Ombudsman clears NorCot guv of graft

North Cotabato Governor Nancy Catamco

COTABATO CITY  --- Three members of the Islamic State-inspired Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) yielded to the Army’s 7th Infantry Battalion  in Pikit, North Cotabato, a military official said last February 13.

Lt. Col. Neil Roldan, commander of the 7th IB, identified the surrenderers as Terek Nao, Tato Bantas, and Tatuan Gandawali, all of Barangay Barungis, Pikit and members of the notorious BIFF-Karialan faction operating in the border of North Cotabato and Maguindanao provinces.

“They grew tired of always running away from pursuing military forces, prompting them to rethink their future and their families,” Roldan said in a statement.

The surrenderers also yielded a homemade .50-caliber sniper rifle, an M79 grenade launcher, a 40-mm. grenade explosive, and a homemade 9-mm. machinegun.

The surrender ceremony was held at the 7th IB headquarters in nearby Barangay Lower Paatan, Kabacan, North Cotabato in the presence of local officials led by Pikit Mayor Sumulong Sultan.

Sultan extended an undetermined amount of “immediate cash assistance” to the three surrenderers during the ceremony. In the same event, the surrenderers vowed to never return to their life as rebels.

“We will be law-abiding citizens from now on,” Nao, one of the surrenderers, said in the vernacular. (NOEL PUNZALAN, PNA - COTABATO, MINDANAO EXPOSE')