BANGSAMORO NEWS UPDATES

NORTH COTABATO --- A wanted bomber and six of his henchmen were killed in an encounter with soldiers in Midsayap town on Wednesday morning.

One of the fatalities is Mama Macalimbol of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, wanted for a series of recent bombings in central Mindanao.

Macalimbol has pending criminal cases in local courts.

PARANG, Maguindanao  - As peace takes hold in the Bangsamoro region, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process (OPAPP) led the ceremonial kickoff of the 2nd Joint Peace Security Teams (JPST) training on Monday, October 21, at Camp Gen. Salipada K. Pendatun in this town.

COTABATO CITY  - Members of the Bangsamoro parliament filed a bill seeking to create a council that will serve as the primary institution for setting and guiding the direction of comprehensive efforts for socio-economic development and other development concerns and priorities in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.

Engineer Baintan Adil-Ampatuan, a member of the Bangsamoro parliament and former director of Regional Planning and Development Office of the now-defunct ARMM, emphasized the importance of having such a council during the plenary session on Oct. 17.

BASILAN --- Stakeholders will launch Monday a “peace radio” in the former shabu capital of Basilan province whose municipal government got two Seal of Good Local Governance citations in the past two years.

Besides having a new radio station, the municipality of Maluso, where the Abu Sayyaf once had camps, also boasts of a branch of the Land Bank of the Philippines in its town center established just a year ago.

COTABATO CITY --- Soldiers on Wednesday broke through guerilla camps in Lamitan City --- off limits to state forces until the Bangsamoro region was created this year --- not to drive occupants away but extend to them humanitarian services.

For the first time ever, hundreds of settlers in enclaves of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the adjoining Barangays Ba-as and Lebbuh in Lamitan City received free medical and dental services facilitated by the local government unit, the police and units of the Army’s 104th Brigade.

COTABATO CITY — A number of youth groups from Maguindanao province showcased their innovative products at this year's YouthDRIVE in Cotabato City.

YouthDRIVE or the Youth Driving Innovative Social Enterprises for Community Transformation was spearheaded by the Office on Bangsamoro Youth Affairs (OBYA) and the Catholic Relief Services (CRS).

RAJAH BUAYAN, Maguindanao – The commander of the fightingest Army division based in Maguindanao is now an adopted son of Rajah Buayan town after he was named “Datu Didagen.” 

“Datu Didagen” is a Moro term that means “impregnable leader.”

Major Gen. Diosdado Carreon, the commander of the 6th Infantry Division and head of Army-led Joint Task Force Central (JTFC), was humbled by the honor.

COTABATO CITY --- The city council has drafted a resolution urging Congress to create a lone congressional district covering all 37 barangays here.

Japal Guiani III, a member of the Cotabato City’s 16^th Sangguniang Panglunsod, told reporters Thursday the resolution is channeled through Maguindanao 1^st District Rep. Ronnie Sinsuat.

Cotabato City is presently under the first congressional district of Maguindanao, along with 11 other towns in the province.

MAGUINDANAO --- Law enforcement agents arrested five people, among them the wife of a wanted drug dealer, and dismantled their shabu distribution hub in an operation after dawn Wednesday.

Lanie Datumanong Ali of Barangay Kabuntalan in Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao is now in the custody of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PDEA-BARMM).

LANAO DEL SUR --- Six more members of the Maute terror group surrendered to the military on Monday.

Pacalinog Bantogaranao, Monib Padati, Batalo Hajicaya, Tokiin Cuaro, Micky Hajicaya and Mobarak Hajicaya, voluntarily yielded to the 49^th Infantry Battalion through the intercession of local executives, among them members of the Lanao del Sur provincial peace and order council.

They all belong to a group led by Madie Maute, relative of siblings Omarkayam and Abdullah Maute, who instigated the May 23 to October 16, 2017 siege of Marawi City.