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John Unson - Philstar.com
February 14, 2026 | 5:44pm
The leader of the five members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters who surrendered on Friday, February 13, 2026, first turned over a long-range bolt-action sniper rifle to officials before he and his companions renounced their membership with the group.
Philstar.com / John Unson
COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Five more members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, two of them experts in fabrication of home-made bombs, surrendered in Maguindanao del Norte on Friday, February 13, and vowed to help convince remnants of the now non-functional terror group to return to the fold of law.
The five BIFF members pledged allegiance to the government during a surrender rite in Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao del Norte, in the presence of Mayor Shameem Mastura and police officials.
Two of them Karim Mohdi Sangid, and Omar Bansao Madsid, are both well-versed in fabrication of improvised explosive devices using ammonium nitrate, or potassium chlorate, that can be detonated from a distance using mobile phones,
The five of them separately told reporters that they agreed to surrender through the intercession of local executives, led by Sultan Kudarat Mayor Shameem Mastura, their municipal police chief, Lt. Col. Esmael Madin, and officials of the Maguindanao del Norte Provincial Police Office.
"We will help the police and military convince our few remaining companions to come out and surrender for them to get reunited with their families," one of the five BIFF members, Mohammad Samron Tasil, told reporters after the event, held at the office of Mastura in Sultan Kudarat.
The five BIFF members first turned in a rocket launcher and two B40 anti-tank rockets, a .50 caliber long-range bolt-action sniper rifle and a 60 millimeter mortar to Mastura, Madin and Maguindanao del Norte’s provincial police director, Col. George Bagundol, Jr., before they renounced their membership with the BIFF and together promised to reform for good.
Up to 417 members of the allies BIFF and Dawlah Islamiya terror groups from across Maguindanao del Norte, which has 12 towns, surrendered in batches in the past 31 months to different units in the province of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, besides the 537 others who yielded to battalions and brigades under the Army’s 6th Infantry Division during the period.
