Soldiers seize hidden NPA combat weapons

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April 1, 2026 | 9:11am

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Soldiers seized in separate operations combat rifles that New People's Army guerrillas covered with soil and dry forest tree leaves in hinterlands in San Miguel and Marihatag towns in Surigao del Sur before retreating to areas far from reach by pursuing military forces.

Radio reports on Tuesday, March 31, stated that personnel of the 36th Infantry Battalion of the Army’s 401st Infantry Brigade and villagers together found over the weekend a 7.62 Czech VZ rifle and two 5.56 Bushmaster carbines that fleeing members of the New People’s Army abandoned in a secluded area in Barangay Bitaugan in San Miguel.

Local executives said it was villagers openly supporting the Army’s anti-NPA operations in San Miguel who led soldiers to the exact spot where the firearms were left by NPA guerillas who had fled to different areas after clashes in recent weeks with combatants of the 36th IB that exacted fatalities on their side.

Soldiers from the 75th IB, also under the 401st Infantry Brigade, and community leaders also dug and immediately confiscated on Saturday a 5.56 M16 rifle, a 7.62 M14 rifle and a barrel of a 7.62 M60 machinegun that NPAs buried in a forested area in Barangay San Isidro in Marihatag.

The now defunct NPA once had bastions in San Miguel and Marihatag, where guerrillas collected money and rice from villagers at gunpoint periodically. The group also imposed in both areas then a ruthless justice system, via "kangaroo courts," that favored sympathizers and those directly helping guerrillas collect "protection money" from hapless unarmed farmers.

Col. Glenn Joy Aynera, commander of the 401st Infantry Brigade, confirmed to reporters on Tuesday the confiscation of the firearms during the separate joint multi-sector peacekeeping operations in San Miguel and in Marihatag, now in their custody.

Aynera said they are grateful to the overt support of residents of both towns and their local executives for the anti-NPA missions of all units of the 401st Infantry Brigade.

Officials of the 4th Infantry Division in Cagayan de Oro City in Region 10 had told reporters that 381 NPAs had surrendered to the 401st Infantry Brigade in the past two years through joint intercession of local executives, peace-advocacy groups and commanding officers of Army units based in provinces that are under its jurisdiction.