Central Mindanao updates

 The police seized P1.7 million worth of shabu from a dealer entrapped Monday in Polomolok, South Cotabato.

Police Brig. Gen. Jimili Macaraeg, director of the Police Regional Office 12, said Wednesday the 36-year-old Rey Demihillo Caspillo fell in a sting in Barangay Glamang in Polomolok, laid with the help of local officials.

Macaraeg said Caspillo peacefully turned himself in when he noticed that he had sold 260 grams of shabu, worth P1.7 million, to non-uniformed anti-narcotics agents from PRO 12 and the South Cotabato Provincial Police Office. — The STAR/John Unson

Authorities say the police seized P643,000 worth of shabu from two different dealers, both linked to the Dawlah Islamiya, entrapped in separate operations Tuesday in Cotabato province.

In a statement Wednesday, the office of Brig. Gen. Jimili Macaraeg, director of the Police Regional Office 12, identifies the suspects as Fahad Macauyag, 44, and the 32-year-old Mojahid Silva, now locked in detention facilities.

Silva was immediately arrested after selling shabu to non-uniformed personnel of the Tulunan Municipal Police Station in a sting on Tuesday afternoon in Barangay Sibsib in Tulunan, Cotabato. — The STAR/John Unson

Classes in Barangay Kilangan, Pagalungan in Cotabato City are suspended since Wednesday due to deadly gunfights between two heavily-armed Moro groups.

Local leaders in Pagalungan in Maguindanao del Sur province, about 60 kilometers from this city, have urged the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, whose leaders are occupying key positions in the Bangsamoro government, to pacify the two groups, both identified with the MILF.

Officials of the Army’s 602nd Brigade that covers Pagalungan and nearby towns in Cotabato province told reporters Friday five people have been killed in the skirmishes in Barangay Kilangan in Pagalungan that started early this week. — The STAR/John Unson

Stakeholders were elated with Tuesday’s deployment of a battalion-size Special Action Force contingent in Pikit, Cotabato to help address the nagging security problems in the municipality.

The SAF is an elite combat-ready unit of the Philippine National Police, ready for more extensive and intricate law-enforcement operations.

Two members of the 80-seat Bangsamoro parliament, Datu Jambo Matalam and the physician Kadil Sinolinding, Jr., both related to big clans in Pikit, separately said Thursday the presence of a SAF battalion in the municipality will help deter wanton gun attacks in the area. -- The STAR/John Unson

Classes in the troubled Pikit town in Cotabato are suspended until Friday following the death of a 13-year-old boy in another gun attack in the area that left two other children wounded.

No fewer than 40 people had been killed since 2021 in shooting incidents in Pikit, located in the first district of Cotabato province, all unsolved

Pikit Mayor Sumulong Sultan signed on Tuesday afternoon an executive order suspending until Friday the classes in all schools in barangays under his jurisdiction following the fatal ambush about four hours before of a 13-year-old student, Fahad Guintawan, in an attack in Barangay Gli-Gli that left two other 12-year-old boys wounded. — The STAR/John Unson

The police seized 10 assault rifles from an Indonesian and two Filipino companions intercepted Saturday at a checkpoint in Kiamba town in Sarangani.

The Indonesian Anton Gobay, 29, and his Filipino companions, Michael Tino, 25, and the 53-year-old Jimmy Adolbe, are now clamped down in a detention facility of the Kiamba Municipal Police Station. -- The STAR/John Unson

Gunmen killed two personnel of a municipal civil security unit in an ambush Friday night in Polomolok town in South Cotabato.

In an initial report, the Polomolok Municipal Police Station identified the fatalities as Bonifacio Cabisada, 58, and his 56-year-old companion, Jessie Arciete.

They both died on the spot from multiple bullet wounds.

The office of Brig. Gen. Jamili Macaraeg, director of the Police Regional Office 12, said in a statement Saturday that Cabisada was a retired policeman.

The slain duo were members of the Polomolok civil security unit under the municipal mayor’s office. — John Unson

A sugarcane plantation worker was killed while three were hurt Thursday night in Matalam, Cotabato when one of them accidentally set off a grenade he was playing with.

Major Arniel Melocotones, chief of the Matalam Municipal Police Station, said Friday the fatality, Oto Biangan Lamalan, died instantly from shrapnel wounds.

