6 BIFF gunmen yield in Maguindanao

From the Philippine News Agency (Nov 21, 2020): 6 BIFF gunmen yield in Maguindanao (By Edwin Fernandez and Noel Punzalan)

INTO THE FOLD OF LAW. Badtogan Amino, one of the surrendered members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, turns in his M-14 rifle to Army and local officials in Maguindanao on Friday (Nov. 20, 2020). The surrenderers claim they were duped into joining the 'lost cause’ of the militant group. (Photo courtesy of 6ID)

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao – Six members of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) surrendered Friday afternoon to military authorities with the help of local government officials of Shariff Aguak in the province.

Maj. Gen. Juvymax Uy, 6th Infantry Division commander, identified the six surrenderers as Badtongan Amino, Rasid Sangkali, Nasrudin Talib, Mohammad Abdul Samad, Khulo Amino, and Aladin Gaapar, all under the BIFF-Karialan faction.

Shariff Aguak Mayor Marop Ampatuan and Lt. Col. Cresencio Sanchez Jr. of the 1st Mechanized Infantry Battalion, presented the surrenderers to the 6ID chief at the Army headquarters in Barangay Kamasi, Ampatuan town, Maguindanao.

“We were convinced by the Army and Mayor Ampatuan to surrender, we were duped into taking up arms against the government, and we realized later it is the government will help us,” said Badtongan Amino, 45, a sub-leader of BIFF operating in Shariff Aguak and Datu Hofer towns, both in Maguindanao.

Uy, also the commander of Joint Task Force Central (JTFC), lauded the mayor and Sanchez for helping secure the surrender of the six bandits through backchannel dialogues.

“The partnership between the LGUs and the 6ID has been proven helpful once more in the surrender by batches of BIFF gunmen in the province,” Uy said.

More than 200 members of lawless armed groups and the BIFF operating in Maguindanao and North Cotabato have surrendered to the 6ID since 2017.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1122529