COTABATO CITY — Soldiers had seized assault rifles and components for powerful improvised explosive devices reportedly owned by members of the now apparently weakened New People’s Army (NPA), found in T’boli, South Cotabato on Saturday.

Major Gen. Donald M. Gumiran, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division (ID), told reporters on Tuesday that the cache was buried in a secluded area in Barangay Laconon in T’boli, a hinterland town in South Cotabato that has just been virtually cleared from NPA presence by local officials, the police and the military.

The operation that led to the recovery of the three M16 assault rifles, materials for IEDs and other combat supplies was jointly carried out by combined troops of the 37th and 105th Infantry Battalions, both under the 6th ID’s 603rd Infantry Brigade.

Brig. Gen. Michael A. Santos, commander of the 603rd Infantry Brigade, said it was the former NPAs in T’boli, who recently surrendered to the government months, who helped locate the spot where the weapons were hidden.

More than 300 NPAs had surrendered to units of the 6th ID in different towns and cities in Central Mindanao in the past three years, according to officials of the multi-sector Regional Development Council 12. — John Felix M. Unson