41 drug peddlers yield to Army in Maguindanao

SULTAN SA BARONGIS,
Maguindanao -- The Army here announced today that 41 members of the illegal
drug syndicate indirectly supporting ISIS-linked Moro rebels have voluntarily surrendered
to government authorities.

The surrender
transpired at the village public school Friday morning.

The surrenderors
were led by known drug ring leaders

Spearheaded by
known drug ring leaders Teddy Biang, 55, and Anwaruddin Biang, 46, who were
sourcing their stuff from the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters
(BIFF) stationed in the vast Maguindanao marshland.

They were official
accepted by Lt. Colonel Harold Cabunoc, the commander of the 33rd
Infantry Makabayan Battalion and representatives from Philippine Drug
Enforcement Agency and civil officials.

Cabunoc said 17
of the surrenderors were drug traffickers while the rest were self-confessed
drug users.

After their
voluntary surrender, they were presented by Cabunoc to Mayor Ramdatu Angas of Sultan
sa Barongis, Maguindanao.

I am grateful
that you have finally decided to support our government’s campaign against
illegal drugs. We will closely monitor your sincerity in reforming to become
productive citizens of this country, Cabunoc said.

Angas then
urged the drug personalities to help in eradicating the drug menace that had
been haunting Barangay Bulod.

Help the
authorities in tracking down the remnants of your group. Let us work together
in transforming this village as a peaceful community, the second termer town
executive said.

Narco-terrorism

The Philippine
Army deployed the 33rd Infantry Battalion in Bulod village in November 2018 to
address the terrorist threat and the proliferation of illegal drugs coming from
the Liguasan Marsh.

Cabunoc quoted
Teddy Biang, the leader of the notorious drug ring, as telling him that that a
BIFF member named ‘Kasili’ was their main source of the prohibited drugs.

He delivered
the prohibited drugs to us by motorized banca. He normally buys provisions from
the market after collecting the payment, Biang said in the vernacular.

Major General
Cirilito Sobejana, the commander of the 6th Infantry Division, said that the
surrender of the drug traffickers will further weaken the outlawed Bangsamoro
Islamic Liberation Front.

Drug money
sustains the terrorist members who are hiding in the Liguasan Marsh. With this
current development, we have strangled their resources, Sobejana said.

Cabunoc said
his unit had been using a combination of combat operations, community
engagements, and civil affairs activities in neutralizing threat groups in its
area of operation.

Since February
2017, the unit has successfully facilitated the surrender of 203 communist
rebels and 32 BIFF, setting a benchmark in the conduct of military operations
in a ‘two front war’ against distinct threat groups.