Local News

COTABATO CITY – Thirteen more villages in Maguindanao have been declared as drug
free barangays by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the Autonomous
Region in Muslim Mindanao (PDEA-ARMM).

Juvenal
Azurin, PDEA-ARMM regional director, said of the 13, six villages were in
Parang town, four in Barira and three in Pagalungan, all in Maguindanao.

COTABATO CITY -- The Office on Civil Defense ARMM will be
conducting a one-day Basic Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) Course
for media which intends to improve the knowledge and understanding of media
workers and institutions about current DRRM systems.

The activity scheduled on March 26 at
the Pagana Resto, Cotabato City will also discuss the OCD’s institutional and
operating mechanisms, DRRM priority projects and activities, and RA 10121.

COTABATO CITY --The Cotabato City Police Office (CCPO)children and women protection desk has noted a sizable decrease in the number of violence against women and children (VAWC) cases filed with the CCPO last year.Policerecords show that the number crimes against women in 2016, a total of 107, drastically dropped to only 62 in 2017.Most crimes against women in the city involve physical and psychological abuse.

COTABATO CITY -- With the summer still coming but the
heat already getting intense this March, the Bureau of Fire Protection in
Cotabato City reminded residents to be always on alert against fires.

The BFP is the lead agency in
commemorating March as Fire Prevention Month, as declared by Presidential
Proclamation No. 115-A, because of the alarming increase of fires happening
across the country during this particular period.

COTABATO CITY – Joint police, Army and anti-narcotics operatives arrested Tuesday a couple involved in high profile illegal drug peddling in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said today.Juvenal Azurin, regional director of PDEA in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), said the raid, covered by search warrant issued Regional Trial Court Branch 13, resulted to the arrest of Kutin Guiamel alias Kutin, 52 and Jenny Abdullah, 37 both of Barangay Makir, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao.

COTABATO CITY -- The annual Cotabato
City Pet Fair is set for Saturday, March 17, at the Notre Dame Social Action
Center Gymnasium here.

This year’s fair, which starts at 9 in
the morning and ends at 5 in the afternoon, features a pet walk, free
veterinary services, and a pet exhibit. Pet supplies will also be available for
pet owners and enthusiasts.

Dr. Geraldson Navarra, pet fair sponsor,
said the pet walk will be at 7 a.m. from the Petron Hi-Way gasoline station
going to the NDSAC Gym and is open to all types of pets.

More than 1,000 participants coming from
Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-tawi, and Zamboanga attended the first leg of the
Nationwide Information Caravan for Republic Act 10931 also known as the
Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act of 2017.

This year marks the start of
implementation of the legislative milestone nationwide which is why the
CHED-UniFAST held the #FreeEducationNa.

COTABATO CITY -- Skirmishes between government troops and
the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in two muncipalities of Maguindanao
last week has displaced 816 families that are now staying in nine evacuation
sites.

This was learned by DXMS-Radyo Bida
Cotabato City of Notre Dame Broadcasting Corporation from Maguindanao
provincial social welfare action officer Emma Ali on Monday.

SULTAN KUDARAT --- Authorities are in custody of an undocumented Indonesian national held on suspicion of having links with a local militant group operating in the fashion of the Islamic State.The 32-year-old Mushalah Somina Rasim, also known as Abu Omar, voluntarily turned himself him Monday when asked by personnel of the Palimbang municipal police and intelligence agents of the 5thMarine Battalion to yield for proper identity verification.Key sources from units of the 1stMarine Brigade in Lebak, Sultan Kudarat said Tuesday Rasim was nabbed in one of the barangays in nearby Palimbang, a se

GEN. SANTOS
CITY – More than 370 police officers in the SOCCSKSARGEN region have been
promoted one rank higher, a police official today said.

Chief
Inspector Aldrin Gonzales, speaking for PRO-12, said a total of 378 PNP
uniformed personnel promoted to next higher rank and were sworn-in to office in
a ceremony held at PRO 12 Grandstand on Monday morning.

Chief Supt.
Marcelo C Morales, PRO-12 regional director, led the mass oath-taking of the
newly promoted Police Officers.