Cotabato City residents surrender combat weapons to military

October 14, 2024 | 4:33pm

COTABATO CITY — Local residents surrendered two more assault rifles and a 60-millimeter mortar to the 5^th Marine Battalion on Sunday, October 13, in support of a military-led disarmament campaign in all of the barangays in Cotabato City and other Central Mindanao cities and provinces.

Major Gen. Antonio Nafarrete, commander of the Army’s 6^th Infantry Division, told reporters on Monday that the two 7.62 M14 assault rifles and 60-MM mortar were turned over by owners to Lt. Col. Mark Baky, commanding officer of the Navy’s  5^th Marine Battalion, which is helping the 6^th ID and the Cotabato City Police Office secure all of the 37 barangays in Cotabato City.

Nafarrete said the owners of the two M14 rifles and 60-MM mortars are residents of Barangay Tamontaka 1, Cotabato City.

More than 30 rifles, pistols, 40-millimeter grenade launchers, B40 rocket launchers and mortars had been turned over by Cotabato City residents to Baky and officials of 6^th ID’s 6^th Civil Military Operations Battalion in separate surrender rites in the past four weeks in compliance with the division’s Small Arms and Light Weapons Management Program.

The SALW Management Program complements the security agenda of Malacañang’s Mindanao peace process and is partly meant to ensure peaceful elections in 2025 in cities and provinces under 6^th ID’s jurisdiction.

The 6^th ID has collected at least 2,000 undocumented firearms voluntarily yielded by owners since 2021, achieved through the joint backchannel intercession of local executives and officials of battalions and brigades in Central Mindanao that are under its control.