six terrorists through backchannel dialogues, assisted by Moro datus and members of the Islamic religious community in different towns in Maguindanao del Sur. Local executives told reporters that all six Dawlah Islamiya and BIFF members, who had sworn to recognize and respect the government and support the law enforcement and anti-terror missions of the 6th ID, are experts in assembling homemade bombs using either ammonium nitrate or potassium chlorate as blasting charges, packed with nails and metal fragments with jagged edges. Wednesday’s surrender ceremony at the headquarters of the 1st Mechanized Infantry Battalion in Barangay Midtimbang was capped off in part by the presentation to Catu by local executives from the Maguindanao del Sur towns of Talayan, Guindulungan and Datu Anggal Midtimbang of more than 20 assault rifles, grenades, B40 anti-tank launchers and long-range bolt-action sniper rifles that had been turned over to them by their constituents in support of the joint disarmament campaign of the 6th ID and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity.