CONFISCATED. Army personnel seized some 35 firearms (left) from members of the Moro National Liberation Front – Nur Misuari faction (right) after they marched towards the Poblacion of Buluan, Maguindanao on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2019. The MNLF men said the peace march is for their federal victory achievement celebration. (Photos courtesy of Nash Alfonso and Benjie Caballero – Cotabato Media Group)
Army soldiers in Maguindanao confiscated some 35 firearms from members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF)-Nur Misuari faction as they marched toward the town of Buluan, Maguindanao, on Sunday.
“They (MNLF) did not resist when the Army asked them to turn in their guns to authorities,” said Lt. Colonel Edwin Alburo, speaking for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, based in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao.
The MNLF group, numbering about 50 men, were from North Cotabato and Davao Region and were heading to the town of Buluan, where an MNLF peace rally was being held starting Saturday.
Alburo said the MNLF fighters--clad in fatigue uniform--peacefully handed over their guns to the Army’s 40th Infantry Battalion at about 12:30 p.m.
This, after soldiers backed by armored personnel carriers, surrounded the Buluan gymnasium where the MNLF gathered.
The surrendered guns include 21 M16 rifles, three M14 rifles, one Ultimax rifle, three M4A1 Carbine rifle, two M30 Garand rifle, one Browning automatic rifle, three cal. 45 pistol, one M203 rifle, and one Springfield rifle. Also seized were bandoliers and several fully loaded ammunition clips.
Alburo said soldiers were sent to Buluan Poblacion after residents reported the presence of the heavily armed men, led by a certain Ustadz Jamaluddin Abdullah, chief of the MNLF's Dragon Border Command.
After a brief negotiation with authorities, Abdullah agreed to surrender their firearms.
Alburo said the MNLF men were neither arrested nor investigated and they were allowed to go home at past 2 p.m.
Under the 1996 GPH-MNLF peace agreement, MNLF members are not allowed to carry firearms outside of their government recognized territories.
“Most of the firearms they (MNLF) carried were unlicensed,” Alburo said, noting that the entire island of Mindanao remains under martial law where only law enforcement units are allowed to carry weapons.
Alburo declined to comment if charges will be filed against the MNLF members.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1080522
“They (MNLF) did not resist when the Army asked them to turn in their guns to authorities,” said Lt. Colonel Edwin Alburo, speaking for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, based in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao.
The MNLF group, numbering about 50 men, were from North Cotabato and Davao Region and were heading to the town of Buluan, where an MNLF peace rally was being held starting Saturday.
Alburo said the MNLF fighters--clad in fatigue uniform--peacefully handed over their guns to the Army’s 40th Infantry Battalion at about 12:30 p.m.
This, after soldiers backed by armored personnel carriers, surrounded the Buluan gymnasium where the MNLF gathered.
The surrendered guns include 21 M16 rifles, three M14 rifles, one Ultimax rifle, three M4A1 Carbine rifle, two M30 Garand rifle, one Browning automatic rifle, three cal. 45 pistol, one M203 rifle, and one Springfield rifle. Also seized were bandoliers and several fully loaded ammunition clips.
Alburo said soldiers were sent to Buluan Poblacion after residents reported the presence of the heavily armed men, led by a certain Ustadz Jamaluddin Abdullah, chief of the MNLF's Dragon Border Command.
After a brief negotiation with authorities, Abdullah agreed to surrender their firearms.
Alburo said the MNLF men were neither arrested nor investigated and they were allowed to go home at past 2 p.m.
Under the 1996 GPH-MNLF peace agreement, MNLF members are not allowed to carry firearms outside of their government recognized territories.
“Most of the firearms they (MNLF) carried were unlicensed,” Alburo said, noting that the entire island of Mindanao remains under martial law where only law enforcement units are allowed to carry weapons.
Alburo declined to comment if charges will be filed against the MNLF members.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1080522
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