BANGSAMORO NEWS UPDATES

COTABATO CITY --- Residents of Lamitan City are expecting Malacañang to consider their clamor for representation in the Bangsamoro Transition Authority that reportedly has five slots still vacant.Christian and Muslim voters in Lamitan City, covering 45 barangays and present capital of Basilan, voted for the ratification of the Republic Act 11054, or the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), during the January 21 plebiscite in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.The 80-member BTA will oversee the transition from ARMM to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, or BARMM, whose charte

MAGUINDANAO --- More than 30 reforming former drug dependents are now one with authorities in addressing religious extremism in this province.Major Gen.

COTABATO CITY --- Officials will maximize efforts to resolve clan wars in support of the disarmament goal of Malacañang and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.The peace deal between the government and the MILF is partly focused on decommissioning of guerillas while they are being reintroduced into the mainstream communitiesMaguindanao Gov.

MANILA, Philippines — As expected, President Rodrigo Duterte named and swore in Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, the chief of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) as the interim Chief Minister of the upcoming new political entity in southern Philippines, online news organizations reported Friday.Murad will lead the newly formed Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and the 80-member Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) composed of government and MILF recommendees.The BTA will run the affairs of the regional government based in Cotabato City until 2022 when regular members shall have

LANAO DEL SUR --- Authorities confiscated P6.8 million worth of shabu from a member of the Maute terror group who fell in a sting in Wao town in this province Thursday.The suspect, Amrodin Alan Bantog, is now in the custody of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, to be prosecuted for violation of the Philippine Dangerous Drugs Act.Army intelligence sources and local officials in Lanao del Sur province told reporters Bantog remitted fractions of his earnings to the Maute terror group, now under a new leader, Owaida Marohombsar, also known as Abu Dar.Ju

COTABATO CITY --- Public officials find as appropriate the inclusion of the feared warrior Abdullah Macapaar into the Bangsamoro Transition Authority.Hadji Murad Ibrahim, figurehead of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, has announced that Macapaar, most known as MILF’s renegade Commander Bravo, is among the 41 members of the incoming BTA.The National Bureau of Investigation has reportedly cleared Macapaar from any criminal case that could constrain President Rodrigo Duterte from appointing him as BTA member.Maguindanao Gov.

SAGUIARAN, Lanao del Sur– A total of 100 displaced families in Marawi City will now have their own starter homes after Governor Mujiv Hataman officially turned over a housing project at Barangay Pagalamatan, Saguiaran on Tuesday morning.The project under the region's Bangsamoro Regional Inclusive Development for Growth and Empowerment (ARMM-BRIDGE) is worth P300-million. The construction of the project began in September last year.Hataman said the government assures the welfare of all the individuals affected by the 2017 Marawi Siege.

BASILAN --- Forty reforming former Abu Sayyaf bandits each got on Saturday a new house in Tipo-Tipo town under the Program Against Violent Extremism (PAVE).The houses were built by the executive department of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao via its Bangsamoro Regional Inclusive Development for Growth and Empowerment, most known as the ARMM-BRIDGE program.More than 200 members of the Abu Sayyaf that operates in the fashion of the Islamic State surrendered in Basilan in the past two years through the joint intercession of the ARMM regional peace and order council, the police and the

BASILAN -- With new infrastructures everywhere, residents of the former shabu capital of this province are optimistic of an upswing in the local economy that got stymied by decades of poor governance.The seaside Maluso town twice received in two years the coveted Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) citation from the central office of the Department of the Interior and Local Government in recognition of the efficient peace and socio-economic initiatives of its local government unit.So troubled was Maluso town in the past that besides being the main transshipment point for shabu, or metham

COTABATO CITY --- President Rodrigo Duterte is likely to launch the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) on February 21, officials hinted on Thursday.The BTA will oversee the transition from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to the incoming Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, or BARMM.Senior government officials said Thursday preparations are now underway for next week’s symbolic launching of the BTA in Malacañang.The BTA will oversee the operation of BARMM, a product of more than 20 years of peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, pend