Villagers in highland BARMM town surrender 603 unlicensed firearms

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Officials presented to the public on Thursday, November 6, in a symbolic rite in the hinterland town of Upi in Maguindanao del Norte, 603 combat weapons, including assault rifles, shotguns, grenades, and rocket launchers, which villagers had turned in over the past 11 months in support of a disarmament program assisted by the United Nations Development Program.

Upi Mayor Ma. Rona Cristina Piang-Flores, officials of the Army’s 57th Infantry Battalion, the 603rd Infantry Brigade, the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, and the military's Western Mindanao Command together presented the firearms to community leaders from across Maguindanao del Norte and reporters from Cotabato City. The weapons had been voluntarily surrendered through their joint intercession as part of a multi-sector, inter-agency peacebuilding activity.

The anti-loose firearms campaign is being implemented with the help of a team overseeing the Assistance for Security, Peace, Integration, and Recovery for Advancing Human Security Program in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which is funded by the UNDP.

The commander of WestMinCom, Major Gen. Donald Gumiran, who also oversees the Army’s 6th Infantry Division covering provinces and cities in Central Mindanao, told reporters during the event in Barangay Nuro in Upi that they are grateful to local executives and traditional Moro and non-Moro Teduray leaders for helping convince residents to surrender their unlicensed firearms, demonstrating their commitment to Malacañang’s Mindanao peace process.

The 6th ID and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity have a separate loose firearms reduction initiative, the Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) Management Program, complementing the government’s peace efforts with BARMM’s mixed Muslim and Christian communities.

More than a thousand M16 and M14 rifles, shotguns, pistols, M1 Garand and Carbine rifles, M60, .30 and .50-caliber machine guns, grenades, rocket launchers, and 60- and 81-millimeter mortars have been collected by local government officials supporting the SALW Program in Central Mindanao since its launch in July 2024 by Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity Carlito Galvez Jr., and 6th ID officials.