BIFF bombmaker yields to Army in NoCo

From the Philippine News Agency (Mar 15, 2021): BIFF bombmaker yields to Army in NoCot (By Edwin Fernandez)

SURRENDER. BIFF bombmaker and sniper Tong Dubpalig yields his .50 caliber Barrett sniper rifle following his surrender Sunday (March 14, 2021) to Lt. Col. Edgardo Vilchez Jr., Army’s 34IB chief, in Midsayap, North Cotabato. Dubpalig belonged to the BIFF-Karialan faction that is believed responsible for the string of bombing incidents in Central Mindanao the past several years. (Photo courtesy of 34IB)

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao – A bomb maker of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in Maguindanao has surrendered to the Army’s 34th Infantry Battalion (34IB) in Midsayap, North Cotabato, the military announced Monday.

Lt. Col. Edgardo Vilchez Jr., commanding officer of the 34IB, said Tong Dubpalig, a bomb expert under the Kagi Karialan faction, voluntarily surrendered to them Sunday afternoon with his .50 caliber Barrett sniper rifle.

“Aside from being a bombmaker, Dubpalig also works as a sniper for the terror group,” Vilchez told reporters here in an interview Monday.

In a separate interview, Brig. Gen. Roberto Capulong, the 602nd Infantry Brigade commander, said Dubpalig was involved in a series of bombing incidents in Maguindanao and North Cotabato provinces in recent years.

“The surrenderer was a former follower of the late Mando Mamalumpong, the spokesperson of the BIFF-Karialan faction who was neutralized by government forces in a clash at Midsayap, North Cotabato in 2019,” Capulong said.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1133583