BANGSAMORO NEWS UPDATES

MARAWI CITY - Officials launched here Monday Malacañang’s special program against narcotics and corruption, barely five days after the activation of a local anti-terrorism and law-enforcement task force.Elected provincial officials led the symbolic launching here of the Mamamayang Ayaw sa Anomalya, Mamayang Ayaw sa Iligal na Droga, or MASA MASID, which is being managed by the central office of the Department of Interior and Local Government.Members of the Lanao del Sur league of mayors, representatives from the police and the military, Maranaw sectoral leaders and officials of different p

MAGUINDANAO – Moro bandits wounded a soldier in an ambush while communist rebels abducted a barangay chairman in separate incidents in central Mindanao on Sunday.Senior Superintendent Agustin Tello, director of the Maguindanao provincial police, identified the injured soldier as Private 1stClass Butch Albarico of the Army’s 40thInfantry Battalion.Albarico, who sustained bullet wounds in the upper torso, is now confined in a government hospital in nearby Shariff Aguak town, also in Maguindanao.Tello said Albarico and companions were patrolling somewhere in Barangay Ganta in Saidona Musta

COTABATO CITY– The Bureau on Cultural Heritage (BCH) of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA)are implementing a cultural mapping project for Muslim communities.Officials of the two institutions met at the Bajau Hall, ORG Compound, on Tuesday, April 4, for a consultative meeting on a research and documentation initiative that will come up with an inventory and registry of cultural properties that need preservation and protection.NCCA is the planning and policy making body of the government on the preservation and protection

MAGUINDANAO ---- Rival groups in the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fought in SK Pendatun town Tuesday, causing panic among barrio folk.The two groups, one led by MILF’s Malambeg Guiad and the other by a wanted BIFF commander, Gani Saligan, are squabbling for control of strategic areas in Barangay Midpandacan in SK Pendatun, Maguindanao.Senior Supt.

COTABATO CITY --- The local communities gave the Class 2017 valedictorian of the Philippine National Police Academy a warm homecoming welcome on Monday.Police Inspector Macdum Darping Enca, the top graduate of PNPA’s Masidlak Class of 2017, was born and raised in Cotabato City.The reception rite for Enca, who is of ethnic Maguindanaon descent, was organized by Cotabato City Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi.Enca, who arrived at the Maguindanao Airport in nearby Datu Odin Sinsuat town at almost noontime Monday, was first brought by a convoy to the office of Guiani-Sayadi at the People’s Palace,

COTABATO CITY -- Residents in Al-Barka, Basilan wants more military troops to protect local infrastructure projects the Abu Sayyaf rabidly detests.The 16 barangays in Al-Barka are scenes of deadly clashes between the military and the Abu Sayyaf in recent years.Al-Barka Mayor Darusalam Lajid said on Sunday that while the presence of the Abu Sayyaf in the municipality had been weakened in recent months due to interventions by agencies in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and the military, bandits are still capable of perpetrating clandestine attacks to disrupt on-going proje

QUEZON CITY – Former
champions in the National Commission Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) Qur’an reading
contests have emerged as this year’s winners in male and female categories of 43rd
National Qur’an Reading Contests (NQRC) here.

Both winners are
now holders of three titles each.

Ustadz Nu’man
M. Pimbayabaya, 2013 and 2015 NQRC champion in male category while Ustadza
Rahima P. Amerol, 2014 and 2015 champion for female category, were declared
this year’s NQRC contest champions, respectively.

UP DILIMAN,
Quezon City – Thirty-six Quran readers are set to compete today for this year’s
43rd National Qur’an Reading Competition, the National Commission on
Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) today said.

Laman Piang,
director of NCMF Bureau of Muslim Cultural Affairs, said the annual Qur’an
reading contest is being held at University of the Philippines Alumni
Association (Bahay Alumni), UP Campus, Diliman Quezon City.

COTABATO CITY – Residents of Lamitan City are certain they can rise faster from poverty caused by conflicts with the implementation from 2017 to 2018 of P1.1 billion more worth of local infrastructure projects.Lamitan City Vice Mayor Roderick Furigay on Saturday told reporters here the regional government of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) had allocated P685 million for projects in their 45 barangays in 2017 and an additional P415.6 million more for 2018. This is something new to the local communities in Lamitan City.

LANAO DEL SUR --- Maranaws on Thursday highlighted uniquely their observance of the International Women’s Month with a food bazaar showcasing ethnic cuisines with historic and traditional values.The office of Lanao Del Sur Gov.