COTABATO CITY (September 25, 2025) — Another group from the now weakened allies Dawlah Islamiya and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, five of them experts in fabrication of home-made bombs, surrendered to an Army unit in Maguindanao del Sur on Tuesday, September 23.
The 18 Dawlah Islamiya and BIFF members had pledged allegiance to the government during a symbolic rite then at the headquarters of the Army’s 92nd Infantry Battalion at Barangay Salbu in Datu Saudi Ampatuan in Maguindanao del, in the presence of Major Gen. Ramon Zagala, commander of the 2nd Infantry Division.
The 92nd IB, led by Lt. Col. Christian Cabading, is under the 2nd ID, but is presently based in Datu Saudi Ampatuan, engaged in peacebuilding missions in the municipality under the supervision of the 6th Infantry Division, which has jurisdiction over six adjoining provinces and five cities in Central Mindanao.
Major Gen. Donald Gumiran, commander of the 6th ID, told reporters on Thursday, September 25, that the 18 local terrorists agreed to return to the fold of law through the joint intercession of officials of the 92nd IB and the 601st Infantry Brigade and local executives in Datu Saudi Ampatuan and in nearby towns.
The group first turned in to officials of the 92nd IB more than 30 combat weapons, comprised of assault rifles, 40-millimeter grenade and B40 anti-tank rocket launchers and improvised explosive devices before they promised to reform for good in the presence of Zagala and municipal officials led by Datu Saudi Ampatuan Mayor Bassir Utto.
The event was also witnessed by a representative from the Maguindanao del Sur provincial government, Roger Dionisio, and Col. Rommel Pagayon, deputy commander of the Army’s 1st Brigade Combat Team.
Local executives, among them Islamic missionaries helping address violent religious extremism in Maguindanao del Sur, had told reporters that five of the 18 men who surrendered to the 92nd IB, whose names they withheld for security reasons, are experts in fabrication of IEDs, using either potassium chlorate or ammonium nitrate as blasting charges, that can be detonated from a distance using mobile phones.
The few remaining members of the Dawlah Islamiya and the BIFF are known for venting ire on companions, who had availed of the 6th ID’s reconciliation program for violent religious extremists, and their relatives. Both terror groups, fomenting animosity against non-Muslims, are tagged in all deadly bombings of buses and commercial establishments in Central Mindanao since 2014, after owners had refused to shell out “protection money” on a periodic basis.
Zagala and Gumiran had separately said that they appreciate the help of local executives, traditional Moro leaders, among them incumbent barangay officials, and members of the Islamic religious community in Maguindanao del Sur for helping secure the surrender of the 18 Dawlah Islamiya and BIFF members via backchannel dialogues.
The 92nd IB and other Army units under the 601st Infantry Brigade, led by Brig. Gen. Edgar Catu, and officials of the 6th ID had worked out the reintegration into mainstream society of 527 Dawlah Islamiya and BIFF members from across Maguindanao del Sur, a component-province of the Bangsamoro region, in the past 26 months.
Army units in Maguindanao del Sur had also collected during the period 723 assault rifles, grenade and anti-tank rocket launchers, M60, .30 and .50 caliber machineguns, 60 and 81 millimeter mortars voluntarily yielded by residents in support of the Small Arms and Light Weapons Management Program that the 6th ID and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity are together implementing in Central Mindanao since July 2024.
Photo shows Zagala inspecting the combat weapons of the 18 local terrorists who surrendered on Tuesday at the headquarters of the 92nd Infantry Battalion.