Local News

MAGUINDANAO --- Members of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom fighters shot dead Tuesday morning an ethnic Teduray chieftain in Datu Saudi town in Maguindanao.
Diego Met Dagadas was killed just three days after the BIFF lost 13 members in a series of gunfights with soldiers in Maguindanao’s adjoining Datu Unsay and Datu Saudi towns.
Dagadas died on the spot from multiple gunshot wounds.

MAGUINDANAO -- Thirteen members of the Islamic State-inspired Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters were killed while five others were wounded in encounters with the military on Christmas Day.Army officials and Senior Supt. Agustin Tello of the Maguindanao provincial police office said Monday BIFF gunmen armed with assault rifles and grenade launchers first attacked at about 10:00 p.m.

DAVAO CITY -- All the remains of missing persons in the NCCC Mall fire here on Saturday morning had all been recovered and accounted for on Christmas, officials said.Mayor Sara Duterete said the charred bodies of the victims are being processed by the police forensic experts for identification while relatives anxiously waited at the mall's entrance.One remains was recovered on Sunday morning and the rest were retrieved either Sunday night and Monday morning.A fire erupted at the third floor of NCCC Mall in Ma-a at about 9:45 a.m.

DATU MONTAWAL,
Maguindanao – At least 10 villages here have been submerged by flood
waters since Saturday dawn when the Kabacan River overflowed following the
landfall of Typhoon Vinta in northern Mindanao.

Some 15,000 individuals have been affected by the flood, many of
whom have evacuated beside the national highway linking North Cotabato and
Maguindanao, disaster officials said.

KIDAPAWAN CITY – The military here announced
the air strikes and ground assaults conducted by the Army’s 602n Infantry
Brigade left 11 IS inspired armed men killed in Carmen, North Cotabato.

Eight of the fatalities died when the Philippine
Airforce launched the offensives in the village of Tonganon, Carmen town where
the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) along with foreign terrorists.

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- Most of Cagayan de Oro City is under watercaused by Tropical Storm Vinta Friday.A video uploaded in the internet by Image courtesy of Project LUPAD (League of Unmanned Philippine Aerial Drones) shows the extent of floods after the Cagayan de Oro River overflowed.Vinta has weakened later Friday and expected to leave mainland Mindanao by Saturday or Sunday, according to PAGASA.Massive floods also affected Monkayo in Davao, Comval province as shown in the photo below courtesy of Davao City Public Safety Office.

BAGUMBAYAN, Sultan
Kudarat – Eleven members of tribal community in a remote village
here have surrendered Wednesdayto the Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion
following a dialogue involving Indigenous Peoples, local officials and tribal
leaders.

Lt. Colonel
Harold Cabunoc, commander of the 33rd Infantry Battalion, said the
surrender of 11 red fighters, including an Amazon, came after local officials
gathered tribal leaders in Barangay Sto. Nino, Bagumbayan for a dialogue.

KIDAPAWAN CITY – At least five were killed when the military
on Tuesday launched airstrikes against IS inspired armed men in North Cotabato
where foreign terrorists were sighted since last month.

Capt. Arvin John Encinas, speaking for the 6th ID,
the airstrikes were launched at past 3 a.m. against Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom
Fighters (BIFF) in the village of Tonganon, Carmen, North Cotabato.

AMPATUAN, Maguindanao - Four members of the New People's Army laid down arms and surrendered to the 1st Mechanized Infantry Battalion in Barangay Kamasi,Ampatuan, Maguindanao on Thursday, the miltiary today said.The NPA rebels who are members of the Platoon Myphone of Guerilla Front 73 are Ariel Biluwal, 29, Oting Ginta, 21, Michael Malik, 23, and Jane Gintangan, female, 19, old all of Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat.

TACURONG CITY – Unidentified gunmen riding
on motorbike shot dead an Indian national in Barangay San Emmanuel Friday
morning, police said.

Senior Supt. Raul Supiter, Sultan Kudarat police
director, said Harpeet Singh Dhillon, 27, was driving his motorbike from the
city to Barangay San Emmanuel when two men riding tandem on separate motorbike
shot him from behind at about 7:20 a.m.

Dhillon died on the spot.