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John Unson - Philstar.com
April 18, 2026 | 5:27pm
Brig. Gen. Edgar Catu of the Army's 601st Infantry Brigade personally handed over to each of the 13 local terrorists the monetary assistance from local executives that they can spend while undergoing religious reorientation by military Islamic preachers.
Philstar.com / John Unson
COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Another group from the now-defunct Dawlah Islamiya and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters pledged allegiance to the government during a symbolic rite in Datu Piang, Maguindanao del Sur on Thursday, April 16.
The 13 gunmen first turned over two 81 and two 60 millimeter mortars, three 9 millimeter Uzi machine pistols, a 7.62 bolt-action sniper rifle, a B40 rocket launcher, and components for home-made bombs, including some five kilos of packed incendiary ammonium nitrate and potassium chlorate blasting charges, to the Army’s 38th Infantry Battalion before they promised to reform for good in the presence of local executives and traditional Moro leaders.
Major Gen. Jose Vladimir Cagara, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, told reporters on Saturday that the 13 remnants of the Dawlah Islamiya and the BIFF agreed to avail of the 6th ID’s reconciliation program for violent religious extremists through the intercession of Brig. Gen. Edgar Catu, commanding officer of the 601st Infantry Brigade, Lt. Col. Erwin Felongco of the 38th Infantry Battalion and local executives in Maguindanao del Sur’s adjoining Datu Piang, Shariff Saydona Mustapha, Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Mamasapano and Shariff Aguak municipalities.
Three of the Dawlah Islamiya members who surrendered to the 38th IB, Musib Kanduh Salik, Abdullah Sanged Kadir and Yahyah Musib Oro, are experts in fabrication of improvised explosive devices that can be detonated from a distance using mobile phones.
Cagara said officials of the Maguindanao del Sur Provincial Police Office also helped local executives convince the 13 Dawlah Islamiya and BIFF members return to the fold of law, a requisite for their reintegration into mainstream society.
"We are thankful to all who cooperated in securing the surrender of this group," Cagara said.
The surrender on Thursday of 13 more Dawlah Islamiya and BIFF members brought to 1,787 the total number of terrorists from both groups who have surrendered, since 2021, to units of the 6th ID in the six provinces and four cities in Central Mindanao, all of them reintegrated into the local communities.
Cagara said agencies of the Bangsamoro regional government, local executives in Maguindanao del Sur and the 6th ID will cooperate in returning to their respective families the 13 former terrorists who surrendered to the 38 th IB in Datu Piang last Thursday.
