SEVEN “hardcore” members of the extremist Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) wanted for their involvement in a number of atrocities in Sulu province on Thursday surrendered to officials of the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) headed by Brigadier General Edgar Alan O. Okubo, the Journal Group learned.

Okubo formally received the seven surrenderees during ceremonies held at the headquarters of the PNP-SAF’s 7th Special Action Battalion located in Camp Julasirim Kasim in Jolo, Sulu.

“We have convinced the seven to yield and return to the mainstream of the society following negotiations with our men and their Armed Forces counterparts in Sulu,” the PNP-SAF told PNP chief, Gen. Rodolfo S. Azurin Jr.

Two of the seven confessed they joined the ASG after being “promised” as much as P150,000 each apart from an automatic rifle.

Local officials of the SAF’s 84th Special Action Company led by Lt. Col. Ford Sudaypan, the SAF’s 7th SAB led by Maj. Dominador Mauricio, the Sulu Provincial Police Intelligence Unit under Lt. Col. Waylon Mang-oy, the Regional Intelligence Unit 9 led by Maj. Lee Van Ungria, the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) represented by Senior Master Sergeant Rogelio Hortilas Jr., the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) under Raul Derillo and the Military Intelligence Group under Lt. Col. Calvin Macatangay convinced the seven to surrender.

Okubo said they are helping facilitate the necessary requirements and other certificates of the seven who are now considered “Former Violent Extremists” or FVEs.

“They will be undergoing a deradicalization seminar as part of the requirements to enable them to avail of a comprehensive government [benefits] package,” said the PNP-SAF director.

A 22-year-old male was found to be a member of the ASG under Radullan Sahiron since 2018 and had been involved in at least ten encounters with security forces in the municipalities of Patikul, Kalingalang Caluang, Talipao, and Luuk.

The suspect said he left the group in 2019 after turning over his weapons to a colleague before fleeing to Sabah, Malaysia to escape the heat of a massive government offensive against the terrorist group.

He added that he learned of the government’s effort to end the armed conflict when he returned to the country, prompting him to send his surrender feelers to the PNP-SAF.

A 22-year-old widow of a known Abu Sayyaf member who previously served as a cook and marketing officer of the band before leaving the group when her husband was killed in a military operation in Patikul in 2017.

Alias “Indah Wal”, also an ASG “cook/marketer” – abandoned the group when troops arrested her husband during a gunbattle in Patikul.

On the other hand, the 53-year-old surrenderee has been an ASG member since 2001, and another confessed that he joined the ASG after hearing rumors that new Abu Sayyaf recruits would be initially given P100,000 cash and an M-16 automatic rifle.

Also, a surrenderee was identified as an ASG “guide/tipster”, while another former member admitted that he joined the armed group after being promised a weapon and P150,000 – he said that he was able to join the ASG initially as a “cook” before becoming an eventual fighter.

The man said he was forced to leave the ASG after several of their colleagues were killed in clashes with government troops and eventually sold the M-14 rifle issued to him by the ASG and went into farming to feed his family.