INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The “reign of terror” of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in the province of Sulu has now ended following the several setbacks the group has experienced, the Armed Forces of the Philippines said on Wednesday.
The AFP spokesperson, Col. Medel Aguilar, made this pronouncement in a statement as he recounted the surrender last Jan. 8 of ASG leaders Amah Patit and 20 others who composed the core group of the group’s leader Radullan Sahiron.
Aguilar said Patit and other members “surrendered to the government on the instruction of Sahiron himself.”
“At that time, Sahiron was already old and reportedly sick,” Aguilar said.
Sahiron, however, has allegedly died, but Aguilar said the AFP would have to verify it.
“Since then, no word was heard from the wanted ASG leader except for unverified information from several sources that he is already dead,” Aguilar said.
“We need to get first-hand information first from those who are close to him. We don’t want to disturb the ‘dead’,” he added.
A breakaway of the Moro National Liberation Front, the ASG was founded by Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani in 1991.
But only in 2016 did the first batch of ASG fighters surrender, according to a paper published by the National Defense College of the Philippines.
This refers to the surrender of an Abu Sayyaf sub-leader, who was a nephew of then-ASG leader Furuji Indama, along with 10 other members who laid down their arms in October 2016.