BANGSAMORO NEWS UPDATES

KIDAPAWAN CITY – Officials of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and the provincial government of North Cotabato, during a meeting here, have prepared the smooth turnover of 63 villages to BARMM jurisdiction.

On Tuesday, North Cotabato Vice Gov. Emmylou Mendoza, serving as acting governor, met with representatives of the BARMM and created the 1^st Provincial Technical Working Group (TWG) meeting to lay down the mechanism of transition of 63 villages from North Cotabato to BARMM.

COTABATO CITY – Officials of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority sign a memorandum of agreement on socio-economic assistance for decommissioned Moro rebels, opening opportunities and hope for Bangsamoro.

The socio-economic assistance for the decommissioned combatants of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front is stipulated in the annexes on Program for Normalization in the Bangsamoro.

COTABATO CITY – Officials of the education ministry of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) have signed a memorandum of agreement to help capacitate decommissioned Moro rebels in Mindanao.

TESDA Secretary Isidro S. Lapeña and Minister Mohaqher Iqbal of BARMM Minister of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE) forged the alliance during a meeting here recently.

MAGUINDANAO --- Authorities found Monday P1.3 million worth of shabu in the house of a former member of the defunct Regional Assembly-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Juvenal Azurin, director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said their target,  Mike Sittie, also known as “Commander Mike,” remained scot-free.

COTABATO CITY  ---- The Bangsamoro government will enlist the help of local executives in neutralizing “private armies” to complement the decommissioning of Moro rebels in five southern provinces.

More than a thousand Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels will turn in today assorted firearms and crew-served weapons, such as machineguns and mortars, to the Turkish-led International Decommissioning Body, or IDB, in keeping with the MILF’s peace accord with Malacañang.

COTABATO CITY -  While decommissioning of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) combatants aims to normalize the lives of former rebels, communities that were left behind from the ill-effect of decades of conflict is to be addressed too, an official of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) said.

On Thursday, BARMM Ministry and officials led by the Interior Ministry and Mindanao Humanitarian Team (MHT) has brought their teams in Basilan province, the first to be conducted in the island provinces of the region.

COTABATO CITY --- The Bangsamoro government will launch Monday a humanitarian outreach mission to mark the start its pro-poor community extension services for impoverished communities.

The “Tabang Project,” or Tulong Alay sa Bangsamoro na Nangagailangan, will cover the region’s Muslim, Christian and Lumad communities in provinces and cities inside the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

COTABATO CITY --- A Maguindanao solon has filed a bill seeking an increase in salary of new teachers from P19,077 to P36,409 monthly.

Rep. Esmael Mangudadatu said Thursday his proposed measure, House Bill 3539, is a good investment for quality education that Filipinos across the country, particularly the impoverished children in remote areas, need.

COTABATO CITY -  The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) on Wednesday released the BARMM’s official flag after a legislation crafted by the Bangsamoro parliament was approved by BARMM interim Chief Minister Murad Ebrahim.

Ebrahim signed into law the first Bangsamoro Act adopting the official flag of the newly created region.

The flag has four distinctive colors, a crescent, a seven-rayed star and a kris, a signature Moro sword.

CARMEN, North Cotabato - After undergoing a month-long basic military training, 219 former Moro Islamic Liberation Front-Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (MILF-BIAF) members are now ready to be deployed and become part of the Joint Peace and Security Team of the Bangsamoro region.