GOVERNANCE/POLITICS

KIDAPAWAN CITY  – To help address overpricing of basic commodities in quake hit areas, the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) opens in Makilala today outlets selling food and basic household items.

MinDA chair Emmanuel Piñol said the first MinDA outlet will be opened at 9 a.m. Wednesday (today) in Makilala, North Cotabato, particularly in front of Notre Dame School along the Cotabato-Davao national highway.

COTABATO CITY --- Officials in Basilan reported Wednesday their accomplishments the past 100 days that their predecessors never achieved but says rebuilding the province from armed conflicts is yet a long way.

BASILAN --- Residents of villages along stretches of a highway connecting the cities of Isabela and Lamitan can now safely motor through the route at nighttime, illuminated with new streetlights.

In a statement Saturday, the office of Basilan Gov. Jim Salliman said the new 35 streetlights along portions of the highway traversing uphill and downhill sites in Barangay Baluno, Isabela City is a provincial government project.

It is meant to ensure the safety of commuters and motorists passing through the highway after dusk, according to the governor.

BASILAN --- Residents of villages along stretches of a highway connecting the cities of Isabela and Lamitan can now safely motor through the route at nighttime, illuminated with new streetlights.

In a statement Saturday, the office of Basilan Gov. Jim Salliman said the new 35 streetlights along portions of the highway traversing uphill and downhill sites in Barangay Baluno, Isabela City is a provincial government project.

It is meant to ensure the safety of commuters and motorists passing through the highway after dusk, according to the governor.

COTABATO CITY ---The Maguindanao provincial prosecution office had set a record feat for having prosecuted successfully 12 high-profile crimes, including multiple incestuous rapes, in the past 12 months.

Senior judicial officials here told reporters Thursday the 12 convictions from between August 15, 2018 to August 12, 2019 was something never achieved before by Maguindanao’s PPO since the creation of the province almost five decades ago.

The PPO is led by Rohairah Lao, a Maranaw lawyer who got to its helm only in 2016.

COTABATO CITY  – An official of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) on Friday assured Unicef national ambassador Gary Valenciano that the neophyte region is supporting all Unicef programs.

Abdullah Cusain, BARMM acting executive secretary welcomed Valenciano who paid a courtesy call to the Office of the Chief Minister here.

“BARMM supports all programs for the benefit of children, especially Moro children,” Cusain told the visibly elated Valenciano.

DAVAO CITY – Vice Mayor Eric Recinto of Lambayong, Sultan Kudarat was elected on Tuesday as Regional Chair of the Vice Mayors' League of the Philippines Region 12 (Soccsksargen).

During the election of VMLP-Soccsksargen chapter in Marco Polo Hotel, Davao City, the group also elected Gen. Santos City Vice Mayor Loreto Ton Acharon as regional vice chairman.

Vice Mayor Ronaldo Pader of Libungan, North Cotabato was elected as VMLP regional secretary general while Vice Mayor Ronnel Saldua Español of Alabel, Sarangani was the VMLP regional treasurer.

COTABATO CITY --- Isabela City in Basilan now has a Freedom of Information Ordinance --- possibly Mindanao’s first --- to ensure good governance via transparency and accountability.

The newcomer Mayor Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman said Thursday she is grateful to the Sangguniang Panglunsod for its prompt approval of the measure.

The SP is chaired by first-termer Vice Mayor Kifli Salliman, who was the mayor’s running mate during the May 13, 2019 elections.

KORONADAL CITY – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) spent more than P1 billion for infrastructure projects in the last five years in Central Mindanao, a senior government official reported Monday, as the government is working to extend the World Bank assisted program.

BASILAN --- The province now has a new multi-million training center built by the provincial government to boost its capacity-building efforts for social welfare service stakeholders.

Gov. Jim Salliman said Monday they inaugurated last week the newly-built facility, to be operated by the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office, or PSWDO.