ZAMBOANGA CITY – Three former Sulu-based Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) members surrendered to soldiers in Tawi-Tawi as a result of the program offered by the Regional Task Force to End Local Armed Conflict (RTF-ELAC) in Muslim-dominated areas in Mindanao.
Armed Forces of the Philippines-Western Mindanao Command (AFP-WestMinCom) commander Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan, Jr. said one of the present mandates of RTF-ELAC is to see to it that the developmental information of the program reaches the grassroots to counter false ideologies of communists-terrorist groups and violent extremists.
Vinluan identified the three ASG as Alsadi Hanain alias Al; Bennaser Pae alias Binas, 27; and Ugali Alimudin, 33.
Hanain, a former member of the ASG kidnap-for-ransom group, yielded and handed over his M1 Garand rifle to the intelligence operatives of the 2nd Marine Brigade in Barangay Sanga-Sanga, Bongao, Tawi-Tawi at 7 a.m. last Friday.
Hanain was operating under the late ASG sub-leader Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan and was involved in a series of encounters against the military troops in Basilan and in Patikul area in Sulu province.
Hanain also participated in different kidnapping activities, notable of which was the abductions of Rolando de Torchio, an Italian, on October 7, 2014; Ewold Horn, a Holland national, on February 1, 2012; Yahong Chen from Isabela Basilan on May 22, 2014; and Canadians Robert Hall and John Ridsdel, Norwegian Kjartan Sikkengstad, and Filipina Marites Flor on September 21, 2015.
Pae handed over his M16A1 rifle, one short magazine, and 33 live bullets to the Marine Battalion Landing Team-12.
Pae was recruited by the Sulu-based ASG under Guro Harife sometime in March 2012. He is a brother of ASG Roni Jumlaili Pae alias Otoh Eron and Roni who surrendered to MBLT-12 on November 7, 2020.
Col. Arturo Rojas, commander of the Joint Task Force Tawi-Tawi, said that due to the intensified operations conducted by the government troops in Sulu, Bennaser and Roni decided to leave the ASG sometime in October 2016 and returned to Tawi-Tawi.
Alimudin, 33, married, and a resident of Sitio Sikawla, Barangay Baldatal Islam, Sapa-Sapa, Tawi-Tawi also yielded to the government forces on December 2, 2020.
Onboard a “jungkong”, Alimudin accompanied by two former ASG members who previously surrendered to the 2nd Marine Brigade, submitted himself to the 36 Marine Company at the unit headquarters in Barangay Poblacion, Sapa-Sapa, Tawi-Tawi. (Nonoy Lacson)
