4 pro-ISIS fighters yield in Southern Philippines

COTABATO CITY – Four pro-ISIS fighters surrendered to the army in the Muslim province of Lanao del Sur in southern Philippines, officials said Friday.

Military photos show the 4 Dawlah Islamiya fighters who surrendered to the 55th Infantry Battalion in Lanao del Sur's Marugong town on July 23, 2020.

Lt. Col. Franco Raphael Alano, commander of the 55^th Infantry Battalion, said the militants who are members of the Dawlah Islamiya surrendered in Marugong town on Thursday following a month of negotiations between local government officials with the families.

He said the four men - whose identities were not made public by the army – also yielded one rifle, two grenade launcher and two automatic pistols. “Their surrender was forced through the collaboration of 55^th Infantry Battalion and Marugong local government’s initiative to resolve local conflicts and to end extremism,” Alanao said.

“One of the militants admitted that they decided to surrender after realizing that their acts were against the teachings of Islam and that they lost the support and sympathy of their proponents,” he added.

Col. Jose Maria Cuerpo, commander of the 103^rd Infantry Brigade, praised the surrender of the militants and urged other pro-ISIS fighters to return to the fold of the law because the operations against terrorism will continue to protect innocent lives.

“I urge the remaining Dawlah Islamiya members to lay down their arms and end the senseless violence in the Lanao provinces. We will remain relentless in our campaign against the remaining members of Dawlah Islamiya in the province and at the same time we will also intensify our reintegration efforts to address not only the needs of our returnees, but of their families' as well,” he said.

Maj. Gen. Generoso Ponio, commander of the 1^st Infantry Division, lauded the efforts of all those involved in negotiating for the surrender of the militants, citing the crucial role the local government and community efforts in the military’s peace campaign in the troubled region.

“Truly our campaign against terrorism also relies on the cooperation and involvement of the local governments, the datus, ulama and even the local populace itself.  We can defeat terrorism with the whole-of-nation approach, trusting and helping each other, so that our future generation will inherit the just and lasting peace that everybody is aiming for,” Ponio said.

Dawlah Islamiya is among the militant groups that captured Marawi in Lanao del Sur in May 2017 and declared the whole city as a province of the Islamic State. And militants battled security forces for 5 months until the city was liberated, but the fighting left hundreds of people dead and wounded. (Mindanao Examiner. With additional reporting from Asa Madale.)

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