Cotabato City barangay execs surrender assault rifles to Army

COTABATO CITY — Officials of barangays in the western area of Cotabato City surrendered unlicensed combat rifles to a unit of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division on Wednesday, September 25.

The voluntary surrender of the firearms by barangay officials in Mother Kalanganan and other barangays around was in support of the 6th ID’s local disarmament program complementing Malacanang's Mindanao peace process and the efforts of the Commission on Elections to ensure peaceful elections in 2025.

Major Gen. Antonio Nafarrete, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, told reporters on Thursday that they appreciate the cooperation with their anti-loose firearms campaign of Edris Pasawiran, Norhassim Pasawiran and Bimbo Pasawiran, incumbent chairpersons of Barangays Kalangangan 2, Bagua Mother and Mother Kalanganan.

The firearms that they turned in, comprised of an AR4 Carbine, two M4 Carbines, a Bushmaster assault rifle, a military M16 stock-type rifle and a vintage .30 caliber M1 Garand rifle, are now in the custody of the 6th Civil-Military Operations Battalion, whose commanding officer, Lt. Col. Roden Orbon, officiated the simple surrender rite in their headquarters at the PC Hill Complex in Cotabato City.

The event was witnessed by Lt. Col. Joaquin Agtarap, a senior staff of the Cotabato City Police Office, representing Brig. Gen. Prexy Tanggawohn, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Since 2022, units of 6th ID in Central Mindanao’s adjoining Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato and Sarangani provinces and in the cities of Cotabato, Tacurong, Koronadal and General Santos had collected almost 2,000 pistols, assault rifles, B40 rocket launchers, 40 millimeter grenade launchers, M60 machineguns, 60 and 81 millimeter mortars voluntarily surrendered by owners, among them former members of the now moribund Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the Dawlah Islamiya.