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John Unson - Philstar.com
May 9, 2026 | 7:35pm
Army officials and local executives inspect the weapons turned in by the seven local terrorists who surrendered to the 90th Infantry Battalion on Thursday, May 7, 2026.
Philstar.com / John Unson
COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Two more groups from the defunct Dawlah Islamiya and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters willingly surrendered to units of the Philippine Army in Maguindanao del Sur province within just three days, military and provincial officials announced on Saturday, May 9.
The first to yield were Alih Samat, Morad Ali, Guialudin Salipada, Tohami Maguid and Diya Dagadas, who pledged allegiance to the government on Monday during a symbolic rite at the headquarters of the 1st Mechanized Battalion in Barangay Midtimbang in Datu Anggal Midtimbang, Maguindanao del Sur.
Major Gen. Jose Vladimir Cagara, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, told reporters on Saturday that all five of them agreed to surrender and avail of the division’s regional reconciliation program for violent religious extremists through the joint efforts of the commanding officer of the 1st Mechanized Battalion, Lt. Col. William Sabado, Brig. Gen. Edgar Catu, commander of the 601st Infantry Brigade, local executives and traditional Moro datus.
The five Dawlah Islamiya members first turned over to Sabado and his subordinate-officers a .30 caliber M1 Garand rifle, a .50 caliber long-range bolt-action Barrett sniper rifle, two 9 millimeter submachineguns and an M79 launcher for 40 millimeter grenade projectiles before they promised to reform for good during a surrender rite together officiated by Catu and Sabado at the headquarters of the 1st Mechanized Battalion in Barangay Midtimbang.
The event was witnessed by municipal officials and representatives from the Bangsamoro regional government and peace-advocacy entities supporting the 6th ID’s peacebuilding programs in Central Mindanao.
Local executives in different towns in Maguindanao del Sur, one of the five provinces in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, relayed to reporters on Saturday that seven combined members of the now both non-functional Dawlah Islamiya and BIFF, four of them experts in the fabrication of improvised explosive devices, also pledged allegiance to the government in a separate event on Thursday.
The seven terrorists have vowed to help convince their few remaining companions to surrender after they renounced their membership with the Dawlah Islamiya and the BIFF at the headquarters of the Army’s 90th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Kabengi in Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao del Sur, in the presence of local executives.
Cagara said the commanding officer of the 90th IB, Lt. Col. Loqui Marco, and his immediate-superior, Catu, who has jurisdiction over Army units in Maguindanao del Sur, local executives, and the police director in the province, Col. Michael Mangahis, cooperated in securing the surrender of the seven terrorists via backchannel dialogues.
The surrender ceremony was preceded by the group's turnover to Marco and Catu of four sniper rifles, two 81 millimeter mortars, an M1 Garand rifle and other combat weapons and components for IEDs, including six kilos of ammonium nitrate and potassium chlorate that can be used as blasting charges for home-made bombs that can be detonated from a distance using mobile phones.
Four of the seven terrorists who yielded to the 90th IB, Samaon Kadir, Moksim Anais, Amerodin Bantas and Samaradun Aslih, can assemble IEDs packed with nails and metal fragments with jagged edges.
The seven Dawlah Islamiya and BIFF members yielded to officials of the 90th IB and to Catu after they assured them of reintegration to mainstream society with the help of agencies of the Bangsamoro government and the local government units in Maguindanao del Sur
“We shall usher back to their barangays all of these former
