BANGSAMORO NEWS UPDATES

MANILA - Philippine authorities investigating the bloody Church bombing in Jolo last Sunday today claimed an Indonesian couple perpetrated the twin bombings.Secretary Eduardo Año of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) told reporters in Leyte that the local terrorist group Abu Sayyaf provided the logistical and guided the couple in the attack, online news organizations said.Twenty-two blast victims have died. The latest was a 68-year-old woman who expired in Zamboanga City Medical Center on Thursday afternoon. Ang talagang nagpasabog dun ay Indonesian suicide bombers.

COTABATO CITY – The Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) today said another victim of the
Jan. 28 twin bombings at the Jolo Cathedral has expired while at the Zamboanga
City hospital.

Colonel Gerry
Besana, speaking for Westmincom, said the dead toll in the explosions at the Our
Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral rose to 22 with the passing of Thelma
Villanueva.

COTABATO CITY – On Wednesday morning, January 30, ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman, MILF Chairman Al Hajj Murad Ebrahim, and Office on Presidential Adviser on Peace Process (OPAPP) Secretary Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. gathered together in an important meeting to discuss the ARMM’s transition to a new Bangsamoro government.In his official statement on the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law, Hataman hopes for an autonomy that makes full use of good governance to make a positive impact on the lives of the region’s constituents.

MAGUINDANAO --- The provincial peace and order council will petition the Supreme Court to dismiss all questions on the constitutionality of the Bangsamoro Organic Law.Council members, among them representatives from the local government units in Maguindanao, the police, the military and other law-enforcement agencies, approved on Wednesday a resolution allowing Gov.

COTABATO CITY -- Mindanao had four plebiscites related to the Moro issue in about 40 years and stakeholders to the southern peace process can only hope the one held Monday shall be the last.

COTABATO CITY –
The plebiscite on the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) in the Autonomous Region in
Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) has been generally peaceful but low turnout of voters was
noticed, poll officials said.

Peaceful, our
plebiscite across ARMM is generally peaceful, said Lawyer Ray Sumalipao, Comelec
regional director for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, during a news conference aired over NDBC's Desisyon 2019.

COTABATO CITY – Security has been so tight in the 37 barangays here whose residents will participate in a plebiscite Monday that would seal the fate of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL).The Commission on Elections will administer the plebiscite in the 118 towns in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, in the cities of Isabela and Cotabato, in parts of Lanao del Norte and North Cotabato provinces, to determine if residents are amenable to have their communities grouped together under the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, or BARMM.Major Gen.

COTABATO CITY -- President Rodrigo Duterte was surprisingly silent on the opposition of certain sectors to the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) when he campaigned for its ratification here Friday.Anti-BOL groups have been noisy since Friday night about Duterte’s not specifically prodding voters here and in Isabela City, the former capital of Basilan, to vote in favor of the BOL during the plebiscite for its ratification on Monday.They also questioned why Duterte did not call on members of the ruling Tan family in Sulu, led by the former governor of the island province, Hadji Abdusakur, to turna

COTABATO CITY – President Duterte on Friday rallied the people of Cotabato City and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to vote for the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) and to stand up against violent extremism espoused by Islamic militants. Minamahal kong mga Moro brothers and sisters, let us vote yes for BOL, he said in a speech during the peace assembly for the ratification of Republic Act 11054 or BOL at the Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Complex (SKCC) inside the ARMM compound Friday.

COTABATO CITY– President Rodrigo Duterte will visit the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on Friday, January 18, to support the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL). In a Palace press briefing on Tuesday, Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said the President’s voice is a powerful influencing voice. Thousands of pro-BOL supporters and ARMM employees are expected to attend the peace rally to be held here jointly organized by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).