NPAs 'collect' firearms from NCotabato village

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Communist rebels disguised as Army soldiers enforcing the election gun ban divested Moro villagers of firearms in a daring raid on Monday in a remote district in Makilala, North Cotabato.

Lt. Manuel Gatus, a company commander in the Army’s 57th Infantry Battalion, said the 60 or so New People’s Army (NPA) guerillas arrived at Barangay Lacobe and pretended that they were ordered to inspect the firearms of local residents for documentation purposes.

Some Moro farmers in Barangay Lacobe are members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front, while there are also some who belong to a village militia helping the police and military maintain law and order in the area.

“They made the villagers believe they were merely implementing the election gun ban being enforced by the Commission on Elections,” Gatus said.

Gatus said the rebels left with dozens of firearms from the unsuspecting villagers.

Soldiers have been deployed around the barangay to provide security to its residents.