.png){kind=logo}
1 month ago
30
Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!
Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.
Visit Suniway.ph to learn
John Unson - Philstar.com
February 15, 2026 | 12:15pm
The firearms seized from gunmen belonging to two feuding Moro groups in Nabalawag town in Cotabato are now in the joint custody of the Army's 602nd Infantry Brigade and the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.
Philstar.com / John Unson
COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Policemen and soldiers seized 11 military-type firearms, including an M60 machinegun, from gunmen belonging to two rival Moro groups in a law-enforcement operation in a newly-created Bangsamoro town in Cotabato province on Thursday.
Officials of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and the Army’s 6th Infantry Division told reporters on Friday that the two factions, one led by Abdultayan Sandigan and the other by Esmail Tayuan, are locked in political differences and are squabbling for control of strategic areas in Barangays Olandang and Kudarangan in Nabalawag.
Nabalawag is one of the eight newly-established predominantly Moro towns, grouped together as the Special Geographic Area under the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, but are inside Cotabato province in the territory of Administrative Region 12.
Brig. Gen. Ricky Bunayog, commander of the Army’s 602nd Infantry Brigade, and Col George Bagundol, Jr., Maguindanao del Norte’s provincial police director, separately told reporters that soldiers and policemen confiscated from followers of Sandigan and Tayuan an M60 machinegun, five 5.56 M16 rifles, two 5.56 M4 rifles, two 7.62 M14 rifles and a .30 caliber Garand rifle after they repeatedly clashed in the adjoining Barangays Kudarangan and Olandang last Wednesday.
The encounters on Wednesday between the two groups forced villagers to evacuate to safe areas of fear of getting trapped in the crossfire.
Major Gen. Jose Vladimir Cagara, commander of 6th ID, said he has instructed Bunayog to help units of PRO-BAR reconcile Sandigan and Tayuan according to traditional Moro conflict settlement processes.
PRO-BAR’s director, Brig. Gen. Jaysen De Guzman, said they have sent emissaries to the two Moro leaders to convince them to have their rido, which means clan war in southern vernaculars, settled amicably.
