Ameril Umbrakato

Introducing B.I.F.F

They cut through the jungle to the small clearing like a swarm of bees with their leader at their core. The only sound was the swish of their feet slicing through the unkempt grass. At least two hundred of them – heavily armed. Most wearing black shirts that proclaimed "BIFF of the MILF" – and in that one instance clarifying the primary question on people’s minds: this renegade "splinter group" still considered itself a part of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

According to their leader Ameril Umbrakato – one of the Philippines' most wanted men – he put together the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (or B.I.F.F.) because he was left with little choice. 

"When they had a ceasefire, the government and the MILF – they didn’t include me – they put me aside, rejected me," Umbrakato told Al Jazeera in an exclusive interview.