BANGSAMORO NEWS UPDATES

KORONADAL CITY - Robbers struck again, this time in Sto Nino, South Cotabato where the suspects took away more than P100,000 from Palawan pawnshop and killed its security guard at past 1:30 p.m. today.Police Insp. Joel Fuerte, Sto Nino police chief, identified the slain security guard as Richard Tabalong who died instantly after he was shot in the head by the gunmen. The suspects carted away more than P100,000 cash and jewelry from the pawnshop, Fuerte told DXOM Happy FM Koronadal.

TACURONG CITY –- Police eye personal
grudge involving guests of a videoke bar here that triggered the grenade
throwing incident early Sunday morning.

Army and bomb experts safely defused the
fragmentation grenade lobbed by two men riding tandem on a motorbike at the
entrance of Barako Videoke Bar along national highway linking Tacurong City and
Isulan, Sultan Kudarat.

Supt. Joefil Siason, Isulan police
chief, said rust could have prevented the grenade from exploding even after its
safety lever was pulled out.

NORTH COTABATO -- Local officials on Thursday urged the police to expedite the probe
on Wednesday’s bombing in Mlang town in west of the province that left a
resident dead and injured 35 others.

Police and
Army investigators are still clueless on who could have set off the improvised
explosive device at the entrance of Mlangpublic market, causing the death
of a 28-year-old villager, Christine Salo, of Barangay Bialong.

MLANG, North
Cotabato – Everybody wants to welcome the New Year with family members,
friends, street party and areas where everybody is happy.

But not for an
18-year-old boy who was arrested by Mlang PNP for possession of prohibited
substance during a buy bust operation.

Two plastic
sachets of methamphetamine hydrochloride and P500 marked money were seized from
Abdul Aziz Glang, of Derecho Subdivision, Poblacion A, Mlang, North Cotabato.

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao -- The military on Tuesday refuted news reports purporting that a bomb exploded in Shariff Aguak town in the province Monday morning and triggered panic among local folks.Captain Joanne Petinglay, spokesperson of the Army’s 6thInfantry Division, said the reports found print on websites of at least two Manila-based news outfits and several local media outlets.

COTABATO CITY - Police authorities hereare hunting down a man from Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao who fled a vehicular accident involving his van and a 23-year-old man along Sinsuat Avenue, this City Friday dawn.Abdul Kader, driver of a passenger van with license plate WJY-192, immediately fled after the vehicle hit Isam Ketab of Barangay Campo Muslim, Cotabato City who was declared dead on arrival at a hospita.Police report said Ketab was walking along the highway when accidentally hit by the van.

KORONADAL CITY
– Police authorities in Banga, South Cotabato are reminding commuters along the
national highway to take extra care and go slowamid Christmas rush following a deadly
highway mishap Friday in Barangay Poblacion that left eight persons killed and
wounded seven others.

SPO1 Nemesio
Tenorio, Banga PNP traffic investigator, said drivers should be careful
especially during heavy down pour when everybody appears to be rushing.

NEW YORK - In the wake of a broad crackdown on
free expression since President Xi Jinping took office, China is the world's worst jailer of journalists, with 44
behind bars, the Committee to Protect Journalists found in its rel= nofollow href= and//cl.s4.exct.net/?qs=63a32f33b1d007ef302bcf38f2a2516bc98717f0d93e96469b53027f6f668475 annual
report on imprisoned journalists released today. In Iran, where President Hassan Rouhani has also failed to
meet expectations for liberal reform, 30 journalists are in prison. The list of

COTABATO CITY –
A 12-year-old girl who just attended a dawn mass in Barangay Limulan,
Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat died hours after she was hit by a sagging log on a
hauler truck Wednesday morning.

Interviewed by DXMS Radyo Bida today,Florante
Mulod, a resident of Kalamansig, said Jassy Faye Baltazar Jumamil, along with
friends and relatives, was on her way home from attending the misa de gallo” when
atop the Limulan bridge a log dangling on an M and S (Magsaysay and Sons)
Logging company truck hit her in the head.

COTABATO CITY - A magnitude 2.7 mild quake hit the town of Makilala, North Cotabato at past 3 a.m. today, December 17.No immediate report of damages to properties or injury was reported in the tremor that Phivolocs said was tectonic in origin.The mild quake hit at 3:10 a.m..