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')
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