47 arrested, firearms seized in Maguindanao, Cotabato
CAMP SIONGCO, MAGUINDANAO DEL NORTE – A total of 117 firearms and explosives were seized by teams of Army soldiers and Philippine National Police (PNP) personnel in the provinces of Cotabato, Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur in separate operations on Thursday and Friday, as a mopping up drive for loose guns gains headway in Mindanao.
On Friday, 47 individuals were arrested and their 61 assorted weapons seized during a law enforcement operation in Mamasapano town, Maguindanao del Sur, said Col. Ricky Bunayog, officer-in-charge of the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade.
“The firearms belonged to warring clans who have been fighting the past several days,” Bunayog said, adding that the operation was jointly conducted with the Maguindanao del Sur police and the Mamasapano local government.
Mamasapano is the site of the heavy fighting on Jan. 25, 2015 that killed 44 member of the Special Action Force, a police commando unit, 17 Moro rebels and five civilians when an operation to arrest Malaysian terrorist and Jemaah Islamiyah member Zulkifli Bin Hir, alias Marwan, went awry.
The town is also home to remaining holdouts of the Islamic State-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, and a large concentration of Moro Islamic Liberation Front members.
End the miseries
Abedin Usman, a resident of Mamasapano’s Tukanalipao village, said the conflict between armed men in his town has been causing them miseries and repeated displacements.
“They fight, we evacuate, they come to an agreement for a ceasefire and we return home. Then they fight again and we flee again. It is recurring,” Usman said in the vernacular.
“But now we are happy that they are disarmed,” he added.
Bunayog said the joint operation was conducted in Barangay Pimbalakan, Mamasapano where the groups of Badrudin Inda and Zainudin Kiaro have repeatedly been trading bullets, causing fear and distress among the locals.
Bunayog admitted that despite several peace dialogues and covenant signing initiated by the local government and the Bangsamoro leaders through the regional Peace, Security and Reconciliation Office in the past, the warring families continue fighting using their guns.
Earlier, civilians have called for the military to intervene to put an end to recurring skirmishes.
Bunayog said the security forces must remove these loose firearms from the communities to protect the civilians. “Your military will not tolerate any individual or group who will violate the law of the land and (impinge on the) human rights of the people,” he explained.
Warning
“We urge everyone to provide any information that pertains to the criminal activities that may happen in your respective communities so that the authorities can act and file corresponding cases against the peace spoilers,” Bunayog stressed.
Maj. Gen. Antonio Nafarrete, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, has urged the feuding parties in Mamasapano to settle their disputes peacefully and legally.
He said that the continued violence and unrest will not be tolerated especially that the midterm election is approaching.
“Should these conflicts persist, (the) 6th ID, in coordination with the PNP, will be compelled to initiate law enforcement operations. This will include confiscating illegal and loose firearms and filing appropriate criminal charges against those involved in ongoing clashes,” Nafarrete said.
In Aleosan town of Cotabato province, civilians and local officials surrendered 12 assorted firearms and four grenades to the Army through the Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) program of the government on Thursday, said Lt. Col. Edgardo B. Batinay, commanding officer of the 34th Infantry Battalion.
In Cotabato City and Maguindanao del Norte, 40 loose firearms were surrendered by civilians and local officials from 10 villages to support the government’s disarmament program.
