4 BIFF bomb-makers surrender to Army in Maguindanao del Sur

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Four more remnants of the defunct Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, all well-versed in assembling improvised explosive devices, pledged allegiance to the government on Tuesday, October 20, and vowed over the Quran to reform for good.

The four bomb-makers, Monib Gani Andig, Musa Mandih Kadir, Mohammad Salih Gani and Onting Marding Mantato, agreed to return to the fold of law through the intercession of two mayors, Maruja Mastura and Mielyn Ali, of Radjah Buayan and General Salipada K. Pendatun towns in Maguindanao del Sur, respectively, the officials of the 34th Infantry Battalion and their superior, Brig. Gen. Gremel Brual of the 601st Infantry Brigade.

Each of them first turned over assault rifles, B40 anti-tank rocket and 40 millimeter grenade launchers and a dozen IEDs to officials of the 34th IB before they signed a statement recognizing the Philippine Constitution and the Bangsamoro Organic Law, which is the charter of the now seven-year Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.  

Moro datus in different towns in Maguindanao del Sur and Muslim preachers supporting the joint anti-terror campaign of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division and the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region had confirmed to reporters that Andig, Kadir, Gani and Mantato are all experts in assembling powerful IEDs, using either ammonium nitrate, or potassium chlorate as explosive charges, rigged with detonators that can be set off from a distance using mobile phones.

All four of them also committed, during the surrender ceremony at the headquarters of the 34th IB in Barangay Zapakan in Radjah Buayan, one of the 22 towns in Maguindanao del Sur, to help convince the few remaining members of the now inactive BIFF and the Dawlah Islamiya terror groups to avail of the reconciliation program for violent religious extremists of the 6th ID, which has jurisdiction over all Army units in the province.

Brig. Gen. Ricky Bunayog, acting commander of 6th ID, said on Wednesday that the four erstwhile terrorists had, in Maguindanaon vernacular, also manifested then to the two mayors, Mastura and Ali, to the commander of the 601st Infantry Brigade, Brual, and officials of the 34th Infantry Battalion, led by Lt.Col. Williard Maquida, to help maintain law and order in Radjah Buayan and in General Salipada K. Pendatun to show their recognition of government sovereignty.

Bunayog said the event was witnessed by a member of the Bangsamoro parliament, Datu Rafsanjani Pendatun Ali,  and Sittie Janine Gamao, who is a peace program officer of the Bangsamoro government’s public safety ministry, and Radjah Buayan’s police chief, Capt Amerkahr Sapiin.

The local government units of Radjah Buayan and General Salipada K. Pendatun and the Ministry of Public Order and Safety-BARMM separately provided Andig, Kadir, Gani and Mantato with relief supplies and a cash grant each that they would need while undergoing religious reorientation, by moderate Muslim clerics in the province and soldiers in the 6th ID who are also Islamic theologians, as prelude to their reintegration into mainstream society.

The surrender on Tuesday of Andig, Kadir, Gani and Mantato brought to 1,910 the exact number of BIFF and Dawlah Islamiya terrorists who had willingly yielded, in batches, to units of the 6th ID and PRO-BAR since 2020. Almost all of them had been reintroduced to the Moro communities in their hometowns with the help of different BARMM agencies and the regional offices in Region 12 of the social welfare and labor and employment departments.