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John Unson - Philstar.com
December 15, 2025 | 5:13pm
Policemen in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte, are closely guarding a strategic stretch of highway connecting the municipality to Cotabato City, the capital of the Bangsamoro region, in anticipation of possible trouble that the few remaining companions of Norodin Andig might instigate to avenge his death in a joint police-Army operation on Dec.14, 2025.
Photo courtesy of Philstar.com / John Unson
COTABATO CITY — A Dawlah Islamiya bomb-maker, wanted in 17 high-profile cases including multiple murders, extortion, armed robbery, and arson, was killed in a brief gunfight with combined police and military forces in Barangay Kaya-Kaya, Datu Abdullah Sangki, Maguindanao del Sur, on Sunday, December 14.
Operatives from various units of the Police Regional Office–Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, along with soldiers from the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade of the 6th Infantry Division, attempted to serve Norodin Maskud Andig several arrest warrants in a secluded area of Barangay Kaya-Kaya. Andig reportedly drew a .45-caliber pistol, triggering a gunfight that left him dead.
Police Brig. Gen. Jaysen De Guzman, PRO-BAR director, and Major Gen. Jose Vladimir Cagara, commander of the 6th ID, told reporters on Monday, December 15, that local officials from the neighboring towns of Radjah Buayan and Datu Abdullah Sangki reported Andig’s presence in Barangay Kaya-Kaya. This tip enabled security forces to carry out an arrest mission, which went awry when Andig refused to surrender peacefully.
Local officials and traditional Moro leaders, including Islamic missionaries, said on Monday that 436 companions of Andig from the now-defunct Dawlah Islamiya and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, representing various towns in Maguindanao del Sur, have surrendered and pledged allegiance to the government in separate rites over the past six months. The ceremonies involved officials from the 6th ID, the 601st Infantry Brigade, and PRO-BAR’s Maguindanao del Sur Provincial Police Office.
Andig, also known locally as a “killer-for-hire,” has been implicated in the killings of at least 20 individuals since 2022. Former Dawlah Islamiya members, now living peacefully in their hometowns, told radio reporters on Monday that Andig was highly skilled in making improvised explosive devices, using ammonium nitrate or potassium chlorate as blasting agents.
He was charged with premeditated murder for allegedly killing, according to sworn witness statements and police investigation reports, Guiania Gulam Mantikayan, Baranda Kuta Abiden, Samsudin Quimban Abedin, Jabber Amil Ampal, and Alamansa Sedik Ambiton in a series of gun attacks across different barangays in Radjah Buayan between February and September 2025.
De Guzman, Cagara, and Brig. Gen. Edgar Catu, commander of the 601st Infantry Brigade, said soldiers and police in Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte are maintaining tight security to prevent possible retaliatory attacks by the few remaining members of Dawlah Islamiya and the BIFF. Authorities fear these groups might attempt to create the impression that they are still capable of carrying out terror attacks, despite the surrender of 1,744 of their companions to PRO-BAR and 6th ID units in both provinces since 2021.
All 1,744 former Dawlah Islamiya and BIFF members who have returned to the fold of law have been reintegrated into mainstream society through programs led by the 6th ID, PRO-BAR, and various agencies under the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
