Mayor, armed followers yield to police in BARMM

From the Philippine News Agency (May 1, 2021): Mayor, armed followers yield to police in BARMM (By Edwin Fernandez)

PRIVATE ARMED GROUP SURRENDER. Mayor Salik Mamasabulod (3rd from left) hands over a firearm to PRO-BARMM Director, Brig. Gen. Eden Ugale, during the formal surrender rites of the mayor and his private armed group at the regional police headquarters in Parang, Maguindanao on Friday (April 30, 2021). The Mamasabulod armed group surrendered four high-powered firearms. (Photo courtesy of PRO-BARMM)

A mayor in Maguindanao who maintained a private armed group (PAG) has voluntarily surrendered, along with his men and firearms, to the police in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

“This is to serve as an example to other PAGs in the Pagalungan area,” Mayor Salik Mamasabulod of Pagalungan, Maguindanao said in a phone interview with reporters here Saturday.

On Friday afternoon, Mamasabulod dissolved his PAG and surrendered to the police.

Brig. Gen. Eden Ugale, Police Regional Office (PRO) - BARMM director, welcomed the mayor and his private armed group at their headquarters in Parang, Maguindanao.

“After a series of negotiations with Mayor Mamasabulod, his men have surrendered peacefully to the PRO-BARMM,” Ugale said.

He identified the two sub-leaders of Mamasabulod’s followers, who represented the PAG in the surrender rites, as former police Corporal Faizal Mamasabulod, the mayor’s brother, and Norodin C. Sulayman, both of Barangay Damasalak in Pagalungan.

Ugale said the two men had been listed by the PRO-BARMM as active PAG members since March 15.

“The two are among the close-in security escorts of the mayor since 2013,” he said.

The group surrendered two M16 rifles, one Carbine rifle, and one M1 Garand rifle.

The PRO-BARMM is coordinating with the region’s Ministry of the Interior and Local Government on the proper disposition of Mamasabulod and his armed group’s surrender.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1138701