Mindanao Armed Conflict

COTABATO CITY - Local officials have urged relatives of the Moro leader aspiring for barangay chairman in Malingao in the Bangsamoro Special Geographic Area to help put closure to his death on Tuesday in the hands of suspected guns-for-hire and avoid retaliation that can spark a bloody clan war.

For the police and military, solving the brutal murder of Haron Dimalanis in Midsayap, North Cotabato is not easy owing to his being a resident of an area under the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao but is located in a municipality in Administrative Region 12.

APAT na mga pulis ang sugatan matapos na salakayin ng pinaniniwalaang kasapi ng Dawlah Islamiya at Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters ang isang police detachment sa Barangay Pagatin, Datu Salibo, Maguindanao del Sur kagabi.

Ayon kay Datu Salibo police station chief Capt. Ramillo Serame sa panayam ng DXMS Radyo Bida, ang mga nasugatang pulis ay mga kasapi ng 1402nd Regional Mobile Force Company na nakatalaga sa roadside detachment sa Barangay Pagatin.

Naganap ang harassment pasado alas 6 kagabi.

COTABATO CITY --- Recurring gunfights among rival Moro groups in two towns in Maguindanao del Sur forced some 500 families to relocate to safe areas, leaving their livestock and harvestable crops behind.

Army Brig. Gen. Oriel L. Pangcog, commander of the Army’s 601^st Brigade, said Tuesday at least 40 families in Barangay Sapakan in Mamasapano, Maguindanao del Sur were displaced by a spate of gunfights between two factions in the Moro Islamic Liberation Front that started last weekend.

COTABATO CITY – Three members of outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and three New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas have surrendered to police authorities in Sultan Kudarat province, officials said Friday.

In a statement, Col. Christopher Bermudez, Sultan Kudarat provincial police director, said he welcomed on Thursday afternoon the surrender of the three BIFF members under the Karialan faction who turned in an improvised explosive device and a Carbine rifle during their surrender in Isulan town.

COTABATO CITY  – A village chair in Maguindanao del Sur killed in a bomb attack in Shariff Saydona town was buried by his relatives at in Barangay Pendetin, Dtu Salibo, Maguindanao del Sur seven hours after the bomb attack. 

His companion, a village councilman, was injured and is undergoing medication in a hospital.

Rex Torino, speaking for the local government of nearby Datu Salibo town, said Jun “Datu Manot” Silongan, chairman of Barangay Penditen, Datu Salibo, died on the spot after the blast that occurred at 8:40 a.m. in Barangay Ganta, Shariff Sadyona town.

COTABATO CITY - The head of Cotabato City General Services Office, Pedro Tato Jr, survived an ambushed by still unidentified gunmen at about 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Almedras Renabor, city public safety officer, said Tato, 59, sustained shoulder and body injuries but is now in stable condition at a hospital.

His driver, Dandy Anonat, 30, was critically injured and later expired while undergping medication at the hospital, according to Major John Vincent Bravo, Police Station 2 chief.

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao del Norte – Patuloy na nababawasan ang maliit na bilang ng mga natitirang komunistang terorista makaraang masawi sa panibagong labanan ang isang mataas na lider ng komunistang terorista sa Sitio Kalogkog, Badiangon, Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat, pasado alas-10:00 kagabi (August 13, 2023).

Kinilala ni Lt. Col. John Paul Baldomar, pinuno ng 37th Infantry (Conqueror) Battalion ang nasawi na si Joseph Longan alias Michael, commanding officer ng Beijing Platoon at kabilang sa mga high value target na kasapi ng communist terrorist group.

AMPATUAN, Maguindanao Sur  – Police arrested here Sunday one of the suspects in the murder of a police lieutenant and foiled his attempt to execute another police officer securing a sports event in town.

Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, police director for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and has jurisdiction over Ampatuan police office, identified the suspect as Hamid Mling, a member of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

ISULAN, Sultan Kudarat  – A wanted Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) member and five communist rebels were separately arrested during law enforcement operations in Sultan Kudarat on Thursday.

Colonel Christopher Bermudez, Sultan Kudarat provincial police director, said the MILF member, identified as Bassir Naga, 41, a resident if Barangay Kaya-Kaya Datu Abdullah Sangki, Maguindanao del Sur was arrested based on arrest warrant issued by a local court.

COTABATO CITY - Gunmen killed a traditional Moro leader and his son in an ambush at dusk Sunday in a secluded area in Matalam town in North Cotabato, police said. 

Lt. Colonel Ariel Melocotones, Matalam town police chief, told DXND that the victims were on board a motorbike heading for home when ambushed at past 6 p.m.

In his report to Brig. Gen. Jimili Macaraeg, PRO-12 regional director, Melocotones identified the fatalities as Anwar Ebrahim Salem, Sr., 52, and his 21-year-old son, Anwar Hudines Salem, Jr.