Local News

COTABATO CITY -- Two cadavers were found in separate arears in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao over the weekend, police said today.The first cadaver was found by Embo Lalaog, a village council man and farmer of Barangay Semba, DOS, Maguidnanao.Lalaog was spraying chemical to his crops Sunday afternoon when he found the decomposing remains in his vegetable farm. The remains was later identified to beAlamin Manebpel Saguili, 28 resident of BarangayBroce, Barangay Tamontaka, DOS, Maguindanao.Saguili sustained stab wounds in the head, neck and body.

MANILA -- President Benigno S. Aquino III has appointed 14 new judges for Mindanao.This was contained in the transmittal letter sent to Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. Aranal-Sereno by Executive Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa Jr. dated Feb. 4, 2016 and released on Friday. I am pleased to transmit herewith the appointment letters of the following judges signed by His Excellency, President Benigno S. Aquino III, the transmittal letter signed by Ochoa said.The new judges for the Municipal Trial Courts (MTCs) in the provinces of Mindanao aresandJerry B.

KORONADAL CITY -- Police and anti-narcotics operatives Friday neutralized three men who resisted arrest during police anti-illegal drug operation in Surallah, South Cotabato.Senior Inspector Bernie Faldas, police chief of adjacent Sto. Nino, South Cotabato, said the three shot it out with law enforcers during a pre-dawn anti-illegal drug operaton in Barangay Upper Sepaka, Surallah.The still wounded civilians were brought by police operatives to Luntao Clinic and Hospital in Sto. Nino, South Cotabato at 10 a.m. Friday.

BULUAN, Maguindanao -- A powerful improvised bomb planted in
the provincial capitol grounds here was safely defused by Army bomb experts,
the military said today.

Colonel Ricky Bunayog, 33rd Infantry Battalion
commander, said the powerful improvised bomb fashioned from 81mm mortar with an
alarm clock as trigger mechanism was placed inside a black backpack and left in
front of the provincial risk reduction and management office in Poblacion
Buluan.

The IED was found at about 8 a.m.

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao -- A government trooper seriously
wounded in action when government forces and Moro rebels clashed by accident in
Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanaon on Wednesday have expired today at a military
hospital here.

COTABATO CITY - The lone bus firm resumed operation early today after a day-long drivers' and employees' sit down strike Wednesday.The first trip bus arrived shortly before 6 a.m. today from Davao City to the delight of regular bus commuters.Elmo, a pseudonym of Mindanao Star bus driver, said something good came out of the sit down strike.

COTABATO CITY – Hundreds of commuters bound for
Davao have been stranded here as the lone bus firm plying the Cotabato-Davao route
suspended its operations due to workers’ strike.

Commuters heading to Davao and the provinces of North
Cotabato, Davao del Sur and Davao Occidental were forced to take the commuter
vans parked just outside the terminal to ferry passengers.

But many opted to cancel trip instead of taking the Toyota
D4D vans for personal reasons.

KIDAPAWAN CITY --A suspected motorcycle thief was killed after he engaged in an hour-long running gun battle with police operatives in Kabacan, North Cotabato, around 3 p.m., Tuesday. Senior Superintendent Alex Tagum, provincial director of the Cotabato Provincial Police Office (CPPO), identified the suspect as Ramil Piang of Barangay Pedtad, Kabacan. Piang, according to Tagum, was a member of a carnapping syndicate whose base is located at Purok Krislam, Poblacion in Kabacan. Purok Krislam, reports said, is a known ‘haven’ of big-time suppliers of shabu, a known illegal drug.

DATU
ODIN SINSUAT, Maguindanao -– The excruciating heat in Maguindanao due
to dry spell has sent wild monkeys to major highways, begging for food from
motorists and locals.

About
20 monkeys, which appeared to be hungry, were seen beside the highway waiting
for motorists to share some food on Monday afternoon.

Amongthe motorists was a certain Mr. Aranias, a government employee who was passing by
on board a motorbike with son and daughter.

As
they stopped, Aranias pulled-out some Pandesal bread and shared it with the monkeys.

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao --- Authorities closed to traffic for four hours secluded stretches of a highway connecting Maguindanao’s Datu Saudi, Salibo and Datu Piang towns after bandits showed force along the route, provoking firefights with responding soldiers.The series of gunfights between marauding members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and combatants of Army mechanized units in the three towns forced dozens of families to relocate to neutral grounds for fear of getting trapped in the crossfire.Policemen immediately blocked stretches of the highways were BIFF gunmen a