DAS GUNS. Mayor Mariam Mangudadatu of Datu Abdullah Sangki in Maguindanao hands over a rifle to Lt. Colonel Lauro Oliveros, chief of 1st Mechanized Infantry Battalion in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, during a ceremony on Friday. (6th ID photo)
DATU ABDULLAH SANGKI, Maguindanao -- Sixteen more loose firearms were turned over by local officials here to the military in support of President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s campaign against unlicensed guns in the hands of civilians.
Lt. Col. Lauro Oliveros, commander of the Army’s 1st Mechanized Infantry Battalion (1st MIB), received the war materiel from Datu Abdullah Sangki Mayor Mariam Mangudadatu during turnover rites at the 1st MIB headquarters in nearby Barangay Kamasi, Ampatuan, Maguindanao on Friday.
The initiative has raised to 322 the total number of loose firearms turned over to the Army since January. The ceremony was witnessed by Brig. Gen. Bismarck Soliba, the 1st Mechanized Infantry Brigade commander, and Datu Abdullah Sangki officials.
Oliveros said the surrendered firearms were three M-14 Armalite rifles, two homemade Ingram sub-machineguns, an M79 grenade launcher, seven homemade 12-gauge shotguns, a homemade sniper rifle, a .50-caliber Barrett sniper rifle, and an Uzi submachine gun.
He said local officials helped gather the firearms from civilian residents of Tukanalugong, Madanding, Dinampao, Mao, Old Maganoy, Kaya-Kaya, and Sugadol.
Soliba, in turn, acknowledged the efforts of Datu Abdullah Sangki’s municipal government in helping the Army’s disarmament program. (PNA)
