Moro, Teduray villagers surrender combat weapons to Marines

COTABATO CITY — Residents of five barangays in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte on Saturday turned over to the Marines 19 more combat weapons, including a .50 caliber machinegun and grenade launchers. 

Major Gen. Antonio G. Nafarrete, commander of the Army’s 6^th Infantry Division (ID), told reporters on Sunday that the unlicensed firearms and machinegun were surrendered by owners in support of the 6^th ID’s Small Arms and Light Weapons Program (SALW), complementing Malacañang’s peace overture with southern Moro communities. 

Mr. Nafarrete said the combat weapons were collected from Moro and ethnic Teduray residents of Barangays Dinaig Proper, Mompong, Linek, Badak, Kusiong and Tapian by Datu Odin Sinsuat Mayor Lester S. Sinsuat, Lt. Col. Lester Mark C. Baky, commanding officer of the 5^th Marine Battalion, and his immediate superior, Brig. Gen. Romulo D. Quemado II of the 1st Marine Brigade.

He added the residents of Datu Odin Sinsuat agreed to surrender their weapons after Sinsuat, Baky, Quemado, and officials of the Maguindanao del Norte Provincial Police Office had relayed to them the intricacies of the SALW Program of the 6^th ID via backchannel dialogues. — John Felix M. Unson