Soldiers seized four B40 anti-tank rockets and two grenade projectiles that villagers found in an abandoned residential yard in Barangay Lagandang, Isulan, Sultan Kudarat, on Wednesday, October 8.
Ordnance disposal experts from the Army’s 7th Infantry Battalion, under Lt. Col. Tristan Vallescas, immediately brought the rockets and rifle-propelled grenades to a safe area for proper disposal.
Brig. Gen. Michael Santos, commander of the Army’s 603rd Infantry Brigade, told reporters on Thursday, October 9, that the operation that resulted in the confiscation of the explosives was assisted by members of the Joint Peace and Security Team.
The JPST is composed of soldiers, policemen, and members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, together maintaining law and order in areas where there are MILF bastions.
Residents of Isulan, among them traditional Moro leaders actively supporting the anti-terror campaign of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, had told reporters that the anti-tank rockets and rifle grenades were left in Sitio Kimondo in Barangay Lagandang by members of the now-weakened Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
More than 300 members of the allied BIFF and Dawlah Islamiya, both fomenting hatred for non-Muslims and tagged in all deadly bombings in Central Mindanao since 2014, had surrendered in batches in the past three years to different units of the 603rd Infantry Brigade, which has jurisdiction over hinterland and seafront towns in Sultan Kudarat.
Major Gen. Donald Gumiran, commander of the 6th ID, said on Thursday that they are thankful to the residents of Lagandang for reporting promptly to the 7th IB their discovery of the rockets and grenades in wooden boxes piled in a yard owned by a certain Mutin Ali, who reportedly relocated elsewhere earlier.