From the Philippine News Agency (Dec 14, 2022): 6 BIFF men yield in Maguindanao Norte (By Edwin Fernandez)
FOOD AID. Jaber Macacua of the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government -Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (2nd from left) hands over a food package to one of six Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) during surrender rites in Maguindanao del Norte on Tuesday (Dec. 13, 2022). Macacua said 187 former BIFF rebels from Maguindanao are being assisted by the BARMM government to start new lives. (Photo courtesy of MILG-BARMM)
COTABATO CITY – Six local terrorist group members have decided to lay down their arms "and pursue the path to peace" in Maguindanao del Norte, an official said Wednesday.
“They were members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) who surrendered and chose to reintegrate into the mainstream society,” said Jaber Macacua, project officer of TuGon Project under the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (MILG-BARMM).
TuGon is the acronym of Project Tulong ng Gobyernong Nagmamalasakit, which assists surrenderers as they begin a new life with their families.
The surrenderers were presented to local government officials and military authorities during the surrender rites at the headquarters of the Army’s 57th Infantry Battalion in Upi municipality on Tuesday afternoon.
Macacua, who represented MILG Minister Naguib Sinarimbo in the activity, also distributed food packs to the surrenderers.
The BIFF batch turned over to the Army assorted high-powered firearms, including a .50-caliber Barrett sniper rifle, explosives, and ammunition.
He said 187 former BIFF members in Maguindanao are receiving interventions from Project TuGon in collaboration with other BARMM ministries.
A batch of 44 BIFF extremists yielded in Maguindanao, seven of them bomb-making experts, in Kabacan, North Cotabato on December 9.
Four BIFF field commanders led the Kabacan surrender facilitated by the Army’s 90th Infantry Battalion of the 602nd Infantry Brigade.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1190716
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