BANGSAMORO NEWS UPDATES

COTABATO CITY -- The week-long celebration of the 27thfounding anniversary of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao kicked off Monday with the commemoration of the Sheik Karimul Makdum Day in ARMM’s five component provinces.The holiday is observed yearly as a regional non-working day in honor of Makdum, an Arab missionary who set foot in Bohe Indangan in what is now Simunul island town in Tawi-Tawi in the 14thcentury to spread Islam.The holiday also traditionally marks the start of the celebration of the 27thfounding anniversary of ARMM, created in 1989 via a plebiscite.

COTABATO CITY - With the Supreme Court Justice Jose Perez set to retire on December 14, 2016, ARMM Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman has endorsed Court of Appeals Associate Justice Japar Dimaampao to occupy a seat in the highest court of the land.Hataman has sent a letter to the Judicial Bar Council to nominate Dimaampao, citing the latter’s achievements and track record as a law practitioner. Justice Dimaampao is publicly known as a highly respected justice especially in the Muslim community.

COTABATO CITY– Different festivities are held annually in Tawi-Tawi, a province of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM),on the7thof Novemberto commemorate the arrival of Sheikh Karimul Makhdum in the country.

MARAWI CITY --- Two hundred ethnic Maranaw Muslims with physical disabilities benefited from Thursday’s wheelchair distribution here by local officials.

MAGUINDANAO --- The once poorly managed Polloc International Port in the province is bouncing back, earning in only nine months the revenues it collected in the past six years.

COTABATO CITY --- The euphoria stirred by Saturday’s visit here of President Rodrigo Duterte has not waned yet and folks keep hyping his promise to help the Moro people bounce back from underdevelopment.What fascinated leaders of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) who helped him launch here on Saturday various programs meant to address poverty in the local communities was his repeated mention of having had a Maranaw grandmother.There is a big Maranaw population in ARMM, which covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, both in Central Mindanao, and the island provinces of Basilan, Su

COTABATO CITY– The Duterte administration is committing full support to development initiatives in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) as well as in other areas affected by recent conflicts.The President visited ARMM’s Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Complex here on Saturday, October 29, to launch the ‘Comprehensive Reform and Development Agenda for ARMM and other Conflict-Affected Areas in Regions 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula), 10 (Northern Mindanao) and 12 (Central Mindanao)’.The new program focuses on anti-poverty projects harnessing mainly resources from the Department of Social Welfar

COTABATO CITY --- President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday urged Moro sectors to embrace peace which he promised to help foster in the troubled south through socio-economic and humanitarian interventions.

COTABATO CITY -- President Rodrigo Duterte today assured residents of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) that he will prioritize anti-poverty programs in Moroland. Duterte said he instructed Social Welfare Sec. Judy Taguiwalo to ensure that programs that will uplift the lives of the people of ARMM. The provinces composing the ARMM, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, were the poorest provinces based on the Philippine Statistics Authority.

MAGUINDANAO --- What the late Gov. Datu Andal Ampatuan, Sr. failed to provide his hometown during a 20-year reign, his newcomer relative-politicians addressed in just four months.