BANGSAMORO NEWS UPDATES

COTABATO CITY — Bangsamoro Airways, a pioneering airline based in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), will begin flying across the region on April 24, 2024.

Bangsamoro Airways, operated by Federal Airways Incorporated, aims to connect mainland BARMM to its island provinces to make the provision of significant services accessible, strengthen bureaucracy and logistics, and bolster the region’s economy, tourism, and employment, among others.

PICONG, Lanao del Sur - After a thorough investigation and follow-up operation, operatives were able to identify the seven individuals involved in the Picong ambush that wounded one of the police officers on April 18, 2024.

Following the identification of the suspects, personnel of Picong MPS, in coordination with Lanao del Sur Police Provincial Office, RMFB 14-A, Regional Intelligence Division, PSOG/PDEU, 1st and 2nd PMFC, Malabang MPS, and 4th SAB-SAF, carried out a hot pursuit operation.

COTABATO CITY  - The Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD) in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) has condemned the Wednesday night attack on its three employees that left a 27-year-old middle-level executive dead and her companion injured.

SULTAN KUDARAT, Maguindanao del Norte – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday held the first-ever voter registration inside the Camp Darapanan and Camp Abubakar of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) here.

Comelec officials headed by chair George Garcia and Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. led the opening of the two-day Register Anywhere Project (RAP), where voter applicants queued as early as 7 a.m.

COTABATO CITY  – The voters in 63 villages in North Cotabato on Saturday ratified the creation of eight new municipalities in the Bangsamoro region in a quiet and peaceful exercise during an electoral process that stood in sharp contrast with the blood and violent village elections in 2023.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec), in a statement, said the plebiscite had an 81.10 percent voter turnout. Out of its 89,594 registered voters, 72,660 have voted.  Of these 72,358 voted in favor of the creation of eight towns while 273 voted “No.”  

COTABATO CITY - The Bangsamoro labor ministry has ordered owners of private establishments in the autonomous region to protect workers from extreme heat at daytime caused by the El Niño phenomenon via essential mitigation measures.

Labor and Employment Minister Muslimin Sema of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao was quoted in radio reports here on Sunday as saying that he had issued last Thursday a directive compelling employers to supply workers with adequate safe drinking water in their workplaces for proper rehydration to prevent medical emergencies.

COTABATO CITY - A Moro enclave that became an official part of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) through a plebiscite in 2019 on Saturday (April 13,2024) voted resoundingly ‘YES’ in another plebiscite, ratifying the creation of eight new municipalities in North Cotabato.

PIKIT, North Cotabato - Police authorities in the Soccsksargen region today said the plebisicte in 63 villatges of the Bangsamoro Region Specil Geographic Area was generally peaceful.

Brig. Gen. Percival Augustus Placer, PRO-12 regional director, said no major disruption was ever recorded except issues on voters having hard time finding their names on the list postred outside polling prescinct.

Placer along with other police officers visited various voting centers in the province and wer4e briefed that the electoral process was orderly.

COTABATO CITY - Agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency seized P6.8 million worth of shabu from four peddlers entrapped in an interior barangay in Wao, Lanao del Sur on Friday.

Gil Cesario Castro, director of PDEA-BARMM, said Saturday that the suspects, Nawap Gundar Mohammad, Nursidin Bilao Bantak, Mamak Barazar Solaiman and Mustapha Dipatuan Solaiman fell in a sting laid with the help of Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong, Jr. and Bangsamoro regional police director Brig. Gen. Prexy Tanggawohn.

PIGCAWAYAN, North Cotabato - Maaga pa nagsimula nang magtungo sa mga voting center ang mga botante sa ilang barangay ng Pigcawayan, North Cotabato.

Residents in the Pigcawayan cluster looking for their names to cast their votes in the plebiscite in the 63 SGAs.  Residents of Brgy. Malingao Kadayangan, Midsayap cast their votes for the plebiscite.