More ethnic Teduray villagers surrender fireams

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Residents of five barangays in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao del Norte turned over 19 combat weapons, including a .50-caliber machine gun and several grenade launchers, to the Philippine Marines on Saturday.

Maj. Gen. Antonio Nafarrete, Army 6th Infantry Division commander, said the unlicensed firearms and machine gun were surrendered in support of the 6th ID’s Small Arms and Light Weapons or SALW program, which complements Malacañang’s peace initiatives with southern Islamic communities.

Nafarrete said residents of Datu Odin Sinsuat agreed to surrender their weapons after Mayor Lester Sinsuat, 5th Marine Battalion commanding officer Lt. Col. Lester Mark Baky and 1st Marine Brigade commander Brig. Gen. Romulo Quemado II relayed the intricacies of the SALW program through backchannel dialogues.