6 Central Mindanao terrorist bomb makers surrender to Army

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Six more members of two now defunct terror groups, all experts in fabrication of home-made bombs, had surrendered to an Army unit and pledged allegiance to the government.

Major Gen. Donald Guimiran, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, told reporters on Sunday, April 27, that the six men promised to reform for good before officials of the 2nd Mechanized Infantry Battalion during a symbolic rite last Thursday, April 24, in Barangay Tual in President Quirino, Sultan Kudarat.

They first turned in their combat weapons, improvised explosive devices and components for powerful home-made bombs before they renounced their membership with both the Dawlah Islamiya and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in the presence of Sultan Kudarat Vice Gov. Raden Sakaluran and Col. Ronel Manalo of the 1st Mechanized Infantry Brigade.

Gumiran said the six terrorists agreed to surrender, as a prelude to their reintroduction to mainstream society, through the intercession of officials of the 2nd Mechanized Infantry Battalion, led by Lt. Col. Lt.Col. Felmaz Lodriguito Jr., and local executives in towns in the neighboring Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao del Sur provinces.

One of the six men, the 32-year-old Amir Mohaimin Ersad, had told reporters that they decided to avail of the regional reconciliation program of the 6th ID for violent religious extremists after learning from those who had surrendered ahead of them that they are now thriving peacefully as farmers, fishermen, construction workers, tricycle drivers and laborers in big agricultural farms without fear of getting killed by soldiers, or policemen in a gunfight.

“Both the BIFF and the Dawlah Islamiya are now withering like leaves of a plant. These two groups have few remaining members now,” Ersad said in Filipino, in a heavy Maguindanaon accent.

Up to 732 hardcore BIFF and Dawlah Islamiya members have surrendered in batches, since 2002, to units of the 6th ID in Central Mindanao and to the 1st Marine Brigade, which is securing Cotabato City and parts of Maguindanao del Norte under the division’s supervision.

Both terror groups have a reputation for extorting money from companies and business establishments and are tagged in all deadly bombings in Central Mindanao since 2014.