Three of Lamalan’s companions injured in the explosion, Esmael Landing, Anggara Mangadta and Kentol Macaalay, all Maguindanaons, are now confined in a hospital. 

— The STAR/John Unson

Police say gunmen killed a female public school teacher in an ambush on Wednesday night in Pigcawayan town in North Cotabato province.

Police Maj. Andres Sumugat, Pigcawayan municipal police chief, tells reporters Thursday the 46-year-old Regina Cortez died on the spot from bullet wounds.

Cortez, a teacher in a government elementary school in Pigcawayan, was reportedly riding a motorcycle, on her way home from somewhere, when pistol-wielding men positioned along the route attacked. — The STAR/John Unson

A big group of New People’s Army guerrillas, 13 of them experts in fabrication of home-made bombs, surrendered in Sarangani province this weekend, the military said.

The 36 NPAs from Sarangani’s adjoining Maasim, Kiamba ang Maitum towns turned in assault rifles, shotguns, pistols and improvised explosive devices.

They renounced their NPA membership before Army Maj. Gen. Roy Galido, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, Sarangani Gov. Ruel Pacquiao and other local executives during a simple rite at the headquarters of the Army’s 38th Infantry Battalion in Maasim.

“Credit for their surrender should go to the provincial government of Sarangani and the local officials in the towns where they operated as NPAs,” Galido said Sunday. 

— The STAR/John Unson

Thousands were affected by flashfloods that swept parts of Sarangani province and General Santos City Tuesday following heavy downpours in mountain ranges around.

Floodwaters inundated stretches of a highway in Buayan area at the border of General Santos City and Alabel town in Sarangani, stranding hundreds of motorists and commuters.

The local government units in General Santos City and in Alabel have dispatched emergency responders to the flooded areas. — The STAR/John Unson

A passenger was killed while 11 others were badly hurt in a bomb explosion inside a bus in Tacurong City at noontime Sunday.

Police Lt. Col. Joan Maganto, chief of the Tacurong City Police, said Sunday the unit of the Yellow Bus Company was on its way to the city terminal, from Cotabato province, when the improvised explosive device went off. -- The STAR/John Unson

Officials take turns appealing for public cooperation in putting a stop to the unending killings in the troubled Pikit town in Cotabato province.

More than 30 people have been killed in one gun attack after another in Pikit in the past 24 months and two men were injured in a grenade blast in its town proper Friday afternoon.

A member of the 80-seat Bangsamoro parliament, the physician Kadil Sinolinding, says Saturday there is an urgent need for cross-section support to the police and military peacekeeping missions in Pikit. — The STAR/John Unson

Police say two women were killed while three other females were badly wounded in separate gun attacks in Pikit and Mlang towns in Cotabato province Thursday.

The fatalities, Althea Luceno and her aunt, initially identified only as Tisay Beltran, were killed one after another with pistols by men who barged into their house in Barangay Tantawan in Mlang at about 9:00 p.m. Thursday.

Probers from the Mlang Municipal Police Station are still trying to identify the culprits with the help of barangay officials and neighbors of the victims. — The STAR/John Unson

Two police officers and their alleged accomplices landed in jail three hours after they allegedly robbed a trader in General Santos City on Tuesday night.

In a statement Wednesday, the Police Regional Office-12 said the suspects Police Chief Master Sgts Renante Medina and Christopher Ararao and their alleged accomplices Edwin Salvador and Winston Jay Ongco, are now in detention after allegedly barging into the home of a local businesswoman and took P200,000 in jewelry, mobile phones and cash at gunpoint.

They were arrested by police responding to reports of the robbery. — The STAR/John Unson

A man whom relatives said had mental health issues killed his son and niece and wounded three more in a machete attack in Sarangani province on Saturday.

Police Lt. Col. Geovanni Ladeo, police chief of Glan municipality in Sarangani, said Monday that the suspect was shot dead by a responding volunteer community watchman, who was also related to him by blood.

Commuity watchman Dewil Pondong shot the suspect, whom he said had tried to attack him too. He has surrendered to town police. — The STAR/John Unson

The defense department has augmented the artillery assets of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division with eight modern large truck-mounted artillery from Israel to boost its anti-terror operations.

Major Gen. Roy Galido, commander of 6th ID, on Saturday briefed reporters on the technical intricacies of the eight 155 millimeter Autonomous Truck Mounted Howitzer System, or ATMOS 2000, that the national government shipped to Camp Siongco in Maguindanao via the seaport in General Santos City.

