BIFF commander sends surrender feelers

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines — A commander of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters has signified readiness to surrender, Army officials said Sunday.

Sources from the Army's 6th Infantry Division said Sunday that Gani Saligan has sent surrender feelers to Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc of the Army's 33rd Infantry Battalion.

Cabunoc and Lt. Col. Lauro Oliveros of the Army's 2nd Mechanized Infantry Battalion were responsible for the surrender Thursday of 11 BIFF members, among them Commanders Sindatok Dilna and Tasli Sanoy.

The BIFF uses the flag of the Islamic State as its revolutionary banner and is feared for its enforcement of a Taliban-style justice system that Moro communities in Maguindanao detest for being primitive and barbaric.

Saligan has signified intention to surrender and wants a lawyer who can help him with his criminal cases that are pending in courts after renouncing his BIFF membership before officials of the 6th ID and Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu.

Mangudadatu is chairman of the inter-agency provincial peace and order council.

Saligan originally belonged to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, but got booted out for infractions of the revolutionary polices of the group, whichhas already signed a peace agreement Malacañang.

Cabunoc said efforts to secure the surrender of Saligan, a senior official of the BIFF operating in the marshy border of the adjoining Mlang town in North Cotabato and S.K.Pendatun, Maguindanao, are now underway.