BANGSAMORO NEWS UPDATES

LANAO DEL SUR --- Authorities have started securing abandoned houses and establishments in Marawi City soldiers have cleared from terrorists.The security unit of the office of Lanao del Sur Gov.

LANAO DEL SUR – Officials are soliciting old toys for conflict-stricken children from Marawi City as trauma treatment to ease the tension affecting their gentle minds.A big number of the more than 200,000 evacuees from the troubled Marawi City are children. We are knocking on the hearts of parents and children in peaceful regions to donate used toys, but not toy guns or anything of sort, physician Kadil Sinolinding, Jr., health secretary of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), said Monday.ARMM Vice Gov.

COTABATO CITY - The Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) now has new draft of Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), an enabling measure for the 2014 final compact between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).The commission, chaired by MILF’s Ghazali Jaafar, is comprised of representatives from the group and the national government, whose task is to reformat the original draft BBL which the House of Representatives junked last year for containing unconstitutional provisions.A BTC member, peace activist Susana Anayatin, told this news outfit on Saturday that Jaafar and all comm

LANAO DEL SUR --- The Philippine Marine Corps (PMC) on Wednesday dismissed as hoax the warning by terrorists its servicemen will vent their ire on civilians over their losses in Marawi City.Evacuees said on Wednesday that they are certain the warning was spread by the Dawlah Islamiya, whose leaders, Omar and Abdullah Maute, are both known for their propensity in using text messages and social media for propaganda campaigns.The PMC lost 13 men, among them a Marine lieutenant, in encounters in Marawi City with Maute and Abu Sayyaf gunmen, now grouped together as the Dawlah Islamiya.Major Gen.

LANAO DEL SUR --- The number of internally-displaced people (IDP) from Marawi City is now 183, 557 and there is no clear timeline still on when will normalcy return to its conflict-stricken barangays.Officials confirmed that cadavers of 22 dead villagers were recovered from scenes of gunfights in the past 19 days, all identified positively by claimant-relatives.The crisis management committee of Lanao del Sur province and the Humanitarian Emergency Assistance and Response Team (HEART) of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) are still searching for more than 600 missing teachers e

MANILA - The Department of Health (DOH) has said it is keen on reopening the Amai Pakpak Medical Center in Marawi City, weeks after it was shut down following the hostilities between government forces and the terrorist Maute Group.In a news release issued Tuesday, the DOH said the Armed Forces of the Philippines has already given the green light for the hospital’s medical staff to return to duty.The department said officials are studying the situation in managing the revival of the medical center’s operations.It noted that since parts of the hospital were destroyed by the militants, the hos

LANAO DEL SUR --- Officials on Monday honored the Muslim soldiers killed in fighting cultists whose religious adventurism in Marawi City has put to test the solidarity of local Islamic and Christian groups.Local officials told reporters on Monday they are optimistic that normalcy will soon return in the troubled Marawi City and that displaced folk, meantime, have to be patient and cooperative in restoring government control over the besieged barangays there.Marawi City Mayor Majul Gandamra undauntedly led a flag-raising rite, in commemoration of the 119thPhilippine Independence Day, ins

LANAO DEL SUR ---- Rescue and relief experts deployed in dangerous areas in Marawi City got praises on Sunday for heroic acts in very dangerous situations.A Maranaw lawmaker, Zia Alonto Adiong of the 24-seat Regional Assembly in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said he admires them for putting their lives on the line everyday to help conflict-stricken residents. I’m so inspired watching their heroism unfold each day, ordinary people doing extraordinary jobs.

LANAO DEL SUR --- Three policemen were injured when Maute terrorists ambushed late Saturday a police convoy in Pantar town in Lanao del Norte.Chief Supt.

MARAWI CITY- Civilians still trapped in Marawi’s war zone strive for survival as the battle to free the city of the remaining militants rages on to its third week.The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao's Humanitarian Emergency Action and Response Team (ARMM-HEART) has a seven-man team deployed in the city since Day 2 of the crisis to help in rescuing stranded civilians.