The eight ATMOS 2000 arrived at the Makar Port in General Santos City Thursday.

“These are surely effective artillery equipment,” Galido said during a brief talk with reporters in Camp Siongco on Saturday. — The STAR/John Unson

Two men on a motorcycle killed using pistols motorist Arnold Bakason in an attack Tuesday night in Barangay Saravia, Koronadal City. 

Police Brig. Gen. Jamili Macaraeg, director of the Police Regional Office-12, said Wednesday investigators from the Koronadal police force are still trying to identify the culprits for prosecution.

Koronadal City is the capital of South Cotabato province. — The STAR/John Unson

A man in alamada, North Cotabato killed two of his drinking buddies over the weekend in an argument.

Rolando Salcedo, 56, and the 70-year-old Felix Arigola, succumbed to hacking injuries while being brought to the hospital.

Police Brig. Gen. Jamili Macaraeg, director of the Police Regional Office 12, said Monday that the two had been drinking with their attacker, Richel Nikor, before the incident.

Macaraeg said investigators have found out that the trouble started when they talked about the separation of Nikor and Salcedo's daughter owing to his "vices" and being unemployed. Nikor, irked by Salcedo’s tirades, got a sharp machete from somewhere and attacked him and Arigola.

Nikor is in police custody. — The STAR/John Unson

The police in General Santos City are in custody of a 25-year-old man wanted for four counts rape and whom they arrested in Barangay Conel.

Police Col. Paul Bometivo, city police director, confirmed on Sunday the arrest of Jay Mark Lescano, exactly 13 days after the Regional Trial Court Branch 22 issued a warrant for his arrest.

The warrant was signed by Judge Jerome Clarin Beatisola, dated August 5, 2022.

Bometivo said the court has not recommended a bail amount for the temporary release of Lescano. -- The STAR/John Unson

A member of the Special Action Force was killed Wednesday inside Police Regional Office-12 in General Santos City.

Companions of Police Cpl. John Paul Dayang Alintana said the heard a gunshot in their barracks and found him sprawled on the floor, bleeding.

Alintana died on the spot.

Police Brig. Gen. Alexander Tagum, director of PRO-12, has ordered an extensive probe into the incident. — The STAR/John Unson

Soldiers killed a regional official of the New People’s Army and his two alleged accomplices in a brief clash in Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat Saturday.

Reports from the Army’s 603rd Infantry Brigade and its mother unit, the 6th Infantry Division, identified the slain NPAs as Ian Dela Rama, Valerio Lacumbo and Wilmer Dela Cruz. 

Dela Rama, chief of the NPA’s self-styled Regional Operations Command-Far South Mindanao Region, and his two companions died on the spot from multiple gunshot wounds sustained in a clash with soldiers in Barangay Baluan in Palimbang on Saturday morning, the military said.

Palimbang is a seaside town in Sultan Kudarat province in Region 12. — The STAR/John Unson

Forty people were rushed to hospitals Saturday and were confirmed to have amoebic dysentery three days after attending a feast at a traditional gathering in a farming village in Matalam, Cotabato.

The victims were rushed to hospitals due to recurring painful abdominal spasms, nausea and diarrhea, according to local officials.

Matalam Vice Mayor Ralph Ryan Rafael said Sunday the victims, most of whom were related to each other, got sick after eating food served during a traditional "pamanhikan." Rafael also attended the event.

Rafael said his office and the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office are attending to the needs of the patients. — The STAR/John Unson

Municipal councils have placed two neighboring towns under states of calamity due to flooding.

The adjoining Datu Montawal in Maguindanao and Pikit in North Cotabato are close to the 220,000-hectare Liguasan Delta, a catch basin for more than a dozen rivers that spring from hinterlands in provinces around.

Flashfloods swept through dozens of barangays in both towns after the delta overflowed last week following heavy downpours.

Balumol Cadiding, Datu Montawal municipal disaster risk reduction and management officer, said their local government unit is now attending to the needs of evacuees.

— The STAR/John Unson

South Cotabato now has a dialysis center serving local patients for free, something first in Region 12.

The region, geographically known as central Mindanao, covers four provinces, South Cotabato, Sarangani, North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat, and the cities of Koronadal, Tacurong, General Santos and Kidapawan.

