Local News

COTABATO CITY -- An 18 percentincrease was recorded in early
registrations for Grade One by the end of the early registration period set by
the Department of Education Cotabato City Division on February 28.

This was learned from city schools
division superintendent Dr. Concepcion F. Balawag, Al Hadja, during an
interview by DXMS-Radyo Bida.

Balawag said DepEd Cotabato City
Division records show early registrants for Grade One reached 118 percent or 5,027 compared
to last year’s 4,721.

COTABATO CITY -- An estimated 300 participants joined the Lakad Alay sa Kababaihan organized by the Cotabato City government’s Office on
Social Welfare and Development Services in celebration of International Women’s
Day Friday.

The participants, who came from 12 of
the city’s barangays, 10 government agencies and offices, and women’s
organizations, walked from the Cotabato City State Polytechnic College to the
old city hall in front of the Cotabato City Plaza.

BAGUMBAYAN,
Sultan Kudarat -– The Army’s 33rd Infantry Makabayan
Battalion on Thursday engaged remnants of communist rebels operating in the
hinterlands of Sultan Kudarat, an operation that led to the recovery of an
improvised bomb, foodstuffs, and two Armalite bushmaster and M-16 Armalite colt
rifles.

Lt. Colonel
Harold Cabunoc, 33rd IB chief, personally led the operation against
New Peoples’ Army (NPA’s) Platoon Arabo and Platoon My Phone in Sitio Laguicon,
Barangay Sto. Nino, Bagumbayan beginning at 4 p.m. Thursday.

KIDAPAWAN CITY – In order not to repeat the April 1, 2016 incident dubbed by many as the ‘Kidapawan massacre’, the city government trained a thousand of its Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team (BPAT) members in ‘crowd dispersal’ and ‘crowd control.’The city government, in its assessment of the incident released to media two years ago, admitted the local police and the BPAT members needed some ‘training’ in dispersing mob of protesters.During the two-day training which culminated on Wednesday, the participants underwent a simulation exercise where local police interns acted as protesters.Almo

COTABATO CITY -- The administrative officer of the Cotabato City
Schools Division Office, Johnny Balawag, was recognized as one this year’s Most
Inspiring and Most Influential Teachers of the Philippines by the SACEDA Youth
Lead and the National Youth Commission.

Balawag is one of two teachers from the Cotabato City Schools
Division who received the award in Dumaguete City on Februray 27. The other is
Rommel Villa, a teacher from the Cotabato City Central Pilot Elementary School.

COTABATO CITY – Fifty-nine public elementary schools – 28 in
Cotabato City and 31 in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao – have received book
donations form The Asia Foundation and Metro Bank Foundation Thursday, March 1.

The donation was part of the Books for Asia project intended
to help the educational material resource of areas which are in need of books.

Books were also donated to the Cotabato City library as well as
the SK municipal library.

COTABATO CITY - All is set for the Civil Service Commission Career
Service Examination-Pen and Paper Test (CSE-PPT) scheduled this year.

The March 18 CSE-PPT will be for the first batch of examinees in
Region 12.

Another CSE-PPT is scheduled for August 12, 2018. Application
period for this examination with be from April 10 to June 22.

COTABATO CITY -- The Office on Social Welfare and Development
Services (OSWDS) here commemorates Women’s Day tomorrow, March 8, with an early
morning Lakad Alay Sa Kababaihan.

The activity, with tickets pegged at P20.00, aims to raise funds
for women inmates of the Cotabato City Jail, a fitting start for the day’s
events which include a garage sale and and Ear Detox activity.

The Lakad Alay sa Kababaihan will begin at 6and00 a.m. the
Cotabato City State Polytechnic College and will end at the old Cotabato City
Hall downtown.

KIDAPAWAN CITY – The Kidapawan City Schools Division of the Department of Education (DepEd) has released on Monday the performance-based bonus (PBB) of their 1,500 teachers and non-teaching personnel, an education official said.Superintendent Romelito Flores of the Kidapawan City Schools Division said the PBB is equivalent to 57.5 percent of the monthly salary of the teachers and non-teaching workers.Flores admitted delays in the release of the PBB, which is for school year 2015 to 2016.

POLOMOLOK, South Cotabato –- Police
operatives conducting highway mobile patrol were fired upon Tuesday night by
members of private armed group (PAG), triggering a brief fire fight that left
the gang leader dead.

The 8:40 p.m. clash along the highway in Barangay
Pagalungan here left Benzaid Nilong, 40, leader of a Nilong private armed group
operating here and in nearby towns, dead.