TACLOBAN CITY — Government troops recovered Wednesday a cache of firearms in Pinabacdao town, Samar province.
The 34 firearms, placed in a plastic water drum, were recovered at past noon by the soldiers in a remote village of Bugho, said reports from the 8th Infantry Division, based in Catbalogan City, also in Samar.
Government troops found the seized weapons while they were scouring the area for the presence of the rebels based on accounts of their informants.
The firearms recovered were 24 M16 rifles, two M4 carbine assault rifles, seven China-made AK47 variant rifles, and one M14 rifle.
The weapons were suspected to be used by New People’s Army (NPA) members.
“These are likely excess firearms that the NPA terrorists can no longer bring along because they do not have enough manpower to carry them,” said Captain Ryan Layug, the spokesperson of the division.
Major Gen. Edgardo de Leon, the commanding general of the 8th ID, commended his soldiers belonging to the 801st Infantry Brigade, based in Hinabangan, Samar, for having seized the firearms.
He said the recovery of the firearms in Pinabacdao was the biggest ever recovered by government forces under the Duterte administration.
“The capture of 34 assault rifles is a big setback for the part of the NPA in Samar as this would drastically reduce their capability to carry out acts of terror,” De Leon said in a statement.
The town of Pinabacdao, around 46 kilometers away from Tacloban City, has been a haven of communist rebels.