Local News

KIDAPAWAN CITY - A village councilor here died when government troops shot him after he was wrongly spotted as one of the leaders of the armed men that stormed the provincial jail here, around 1230 a.m., Wednesday.Killed was Satar Manalundong, kagawad of Barangay Patadon here and a known supporter of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).Manalundong, on board his motorcycle, was on his way to the barangay hall in Patadon, along with two unidentified males, when operatives of the Special Action Forces (SAF) of the Cotabato Provincial Police Office (CPPO) and elements of the 39thInfantry

KIDAPAWAN CITY -– At least 132 inmates escaped from the North Cotabato District Jail (NCDJ) in what was believed to be the biggest jail escape, so far, since 2000, here. Felix Capalla, one of the leaders of the inmates at the NCDJ, said more than a hundred armed men stormed the jail around 12:30 a.m., Wednesday, and killed on-the-spot on duty jail guard identified Jail Officer 1 Hexel Rey Desibo.

KIDAPAWAN CITY - Heavily armed men raided at past 12 a.m. today the North Cotabato District Jail in Barangay Amas and freed high profile inmates. Warden Supt. Peter Bongat told radio reporters that a jail officer was killed while an inmate was injured during the exchange of gunfire.One of the inmates, Salik Capalla, told Radyo Bida Kidapawan that a brownout occurred at 12:30 a.m. then a series of gun bursts. Supt.

COTABATO CITY - Mystery surrounds the death of what appeared to be an 18-22 year old girl found unconscious along a highway in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao on New Year's Day.The girl remained unidentified and her remains waiting for claimants at the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center (CRMC) morgue.Concerned citizens found the woman along a highway in Sultan Kudarat and rushed her to the Cotabato Sanitarium Hospital in Barangay Pinaring.

MAGUINDANAO --- Authorities are bracing for more attacks by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters to avenge the deaths of members killed and wounded in encounters with soldiers the past five days.More than 500 families, meanwhile, are in makeshift relief sites and houses of relatives in safer areas in Salibo town in Maguindanao, displaced by BIFF attacks in the municipality last December 30.BIFF bandits also attacked Barangay Nabalawag in Midsayap town in North Cotabato at nighttime on December 31 and fired assault rifles at houses and a nearby Army detachment, wounding a soldier’s wi

KORONADAL CITY -- The number of firecracker victims in Region 12 continue to rise but health officials are convinced the figure is still fewer as compared to last year's monitoring of blast victims. The good thing is that nobody was a victim of stray bullets, said Jenny Ventura, Department of Health (DOH-12) focal person on firecracker victims monitoring system. On the 13th day of monitoring, registered at Online National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (ONEISS) in Region 12 rose to 40.

COTABATO CITY – Close to 1,000 families have moved to safer grounds after suspected
lawless elements harassed two Army detachments in the tri-boundary of Datu
Salibo, Datu Saudi Ampatuan and Datu Shariff Saydona in Maguindanao on New Year’s
Eve, a relief agency today said.

Personnel of
the Humanitarian Emergency Action Response Team of the Autonomous Region in
Muslim Mindanao (HEART-ARMM) said the displaced families have sought shelter to
their relatives in nearby villages.

COTABATO CITY -- Police are hunting down two men on a motorbike who lobbed a hand grenade in front of a residential home in Barangay Poblacion, Pikit, North Cotabato on New Year's Day. Chief Inspector Donald Cabigas, Pikit town police chief, said the suspects particularly lobbed the hand grenade at past 3 p.m. in front of the house owned by Felomina Ferenal located beside the Poblacion Barangay Hall. Luckily, Cabigas said, the grenade failed to explode and was safety deactivated by police and Army bomb experts.

MIDSAYAP, North Cotabato -- Police and
military forces here will retain its alert status as threats of harassment from
lawless elements, including drug syndicates, remain, a police official today
said.

Supt. Bernard Tayong, town police chief, said
soldiers from the 34th Infantry Battalion and Midsayap PNP will continue to
implement checkpoints in areas identified to be crime and conflict prone,
especially in the borders of Midsayap and Datu Piang in Maguindanao.

COTABATO CITY --For the first time in so many years, the city government was happy to announce that the campaign against firecracker and bullet injury was successful with zero casualty during New Year's revelry.As of Sunday (January 1) afternoon, Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi said no one was injured by firecracker although the city residents welcomed 2017 with fireworks. The city health office (said) that there was no reported or confined patients who are victims of firecracker incident in relation to New Year’s revelry.