Local News

COTABATO CITY - The Cotabato Light and Power Company (Cotabato Light) has scheduled power interruption in its franchise area this weekend.Arlene Hepiga, communications officer, said the scheduled power brownout is due to National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) maintenance activity.On Saturday, Sept. 3, power interruption will come at 7 to 8 a.m.

KORONADAL CITY -- Fourteen government workers were dismissed from service in a local
government unit in South Cotabato after six of them were found positive of
illegal drug use and eight for ignoring a local government memorandum,
officials said.

Edmund De-ala, Banga
town human resource management officer, said those who did not show up for drug
test were dismissed since there was no valid reason was forwarded to the office
why they did not show up.

TACURONG CITY - An active police officer and two former police officers suspected of pushing illegal drugs were killed in a shootout with law enforcers implementing anti-drug operation in the borders of this city and President Quirino in Sultan Kudarat, police said today. Supt. Romeo Galgo, speaking for PNP-12, identified the slain police officer as PO1 Ryan Mastura who opened fire on approaching lawmen during the 4 a.m. serving of search warrants issued by Alandrex M Betoya, RTC 12, Branch 16, Kabacan, North Cotabato in the community bordering Tacurong City and President Quirino.

COTABATO CITY - Another grenade hits this city Wednesday, the third grenade attack on a government office since Saturday, police said.Senior Inspector Roel Zafra, speaking for the Cotaato City police office, said the grenade, an M26-A9 fragmentation hand grenade, exploded in front of National Irrigation Administration (NIA) Maguindanao office along Rosales Street at 3:50 p.m.Nobody was hurt as the grenade fell into and drainage canal and went off.Quoting witnesses, police said two men riding tandem on a motorbike lobbed the explosive.On SAturday night, a smoke grenade was lobbed at the Traf

COTABATO CITY --- The governor of Maguindanao allocated P50 million for the construction of a provincial jail and rehabilitation facility for drug dependents in support of Malacañang’s anti-narcotics thrusts.
Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu on Wednesday said the project will be bankrolled with money from the more than P1 billion development loan his office had availed from the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP).The facility shall operate both as a provincial jail and a drug rehabilitation outfit, he said.

POLOMOLOK, South Cotabato - Several persons, including childless couples, have shown interest to adopt an abandoned new born baby here after the child was rescued Tuesday.Some even went to DXOM-AM Radyo Bida studio along Gen. Santos Drive, Koronadal Cityto express interest in adopting the child left unattended by his unidentified mother along Molo Adelfa Street, Barangay Poblacion, Polomolok, South Cotabato.The child, kept inside a cellophane (sando) bag and hidden in the bush, was found by joggers at past 5 a.m.

CAMP S.K. PENDATUN, Maguidanao --- The firebrand Police Director Ronaldo Bato” Dela Rosa on Tuesday warned to bomb the houses of people behind the attacks on two police stations in Cotabato City in what was for local folks another hyperbole meant to scare the culprits.

CAMP SK
PENDATUN, Maguindanao – Police Director Gen. Ronald dela Rosa on
Tuesday reiterated the national government’s campaign against illegal drugs is
relentless and that police officers involved in it will be dealt without mercy.

We are
reaping the result of this campaign since President Duterte assumed office, the
national crime rate has gone down to 49 percent,” dela Rosa told officers, men
and women of the PNP Regional Office in the Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao (PNP-ARMM)

KIDAPAWAN CITY – Some 14,000 dancers participated in the city’s attempt to set a record at the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest cha-cha-cha, Tuesday. Leading the dancers were City Mayor Joseph Evangelista and NorthCotabato Governor Lala Mendoza. Most of the cha-cha-cha dancers were elementary pupils and high school students from private and public schools in the city. Joey Recemilla, city tourism and investment promotions officer, said at least three professional dancers, one of them a British national, witnessed the presentation, which happened at exactly 9 a.m.

KORONADAL CITY -- A private male nurse here was arrested this morningalong with another guy while in the act of sniffing prohibited drugs in Barangay Zone 4, this city, officials said.Dr. Glorio Sandig, action officer of Koronadal City Andi-Drug Abuse Council (CADAC), identified the suspects as Julio Balmatero Jr, 30, a pharmacy nurse,married anda resident of Banga, South Cotabato and Reynaldo dela Vega, 31, owner of the house on Aurora Street where the pot session took place.Glorio told DXOM-AM Radyo Bida Koronadal that city police director Supt.