Nurse Rolly Aquino, officer-in-charge of the South Cotabato Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, says Saturday the South Cotabato Provincial Hospital Dialysis Center was launched Wednesday. — The STAR/John Unson

Ambushers on motorcycles shot dead two Moro men and wounded two others in a daring attack in Barangay Bawing here Sunday.

Victims Johnrey Samad Banto and Sari Aminola Kalamongi died on the spot from multiple bullet wounds.

In an initial statement Monday, the Tambler Police Station of the General Santos City Police Office said the duo’s companions, Uday Acad and Ressan Alawadi Uday, were badly wounded in the attack.

They are now confined in a hospital, according to the local police.

The Army's 6th Infantry Division has created "Task Force Bangis" to neutralize remaining members of the New People's Army operating in some areas in its jurisdiction.

The TF Bangis shall focus on addressing security threats from the NPA's Guerilla Front Musa, including extortion from people, commercial establishments, construction firms and public conveyances.

The TF Bangis was launched early this week, 6th ID's Division Public Affairs Office announced Thursday.

Major Gen. Roberto Capulong, commander of 6th ID, designated Lt. Col. Michael Angelo Candole as TF Bangis commander.

While the task force is a tactical contingent that would run after NPAs in parts of central Mindanao, it will embark, along with other 6th ID units and local executives, on backchannel measures meant to entice members of communist rebel groups to surredner and return to the fold of law. — The STAR/John Unson

A gunman shot dead a district schools supervisor in Maguindanao in a daring attack right in his yard in President Quirino, Sultan Kudarat on Sunday.

The 63-year-old Maguid Mangudadatu, who died on the spot from bullet wounds, is a ranking staff in the Maguindanao 1 Division of the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

In a statement Monday, the Police Regional Office-12 said the killer of Mangudadatu casually entered the victim’s fenced residential yard in Barangay Poblacion, shot him repeatedly with a .45 caliber pistol and hurriedly escaped. — The STAR/John Unson

Authorities say a villager was killed while two others were seriously wounded when suspected members of a local terrorist group shot with assault rifles four houses in Pikit town in North Cotabato late Thursday.

In a statement Friday, the Pikit Municipal Police Station identifies the fatality as Gilbert Roa, who died on the spot from multiple bullet wounds.

Roa was inside one of four adjoining houses in Sitio Saguing in Barangay Ginatilan in Pikit, North Cotabato that unidentified men shot with M16 and M14 assault rifles. — The STAR/John Unson

Four alleged members of the New People’s Army surrendered over the past four days to the 5th Special Forces Battalion and turned in firearms before each pledged allegiance to the government.

Maj. Gen. Roberto Capulong of the Army’s 6th Infantry said Tuesday the four alleged NPAs from three different towns in South Cotabato yielded through the efforts of municipal officials and Lt. Col. Zandro Alvez, commanding officer of the 5th SF Battalion.

In a report to 6th ID’s headquarters in Camp Siongco in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao, Alvez said the four NPAs yielded assault rifles, a .45 pistol, a vintage Thompson submachinegun before each promised to reform for good in the presence of Army officials and community leaders in South Cotabato’s adjoining Lake Sebu, T'boli and Banga municipalities.

One of them yielded an old Belgian FN caliber 7.62 assault rifle. — AFP

Authorities say that an uncooperative illegal drug den owner was shot dead while two of his cohorts were arrested in an entrapment operation in Cotabato City Monday..

Rogelito Daculla, director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, on Tuesday identifies the slain shabu dealer as Alex Usman.

Usman operated an illegal drug den in Sitio Talitay in Barangay Rosary Heights 7 in Cotabato City.

Usman, long under surveillance by PDEA-BARMM for peddling of shabu, died instantly from multiple bullet wounds. — The STAR/John Unson

Police report that they have seized P1 million worth of shabu from a peddler entrapped in Barangay Bula, General Santos. 

Col. Paul Bometivo, city police director, says the suspect, Jason Tiu Lacsamana, 47, is now detained.

He was immediately arrested after selling his illegal merchandise to non-uniformed policemen during a tradeoff in Barangay Bula about noontime Saturday. — The STAR/John Unson

Police say they have seized P300,000 worth of imported cigarettes here Monday, just five days after a team killed a smuggler and wounded another in a shootout in a nearby town.

Brig. Gen. Alexander Tagum, director of the Police Regional Office-12, says Wednesday the light truck carrying the smuggled cigarettes bound for Davao City was also impounded.

