CPLA registers firearms with police

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet -- Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army (CPLA) chairman Arsenio Humiding headed the inventory of firearms at Camp Bado Dangwa Friday.

Humiding said the inventory of firearms of the CPLA is a next step towards the eventual turnover of armaments as stipulated in the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (Opapp)

For the province there were 18 assorted firearms included in the inventory.

“This is to prove there is an existence of firearms in the CPLA command,” Humiding said.

Another objective of the inventory is the compliance with the earlier Opapp MOA where each firearm inventoried and eventually turned over will be compensated with cash.

However, Humiding said this agreement was revised to have a “Guns for Goods” program.

“We at the CPLA have agreed to have the guns turned over for projects or goods,” Humiding added.

The program will benefit areas who have agreed to have farm implements, tractors or community projects in exchange for their firearms.

Humiding said the first leg of the inventory is Benguet and in Ifugao on Sunday, (October 28) followed by Abra, Mountain Province, Apayao and Kalinga.

There are over 600 estimated firearms in the hands of the CPLA which is to be inventoried and turned over to government in the name of the peace process.

“This is a step by step process,” Humiding said.

The completion of the inventory region wide is set to finish on November 15.

Humiding said the inventory is proof of the sincerity of the CPLA to advocate for peace and to abide by the MOA with the government.