BANGSAMORO NEWS UPDATES

COTABATO CITY - THE Wali of the Bangsamoro Government passed away at a hospital in Davao on Sunday. Sheikh Khalifa Nando was 81, his family said.

The title Wali is an elder guardian of the top level of leadership of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), as provided under Republic Act 11054, the Bangsamoro Organic Law. 

“Wali” in Arabic means “guardian” or “custodian” or “protector.”

BARIRA, Maguindanao del Norte - The Philippine Marines reassured support for the southern peace process on Saturday in this former main bastion of the Moro Islamic Moro Islamic Liberation.

Dozens of Marines perished in an offensive in 2000 that drove away Moro guerillas here, then known as the MILF’s Camp Abubakar, and in strategic stretches of the Secretary Narciso Ramos Highway straddling through nearby barangays where the group once had fortified enclaves.

MANILA — The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has vowed to provide necessary support for the nine-man Marawi Compensation Board (MCB) as it fulfills its mandate in granting monetary compensation to the victims of the 2017 Marawi siege.

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman made the commitment when she met Friday with MCB chairperson Maisarah Dandamun-Latiph at the DBM office in Manila.

COTABATO CITY - Stakeholders are optimistic of having a regional population commission soon via an act of the 80-member parliament of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Members of the BARMM interim parliament filed last month, for subsequent deliberation, the Bill 110, an enabling measure for the setting up of the Bangsamoro Commission on Population Management and Development.

COTABATO CITY --- Two Moro groups locked in a deadly clan war that lasted for years reconciled Wednesday through the intercession of peace advocates. 

The leaders of the two groups, Andingan Omar of Barangay Sigayan in Lambayong town in Sultan Kudarat and Sukarno Ampatuan of Barangay Sampao in Radjah Buayan, Maguindanao del Sur have signed a peace pact in the presence of local leaders.

COTABATO CITY - Anti-narcotics agents seized P1.7 million worth of shabu from a dealer entrapped on Tuesday in Kapatagan town in Lanao del Sur. 

(The Lanao del Sur police provincial office earlier reported in its FB page that the amount of suspected shabu seized was estimated to cost P3.4-M - news editor)

The 35-year-old Samsodin Diarolah, a Maranao, was immediately frisked and cuffed after selling his illegal merchandise to non-uniformed agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and plainclothes policemen.

BAGUIO CITY — One of the regular programs of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) is the staging of the annual National Qur’an Reading Competition (NQRC).

Preceding the NQRC is the regional level to determine the representative of each of the Commission’s Regional Offices.

As this is another year for holding the Islamic event, NCMF regional offices are starting to perk up to search for their representatives to the national level.

COTABATO CITY --- Policemen seized P596,960 worth of shabu from three alleged traffickers, one of them an 80-year-old man, early Sunday in Tamparan, Lanao del Sur. 

The Tamparan Municipal Police Station and the Lanao del Sur Provincial Police separately announced Monday that the suspects, Malic Banto Macaundas, 33, Basim Undong Dicretan, 52, and the 80-year-old Bambaran Bantug Taha, are now detained.

COTABATO CITY — The Bangsamoro Government culminated its 4th year foundation anniversary today, Jan. 27, with awarding of winners of different activities and competitions during the weeklong celebration.
 
Among the highlights of the culmination activity was the awarding of the winners of the float parade bagged by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) as champion, with the Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD) as the first runner-up, while the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government (MILG) secured the 3rd spot.
 

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao del Norte --- A new commander of the Army’s largest division in the country assumed Friday, replacing a predecessor who just got to the helm of the Western Mindanao Command.

Major Gen. Alex Rillera took over from the now WestMinCom chief Major Gen. Roy Galido in a turnover rite here officiated by the commander of the Philippine Army, Major. Gen. Romeo Brawner, Jr.

Galido was commander of the 6th ID from August 2022 until he took over WestMinCom’s highest post this week.