Loose firearms surrendered

Local chief executives of Basilan has collected and turned over about 204 loose firearms from local individuals and politicians in the province

ZAMBOANGA CITY — The provincial government of Basilan has collected and turned over to the Armed Forces of the Philippines Western Mindanao Command (AFP-WesMinCom) more than 200 loose firearms in line with the the Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) Program implementation in the province.

Basilan Governor Jim Hataman-Salliman said that local chief executives of Basilan has collected and turned over about 204 loose firearms from local individuals and politicians in the province comprising of 11 municipalities and two component cities.

Salliman said the collection of firearms was a joint effort of the Joint Normalization Committee (JNC), Joint Task Force-Basilan and its local government unit.

Among the firearms collected by the SALW committee were 204 low and high powered firearms — 54 from Lamitan City, 34 from the municipality of Sumisip, 23 from Hadji Mohammad Ajul, 19 from Maluso, 15 from Ungkaya Pukan, 12 from Tuburan, 11 from Hadji Muhtamad, nine from Akbar, nine from Al-Barka, seven from Tipo-Tipo, seven from Tabuan-Lasa and four from Lantawan.

Lamitan City Mayor Rose Furigay and Vice Mayor Roderick Furigay also turned 54 loose firearms to the SALW committee.

AFP-WesMinCom commander Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan said the firearms were voluntarily surrendered by civilians from the different barangays of Lamitan City, adding that the SALW program in Basilan province was successfully implemented and subsequently earned overwhelming support from the 11 local government units, two cities and the populace.

“AFP-WesMinCom will give its full support to the programs and projects of our fellow peace advocates like the JNC especially now that we are seeing its efficiency,” Vinluan said. “In the long run, we expect to achieve more as we receive more support from the different organizations and the people of the province.”

Meantime, JTF-Basilan commander Brig. Gen. Domingo Gobway said that they will continue to implement the initiative to assist the local government units in keeping the peace and order in Basilan amid the health crisis.