Local News

KORONADAL CITY -- Not one but two.Two natives of South Cotabato are to hold vital cabinet positions of the administration of Rodrigo Duterte.Retired Major General Delfin Lorenzana will replace Sec. Voltaire Gazmin come June 30.Lorenzana is the second South Cotabatenio named in the Duterte official family.Earlier, the incoming President named former South Cotabato Gov. Esmal Mike Sueno to head the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG).Lorenzana, PMA Class 1973, is a resident of Barnagay Derilon, Banga and his family owned a resort there.

COTABATO CITY-- An Army commando from Leyte arrived in Maguindanao to replace the 45th Infantry Battalion based in Shariff Aguak town, ndbcnews.com.ph learned Sunday.The 400-strong 19th Infantry Battalion of the 8th Infantry Division, led by Colonel Roberto Sarmiento, has arrived ready for deployment any day now.Composed of Army commandos, the 19th IB will be initially stationed in Shariff Aguak while the 45th IB will be sent to Central Luzon.It mission is to help the 6th ID in its mission of maintaining peace and security in the division arera of operation which covers the provinces of Nor

BANGA, South Cotabato -- A man long suspected of illegal drug peddling hes been arrested and appropriate charges will be filed against him Monday, police said.Chief Inspector Marvin Duadua, Banga town police chief, identified the No.

COTABATO CITY --- Suspected partisans shot dead Friday an incumbent municipal councilor in South Upi town, the second elected official killed in Maguindanao province in two weeks.The victim, Warlito Pinuela, was attacked while whiling away time at the frontyard of his residence in the municipal center of South Upi, a hinterland town in the second district of Maguindanao.Pinuela was reelected to a third term during the May 9 elections.His relatives are convinced his murder was politically-motivated.Pinuela was a retired policeman, who was a member of the municipal police force in nearby

COTABATO CITY – The coming of rainy season did not only offer relief to the country’s farmers but for power utilities as well, the Cotabato Light and Power Company (Cotabato Light) said.
Arlene Hepiga, speaking for Cotabato Light, said the scheduled one-month maintenance shutdown of Therma South Incorporated will have less effect on the power utility’s capacity to provide uninterrupted power supply for Cotabato City and two Maguindanao towns.

KORONADAL CITY --Meet Police Inspector SOPHIA LOREN DELIU, a 25 year-old, Filipina-Romanian beauty, a graduate of the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA Class 2014) and she is presently on active duty as a police officer based in Baguio City. Last year,she was a candidate for Miss Earth Philippines.Sophia is the newest member of the elite Presidential Security Group(PSG) tasked to protect the life of the next President.She did not make it in the pageant but vowed to join another contest when opportunity comes.She belongs to the PNP Public Safety Battalion. She remains single.

KORONADAL CITY -- Police here arrested a mother-daughter tandem for allegedly duping a public school teacher of Php 25,000 cash for her transfer from Iligan City schools division to Koronadal City.In a report, the Koronadal City police office identified the suspects as Lalaine Faeldonia and her 17-year-old daughter.The Department of Education (DepEd-12) identified the teacher only through her first name Vangie.”Vangie, currently a teacher in Iligan City but a resident of Barangay Sto Nino, Koronadal City, sought police assistance after she started doubting the credibility and capacity of F

KORONADAL CITY -- Four infantrymen and two
communist guerrillas were injured in a clash between elements of the 39th
Infantry Battalion and New Peoples’ Army in the mountains of Columbio, Sultan
Kudarat, the military said today.

The fighting erupted when 39th IB
troopers on patrol in the sub-village of Lamalis, Barangay Datal Blao, Solumbio,
Sultan Kudarat accidentally met about 20 NPAs at about 10 p.m. Monday,
according to Army Capt. Danny Tapang, 39th IB spokesperson.

SURALLAH, South Cotabato -- A 48-year-old village defender here was injured on his left leg after his service cal. 45 pistol accidentally went off.Julio Arostique of Barangay Colongolo told Radyo Bida that the accident was triggered by a bumpy and unpaved barangayroad. Dahil sa lubak-lubak ang daan sir, Arostique told Radyo Bida when asked what triggered his gun to fire.Arostique is a member of Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team of Barangay Colongolo and was with other BPAT members on patrol on board a vehicle.As the road was bumpy, Arostique thought his gun might fall sohe took his cal.

KORONADAL CITY – Two workers of a multi-national firm in Surallah, South Cotabato were
killed by lightning strike over the weekend, police said today.

Chief
Inspector Joel Fuerte, Surallah town police chief, identified the victims as Danny
Danao, 23 of Barangay Kusan, Banga town and Nestor Feller, 38, of Barangay
Dajay, Surallah town, both in South Cotabato.

Both were
workers of Sumifru Corporation, a banana production firm operating in South
Cotabato.