GOVERNANCE/POLITICS

NORTH COTABATO ---Organizers are expecting hundreds of non-Moro indigenous people to attend Sunday’s assumption of the first ever North Cotabato governor from the lumad community

Members of the interim support staff core of incoming North Cotabato Gov. Nancy Catamco said Tuesday all is set for her oath-taking on Sunday at the gymnasium in the provincial capitol in Barangay Amas in Kidapawan City.

MAGUINDANAO --- The civilian-led Bangsamoro regional police advisory council has pledged support to the security efforts of newcomer Police Brig. Gen. Marni Marcos in a dialogue Monday.

Marcos, who graduated from the Philippine Military Academy in 1988, is the new director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PRO-BARMM).

PRO-BARMM covers the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi and the cities of Lamitan, Marawi and Cotabato.

COTABATO CITY ---- A cleric in the Bangsamoro parliament has proposed the creation of a Madrasah education director-general’s office to standardize Islamic learning facilities and curb religious extremism.

Preacher Alzad Sattar, who earned a doctorate degree on Islamic theology abroad, said Saturday his proposal was co-authored by lawyer Maisara Dandamun-Latiph, also a member of the regional parliament of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, or BARMM.

COTABATO CITY ---- There is a poor barangay chairman in Basilan, living in a house that five men can demolish in an hour, who is admired for his examples.

An Islamic theologian, Ustadz Abdulhalim Maranie Hatain, chairman of Barangay Linu-an in Al-Barka, Basilan never even thought he can defeat his rivals during the May 14, 2018 barangay elections due to lack of money for basic campaign expenditures.

Hatain refuses to talk to reporters about his charity works for his people in keeping with Islamic teachings on silence and ambiguity on charitable acts.

COTABATO CITY  – All the cities in the Soccsksargen region landed in the top 10 most competitive cities in Mindanao over-all in 2018, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) today said.

Based on DTI’s 2018 Cities and Municipalities Competitive Index, Davao City was at first place followed by Cagayan de Oro City and Tagum in third place. 

At 4^th place is Cotabato City followed by Kidapawan City and Tacurong City at 6^th spot.

KORONADAL CITY  -- Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) Director General Secretary Isidro S. Lapeña has assured former communist rebels that their decision to return to the fold of the law was wise and right because TESDA has programs for them.

NORTH COTABATO --- Congresswoman Nancy Catamco has turned over to beneficiaries nine school buildings she built using congressional allocations for this province where she is now governor.

In a statement Tuesday, governor-elect Catamco said she also inaugurated, in a series of engagements the past four days, a 1.5 kilometer farm-to-market road, a water supply facility and a barangay hall in  Mehao, Kidapawan City.

Kidapawan City, which has more than 40 barangays, is the provincial capital of North Cotabato covering 17 towns scattered in three congressional districts.  

LANAO DEL SUR --- President Rodrigo Duterte’s participation in an Independence Day rite in Malabang town Wednesday gave Lanao del Sur’s investment climate a boost, members of the business sector said.

“While we don’t know what his primary purpose was in visiting Malabang last Wednesday, we are happy because it was significant in terms of showing to outsiders that it is safe now to put up businesses in the coastal towns of Lanao del Sur,” Bai Sandra Siang, owner of a hardware store in Cotabato City, said Saturday.

COTABATO CITY — Chief Minister Hadji Murad Ibrahim will meet elected officials of provinces and towns comprising the new Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) on a weekend training and orientation here, hosted by the region’s Ministry of the Interior and Local Governments (MILG).

“Today (Saturday) is a big event for us in the ministry (MILG). We will commence this afternoon the first ever simultaneous training cum orientation of all elected governors and mayors of the BARMM,” MILG Minister Naguib Sinarimbo said.

Duterte attends Malabang Independence Day rite

LANAO DEL SUR --- Meranaos were elated with the visit of President Rodrigo Duterte to Malabang Wednesday to grace a simple Independence Day celebration in the seaside town.

It was the second presidential engagement in the second district of Lanao del Sur since the creation of the province 60 years ago.