By Francis T. Wakefield
As troops of the Joint Task Forces under Western Mindanao sustain the operations against the Abu Sayyaf Group, another bandit surrendered to the soldiers of the 74th Infantry Battalion of the Joint Task Force Basilan on Friday afternoon.
Ligoda Tanial, a regular member of the ASG under Abu Sayyaf subleader Nurhasan Jamiri alias Abu Bekkat and is listed No. 18 in the AFP’s Periodic Status report, surrendered to Lt. Col. Templo, battalion commander of the 74IB at Barangay Banah, Tipo-tipo, Basilan at about 3 p.m..
Tanial turned over upon his surrender one M16A1 rifle, one rifle scope and a magazine with ammunition.
“We immediately have Tanial undergo the usual process for surrenderers that includes custodial debriefing and medical checkup,” said Brig. Gen. Juvymax Uy, commander of the Joint Task Force Basilan.
Tanial is the 10th Abu Sayyaf to surrender in Basilan province since the year started. It brings the number of surrenderers to 20 in the different JTFs of WestMinCom for this year alone and 178 since January 2017.