Truck driver Raymon Bacroya and his two helpers, Omar Junio and Jeizer Gonzales, all from Zamboanga City, are now clamped down in a police detention facility. — The STAR/John Unson

Authorities say they have clamped down a shabu peddler after selling P40,000 worth of his illegal merchandise in a tradeoff with agents Thursday in Arakan, North Cotabato.

Naravy Duquiatan, director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-12, says Francis Fran shall be prosecuted for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 using the shabu confiscated from him as evidence.

Duquitan says Fran, a truck driver, was entrapped Thursday afternoon in Barangay Katipunan in Arakan, an upland town in North Cotabato by combined PDEA-12 agents and personnel of the local and provincial police offices. — AFP

Soldiers shot dead an alleged bomb courier of the Dawlah Islamiya and arrested another in a shootout on Wednesday morning in Barangay Dunguan in North Cotabato.

Col. Jovencio Gonzales, commander of the Army’s 602nd Infantry Brigade, identified the slain terrorist as Monir Lintukan, who died in the spot from bullet wounds.

Members of different municipal peace and order councils in North Cotabato province told reporters Thursday Lintukan was courier of improvised explosive devices that were used in recent bus bombings in central Mindanao. — John Unson

Two people were slightly injured when an improvised explosive device went off inside a bus while its driver was maneuvering through a stretch of the busy GenSan Drive in Koronadal City at noontime Thursday.

The IED was placed underneath a seat in the rear of a unit of the Yellow Bus Line, operating on routes connecting the central Mindanao cities of Koronadal, General Santos, Tacurong and Davao City in Region 11.

In an initial statement, the South Cotabato Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office said a driver of a tricycle trailing behind sustained shrapnel wounds in different parts of his body.

A bus passenger, a woman, was also slightly hurt in the blast. — The STAR/John Unson

Probers are still clueless on Thursday’s ambush here of the lawyer-chairperson of the Bangsamoro Business Council who survived the attack unscathed since he was riding a bullet-proof vehicle.

A driver and political campaigner of mayoral candidate Nukman Sangki, was killed in a gun attack the same day in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao.

The lawyer Ronald Torres, a staunch indigenous people and Moro rights advocate, survived Thursday’s attack here by men who did not know he was in a bullet-proof Toyota Land Cruiser that they shot with assault rifles. — The STAR/John Unson

Anti-narcotics operatives seized P81,600 worth of shabu from a clandestine drug den operator and his three accomplices who fell in an entrapment operation here Monday.

Nestor Aposaga Mapili, 53, Edwin Pacino Genota, 26, Angelito Agusto Gariles, 45, and Jeremy Dublico Patriceo, 40, are now locked in a detention facility of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-12.

Naravy Duquiatan, director of PDEA-12, said Tuesday they are to prosecute the four of them for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. — The STAR/John Unson

State agents uprooted and burned 125 marijuana shrubs in an anti-narcotics operation in Barangay Malabud in Malungon town in Sarangani Monday.

Naravy Duquiatan, director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-12, said Tuesday marijuana propagator Reynante Ozano Buan was arrested in the operation, now clamped down in a detention facility of the Malungon Municipal Police Station.

The PDEA-12 operation that led to the seizure and burning of the 125 marijuana plants was assisted by the Sarangani Provincial Police Office and the Malungon municipal police force.

Agents placed at no less than P25,000 their estimate of the value of the uprooted marijuana plants. — The STAR/John Unson

A big group of Police Regional Office-12 personnel have just studied an internal security course via PRO-12’s Regional Special Training Unit.

The 233 policemen and policewomen were declared graduates of the Basic Internal Security Operations Course (BISOC) during a symbolic rite on March 30, 2022, Police Brig. Gen. Alexander Tagum, director of the Police Regional Office-12, said Monday.

The graduation rite, officiated by PRO-12 officials led by Tagum, was held at the parade ground of PRO-12 in Tambler, General Santos City.

The BISOC Class 50-2022-R12 is composed of 199 male and 34 female members of units under PRO-12, Tagum said. — The STAR/John Unson

Two vendors of smoked fish were killed and the vehicle of a lawyer working for a Bangsamoro parliament member was damaged in separate gun attacks here in North Cotabato in the past two days.

The fatalities, Pepito Sobrepeña, 57, and his 26-year-old helper, Juner Alconera, died on the spot from bullet wounds.

