FIVE Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) bandits surrendered and yielded high-powered firearms to government authorities in the Zamboanga Peninsula, the police said Friday, July 19.
Police Brigadier General Froilan Quidilla, Police Regional Office-Zamboanga Peninsula director, identified them only through their aliases as well as from where they are as follows: Ar-Jun, 21, Jolo, Sulu; It, 20, Ungkaya Pukan; Basilan; Khaifal, 23, Patikul, Sulu; Khap Boy, 29, Tipo-Tipo, Basilan; and, Mat, 33, Tipo-Tipo, Basilan.
Quidilla said they yielded high-powered firearms that consist of the following: M-14 rifle; four M-16 Armalite rifles two of which with attached M-203 grenade launchers; two grenades; and, several rounds of ammunition.
He said these bandits surrendered due to the relentless government offensive against them. They surrendered through the joint efforts of Lieutenant Colonel Parson Asadil, Zamboanga del Sur Provincial Mobile Force Company commander and intelligence personnel of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division.
Police Major Helen Galvez, PRO-Zamboanga Peninsula information officer, said Quidilla formally welcomed the surrenderers in a ceremony Thursday, July 18, at Camp Colonel Romeo Abendan that houses the PRO-Zamboanga Peninsula headquarters in Mercedes village, Zamboanga City.
Colonel Jose Randolf Cino Cruz, deputy commander of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division, and Colonle Leonel Nicolas, Task Force Zamboanga commander, witnessed the ceremony.
He said they will be placed under the government’s rehabilitation program “to ensure that they will not go back to their old ways.” (SunStar Philippines)