BANGSAMORO NEWS UPDATES

COTABATO CITY --- A new team of Indonesian peacekeepers arrived here Thursday to help monitor the enforcement of the now 19-year ceasefire accord between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.From Manila the team, led by Col. Gumuroh Winardjatmiko of the Indosian Army, immediately reported to the office here of the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT).The IMT, under Major Gen.

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao -- Christian soldiers and hundreds of Muslims on Wednesday dined together in the Army’s Camp Siongco in an Eid’l Fitr banquet never witnessed since the onset of the Mindanao secessionist conflict in the 1970s.
Among those present in the event were representatives of the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team, which is helping enforce the interim ceasefire pact between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front since late 2003.

COTABATO CITY -- Regional Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on Tuesday night has condemned terror attacks in Muslim countries and other parts of the world. Hataman issued the statement on the eve of Eud'l Fitr, the end of fasting month. These are not the first attacks committed by extremists and terrorists who claim to do acts of terror in the name of Islam, nor these will be the last, Hataman said.

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao -- The Army’s predominantly Christian 6th Infantry Division will open this military camp on Wednesday for an Eid’l Fitr congregational prayer, something so peculiarly new for local Muslim folks.Public officials and ranking clerics in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) were elated with 6th ID’s gesture, planned by its commander, Major Gen.

COTABATO CITY -- Top clerics in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao failed to see the crescent moon on Monday night, the 29th day of Ramadhan, implying that the Eid’l Fitr shall be on Wednesday.Ramadhan, supposedly only 28 to 29 days, would have ended Monday night, July 4, had the crescent moon, as a tradition, been spotted in the sky by Islamic theologians in the ARMM’s five provinces.Members of the ARMM’s Regional Darul Iftah (RDI), also known as House of Opinions,” had earlier thought the Eid’l Fitr might be held today (July 5), earlier than the July 6 non-working national Eid holi

MANILA (PNA) – President Rodrigo R. Duterte has declared July 6, Wednesday, a non-working holiday in observance of the end of Ramadan fasting or Eid’l Fitr, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella announced on Monday.Eid'l Fitr is celebrated by the Muslim world for three days after the end of the month of fasting.It marks the end of the 30-day fasting period of Ramadan, giving the Muslims opportunity to thank God.In 2002, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed into law Republic Act No.

MARAWI CITY -- The mother of now Lanao del Sur Vice Gov. Mamintal Adiong, Jr. on Saturday assured to continue the peace and development programs of his son, whose gubernatorial post she took over last Thursday.Lanao del Sur’s new governor, Soraya Alonto-Adiong, told reporters on Saturday she had received from her son, who was governor of the province for three consecutive terms that lasted from June 30, 2007 to June 30, 2016, all records of his programs and projects she needs to continue.Adiong, Jr. is popular for his having implemented, along with the now second-termer Gov.

ZAMBOANGA CITY(PNA) –- Joint military and police operatives have captured two Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) brigands, including an explosive expert and an ASG mid-level leader in the province of Basilan, a military official announced Friday.Arrested were Mudzrih Abih Adjalan alias Idol, and a certain Yasir, according to Maj. Filemon Tan Jr., Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) spokesman.Tan said Adjalan and Yasir were arrested by joint military and police operatives during a law enforcement operation around 5:15 a.m.

COTABATO CITY – Two Muslim regional executives were sworn to office Thursday by a Teduray chieftain in an event reminiscent of the life stories of the 14thcentury siblings Mamalo and Tabunaway.From the bloodlines of the originally pagan Mamalo and Tabunaway sprung Mindanao’s present day Lumad and Moro genealogies.The reelected Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, a Yakan, and his Maranaw deputy, now second-termer ARMM Vice Gov.

COTABATO CITY– The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), through its food-for-work program, has distributed close to 3,000 sacks of rice and containers of palmoline oil to farmers in South Upi town in Maguindanao province. South Upi is one of the 10 towns in Maguindanao severely hit by drought.The program is implemented by the region’s humanitarian and emergency action response team in partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme (UN-WFP).ARMM Executive Secretary Atty. Laisa Alamia and UN-WFP Program Officer Michael Argonza led the food distribution on Tuesday, June 28.