South Cotabato residents turn over explosives to police
KORONADAL CITY --- Three residents of South Cotabato province separately turned over to the police a mortar round, a 40 millimeter explosive projectile and a rifle grenade on Wednesday.
Farmer Allan Abellana found half buried in mud in his papaya farm in Barangay Kablon in Tupi town in South Cotabato the live 60 millimeter mortar round that he turned over to the local police.
Col. Jemuel Siason, director of the South Cotabato Provincial Police, said Thursday two other residents of the province, Ronie Braza and Nicanor Futulan, surrendered a rifle grenade and a 40 MM grenade projectile, respectively.
Braza is a barangay kagawad in Barangay Libertad in Surallah, more than 20 kilometers from this city, which is the capital of South Cotabato province.
Siason said Futulan, a resident of the Barangay Poblacion in Santo Niño, personally turned over the 40 millimeter explosive projectile to the municipal police.
A rifle grenade is an ammunition-propelled projectile that can be launched with a single shot from the tip of a rifle barrel.
A 40 MM grenade projectile can be fired towards a target not more than 300 meters far using a launcher fitted to 5.56 M203 rifle or a vintage single shot M79 grenade launcher first used in Vietnam during the early ‘70s by US forces. (John Felix Unson)