Military rounds up 69 MILF firearms for decommissioning

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 22, 2022): Military rounds up 69 MILF firearms for decommissioning (By Teofilo Garcia, Jr.)

FIREARMS' CONSOLIDATION. A soldier wraps the firearms gathered from former Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Wednesday (April 20, 2022) in Sulu for safekeeping by the International Decommissioning Body. The government and MILF peace implementing panels agreed to decommission some 14,000 combatants and over 2,400 firearms under the third phase of the decommissioning process. (Photo courtesy of the Joint Task Force - Sulu)

At least 69 firearms belonging to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have been collected in Sulu province for decommissioning, a military official said Friday.

In a statement, Maj. Gen. Ignatius Patrimonio, the Joint Task Force (JTF)-Sulu commander, said the consolidation of the firearms forms part of the third phase of the decommissioning process that started in November 2021.

“In this phase, the former members of the MILF will have to hand over their firearms for safekeeping and deactivation,” Patrimonio said.

Patrimonio said the collection of the firearms in Sulu Wednesday was made possible through the coordination of the 11th Infantry Division (ID) with MILF counterparts.

The firearms included 42 M16 rifles, five M14 rifles, 10 Garand rifles, two M79 grenade launchers, four Browning automatic rifles, five sniper rifles, and a Carbine rifle.

In an interview, Col. Alaric Avelino Delos Santos, 11ID civil-military operations chief, said the firearms were transported Friday to the Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) headquarters and then to the MILF’s Camp Darapanan in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, for final decommissioning.

The firearms were transported under the watch of the military, police, International Monitoring Team (IMT), and the Coordinating Committee on Cessation of Hostilities of the government and MILF, Delos Santos said.

The International Decommissioning Body (IDB) is tasked with safekeeping of the firearms, while other government agencies are mandated with the reintegration of the former MILF combatants into mainstream society.

The government and MILF peace implementing panels agreed to decommission some 14,000 combatants together with some 2,400 firearms under the third phase.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1172715