BANGSAMORO NEWS UPDATES

MAGUINDANAO -- The Army-led Joint Task Force Central has tightened security in central Mindanao following a series of attacks by Islamic militants on military detachments in this province.

Members of the Dawlah Islamiya terror group shot with 40 millimeter grenade projectiles two detachments of the Army’s 57^th Infantry Battalion in Datu Unsay town in Maguindanao last weekend.

The attack was preceded by the harassment by the group of soldiers guarding two detachments of the Army’s 38^th Infantry Battalion in the province.

COTABATO CITY  - In support to the global campaign against gender-based violence (GBV), the Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD) and the Regional Commission on Bangsamoro Women (RCBW) kicked off today, November 25, the 18-Day Campaign to End Violence against Women (VAW) and girls.

ILIGAN CITY -- After four bombs were dropped by the military on Saturday in the mountain ranges of Madalum and Madamba town in Lanao del Sur, government soldiers are now scouring the area to confirm the report of residents that there are members of the Dawlah Islamiyah (DI)-Lanao group training in the area.

Col. Jose Maria Cuerpo, commander of the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade, said their combat operations started on November 10, when civilians in the area informed the military of temporary camps covered by blue “trapal” or tarpaulin, built in the area.

COTABATO CITY - Bangsamoro Chief Minister Ahod Balawag Ebrahim spearheaded the launching of the Integrated Bangsamoro Greening Program (IBGP) on Saturday, November 23, at Camp Darapanan in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao.

The program is designed to reforest 10,000 hectares of open and denuded forests in the provinces of Maguindanao and Lanao Del Sur. Its implementation will begin on December 1, 2019.

COTABATO CITY-- The U.S. Government Mission has launched here its CONVERGE Program, a substantial part of it is for "Countering Violent Extremism" partnership with the Bangsamoro Government and civil society organizations.

U.S. Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission John Law and U.S. Aagency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director Lawrence Hardy II met Friday with top officials of the Bangsamoro Autinomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), led by Chief Minister Ahod Balawag Hadji Murad Ebrahim, at the Bangsamoro Government Center in this city.

MAGUINDANAO  --- The conviction of the culprits in the Nov.23, 2009 “Maguindanao massacre” will put closure to the gruesome atrocity, relatives of the people killed in the incident said Saturday.

The families of the massacre victims commemorated in Barangay Masalay in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao on Saturday the 10^th anniversary of the massacre in a simple gathering led by Rep. Esmael Mangudadatu.

Mangudadatu, governor of Maguindanao for three terms that spanned from June 30, 2010 to June 30, 2019, lost a wife and two sisters in the carnage.

COTABATO CITY – The Bangsamoro constituents will now have easier access to the programs and services of the Bangsamoro Government following the launching of the Bangsamoro People’s Center on Friday, November 22, in the city.

The center is part of the Ministry of Interior and Local Government’s (MILG-BARMM) initiatives in bringing the Bangsamoro Government closer to the people.

Lawyer Naguib Sinarimbo, MILG-BARMM minister, said the center will cater to the needs of the Bangsamoro people, especially those not working in the bureaucracy.

COTABATO CITY --- Sectors in the Bangsamoro region promised Wednesday to promote the global children’s right treaty while restoring normalcy in conflict-stricken communities.

The symbolic pledging rite was one of the highlights in Wednesday’s commemoration here of the 30^th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, more known as the CRC.

The CRC is touted as the world’s most widely ratified human rights treaty.

COTABATO CITY - Children and youth groups from various parts of Bangsamoro region have filled the festive and colorful convention center in Cotabato City as the region celebrates 30th World Children’s day.

With their witty and dramatic stage performances, issues that haunts children and youth were raised. Most of these are recurring cycle of violence that hindered the development of the children.

The continuing conflict has brought them in the quagmire of poverty and lack of access to education, health and other services.

COTABATO CITY  – The Regional Darul Ifta (Islamic House of Opinion) today issued ruling on the implementation of the government’s reproductive health and family planning programs.

Health programs for the Bangsamoro region are now in accordance with the teachings of Islam after the Darul Ifta issued “fatwa” (Islamic rulings) on reproductive health and family planning, including the expanded program on immunization.