(Photo courtesy of 34IB)
Lt. Col. Edgardo Vilchez Jr., commanding officer of the 34IB, said Tong Dubpalig, a bomb expert under the Kagi Karialan faction, voluntarily surrendered to them Sunday afternoon with his .50 caliber Barrett sniper rifle.
“Aside from being a bombmaker, Dubpalig also works as a sniper for the terror group,” Vilchez told reporters here in an interview Monday.
In a separate interview, Brig. Gen. Roberto Capulong, the 602nd Infantry Brigade commander, said Dubpalig was involved in a series of bombing incidents in Maguindanao and North Cotabato provinces in recent years.
“The surrenderer was a former follower of the late Mando Mamalumpong, the spokesperson of the BIFF-Karialan faction who was neutralized by government forces in a clash at Midsayap, North Cotabato in 2019,” Capulong said.