3 ASG bandits surrender in Sulu

From the Philippine News Agency (Jul 15, 2021): 3 ASG bandits surrender in Sulu (By Teofilo Garcia, Jr.)

SURRENDER. Three members of the Abu Sayyaf Group receive sacks of rice, among other assistance, after their surrender in Indanan, Sulu on Wednesday (July 14, 2021). Financial problems were one of the reasons cited by a surrenderer on why he became a bandit at the age of 17. (Photo courtesy of 11ID-PAO)

Abu Ronimar was just 17 years old when family financial problems forced him to join the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG).

Now 22, he and two other ASG members surrendered Wednesday to the Army’s 6th Special Forces Battalion led by Lt. Col. Rafael Ciado, in Barangay Tagbak, Indanan, Sulu.

“Nadala lang po ako tukso ng pera. Niyaya po ako ng isa kong barkada na sumama sa grupo dahil gusto ko po makatulong sa aking pamilya (I was tempted by the offer of money. One friend invited me to join the group and I gave in because I wanted to help my family),” Ronimar said in an interview, recalling the day in 2016 when he joined the ASG.

Ronimar, 31-year-old Wilson Kasim, and a certain Abu Rom, 40, yielded an M-16 rifle, a Garand rifle, and a caliber .45 pistol.

They surrendered through the efforts of the Municipal Task Force to End Local Armed Conflict, which is implementing a local integration program to former members of the ASG.

“We have this program with local government units that gives opportunities for them to start anew. I hope that other members would also come forward and free themselves from fear that they may be reported to government forces or they might be tracked down by their former comrades,” Brig. Gen. Antonio Bautista, 1101st Infantry Brigade commander, said in a statement.

The trio pledged commitment to a life of peace, the Army statement said.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1147141