GOVERNANCE/POLITICS

COTABATO CITY --- North Cotabato Gov. Nancy Catamco has asked indigenous communities not to move out of their earthquake-stricken ancestral lands to keep their entitlement to such domains.

Catamco said in an emailed statement Monday that declaring “no build zones” in ancestral lands of indigenous groups in the province has to be subjected to dialogues first among tribal chieftains and the provincial government.

KORONADAL CITY - The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) honored over the weekend at least 70 individuals as this year’s BayanI Ka! Awards, known as the agency’s local version of Nobel prize for volunteers in the development sector.

The Barangay Sub-project Management Committee of Kaltuad in Glan Sarangani Province was also recognized for their Best Improved Local Governance Category while the Keytodac Water System Association from Lebak, Sultan Kudarat was proclaimed as winner for Best Sustained Community Group.

KIDAPAWAN CITY - The Commission on Population and Development XII (POPCOM) in partnership with Department of Health (DOH) and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), and the provincial government of Cotabato jointly launched the Intensified National Program on Population and Family Planning (NPPFP) through a kick-off at the provincial gymnasium in Barangay Amas.

COTABATO CITY  - The moral governance inspired leadership is considered as “good harvest” for the Bangsamoro Government.

This was how Interior and Local Government Minister Attorney Naguib Sinarimbo described the 28 Local Government Units (LGU’s) conferred today in the Seal of Good Local Governance awarding by the Department of Interior and Local Government in Manila.

“This made us stand the longest on stage to join Secretary (Eduardo) Ano congratulating the awardees in our region,” he said in his facebook post.

KIDAPAWAN CITY  – To help address overpricing of basic commodities in quake hit areas, the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) opens in Makilala today outlets selling food and basic household items.

MinDA chair Emmanuel Piñol said the first MinDA outlet will be opened at 9 a.m. Wednesday (today) in Makilala, North Cotabato, particularly in front of Notre Dame School along the Cotabato-Davao national highway.

COTABATO CITY --- Officials in Basilan reported Wednesday their accomplishments the past 100 days that their predecessors never achieved but says rebuilding the province from armed conflicts is yet a long way.

BASILAN --- Residents of villages along stretches of a highway connecting the cities of Isabela and Lamitan can now safely motor through the route at nighttime, illuminated with new streetlights.

In a statement Saturday, the office of Basilan Gov. Jim Salliman said the new 35 streetlights along portions of the highway traversing uphill and downhill sites in Barangay Baluno, Isabela City is a provincial government project.

It is meant to ensure the safety of commuters and motorists passing through the highway after dusk, according to the governor.

BASILAN --- Residents of villages along stretches of a highway connecting the cities of Isabela and Lamitan can now safely motor through the route at nighttime, illuminated with new streetlights.

In a statement Saturday, the office of Basilan Gov. Jim Salliman said the new 35 streetlights along portions of the highway traversing uphill and downhill sites in Barangay Baluno, Isabela City is a provincial government project.

It is meant to ensure the safety of commuters and motorists passing through the highway after dusk, according to the governor.

COTABATO CITY ---The Maguindanao provincial prosecution office had set a record feat for having prosecuted successfully 12 high-profile crimes, including multiple incestuous rapes, in the past 12 months.

Senior judicial officials here told reporters Thursday the 12 convictions from between August 15, 2018 to August 12, 2019 was something never achieved before by Maguindanao’s PPO since the creation of the province almost five decades ago.

The PPO is led by Rohairah Lao, a Maranaw lawyer who got to its helm only in 2016.

COTABATO CITY  – An official of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) on Friday assured Unicef national ambassador Gary Valenciano that the neophyte region is supporting all Unicef programs.

Abdullah Cusain, BARMM acting executive secretary welcomed Valenciano who paid a courtesy call to the Office of the Chief Minister here.

“BARMM supports all programs for the benefit of children, especially Moro children,” Cusain told the visibly elated Valenciano.