The duo were attacked with pistols by motorcycle-riding suspects while in their roadside stall in the town proper of Pikit late Saturday.

Local officials and police investigators said they have received information from tipsters that the suspects in the murder of Sobrepeña and Alconera are residents of Barangay Punol, an interior area here. — The STAR/John Unson

Personnel of the Pikit Municipal Police Station said they have the names of the suspects and are now verifying their exact identities and their real motive for killing Sobrepeña and Alconera.

Three more members of the New People’s Army surrendered in nearby Maasim town in Sarangani, a regional police official said Tuesday.

Brig. Gen. Alexander Tagum of the Police Regional Office-12 said Mary Jane Gansayan Adon, Robert Todal Adon and Melio Simban Melel had pledged allegiance to the government before personnel of the 1204th Maneuver Company of the Regional Mobile Force Battalion 12 during a surrender rite in Maasim last weekend.

The three NPA members belonged to the group’s self-styled Guerilla Front 73-Far South Mindanao Region Command, whose top leaders are facing criminal cases pending in different courts.

 Tagum said they agreed to return to the fold of law through the efforts of local executives and Police Col. Jemuel Siason, force commander of the RMFB-12, and officials of the 1204th Mobile Force Company. — The STAR/John Unson

Authorities say two members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) were killed in a clash with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) members in North Cotabato Friday.

The two groups are locked in territorial disputes, according to local officials and the municipal police, now scrambling to disengage the rival groups, armed with assault rifles and 40 millimeter grenade launchers.

Two from the MNLF were killed on the spot in a two-hour running gunfight on Friday with enemies belonging to the MILF in Sitio Buguak in Barangay Kalakakan. — The STAR/John Unson

Fourteen supposed members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, five of them experts in fabrication of home-made bombs, pledged allegiance to the government Monday.

They yielded assault rifles, B40 anti-tank rockets and components for improvised explosive devices to officials of the Army’s 34th Infantry Battalion during a surrender rite here Monday, witnessed by local officials.

Major Gen. Juvymax Uy of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division said Tuesday the 14 terrorists surrendered through the intercession of Lt. Col. Edgardo Vilchez, Jr. of the 34th IB, the North Cotabato provincial police and local executives here and in nearby Northern Kabuntalan, Maguindanao. — The STAR/John Unson

Two members of the New People’s Army balked from burning construction equipment of three firms as ordered and surrendered instead to the Army the other day.

The duo, both members of an NPA group that had earlier burned bulldozers, payloaders and dump trucks of construction firms implementing infrastructure projects in nearby towns in South Cotabato, returned to the fold of law via the local government unit of Lebak, Sultan Kudarat and the Army’s 37th Infantry Battalion. — The STAR/John Unson

Authorities uprooted thousands of marijuana plants Sunday in Tupi town in South Cotabato, a regional police official announces Tuesday.

Brig. Gen. Alexander Tagum, director of the Police Regional Office-12, says the marijuana plants, valued at P4.6 million, were immediately set on fire by policemen and agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-12.

He says it was vigilant tipsters who informed them about the propagation of marijuana by a certain Siano Dialang in Barangay Miasong in Tupi, enabling members of units under PRO-12 and agents of PDEA-12 to promptly carry out the uprooting operation. — John Unson

A regional military official says two commanders of the New People’s Army and six others surrendered in Sultan Kudarat this week.

Major Gen. Juvymax Uy, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, says the two NPA commanders, Bakilo and Ranger, and their followers yielded through the backchannel efforts of the 37th Infantry Battalion and local officials.

They turned in assault rifles, two .45 caliber pistols and a fragmentation grenade before they pledged allegiance to the government in symbolic rites at the headquarters of the 37th IB in Barangay Tebpuan here. — The STAR/John Unson

The police seized 25 boxes of imported cigarettes intercepted in Maitum town in Sarangani on Thursday.

Police Brig. Gen. Alexander Tagum, director of Police Regional Office-12, said Friday the contraband was in a van that has since been impounded.

"The driver of that truck and his helpers were unloading some of their merchandise in Barangay Piñol (in Maitum) when patrolling policemen saw them. They were immediately surrounded and prevented from leaving,” Tagum said. 

Investigators estimated the value of the confiscated Casablanca cigarettes from Indonesia at P375,000 to P420,000. — The STAR/John Unson

Investigators are still clueless on the identity of two men who set off a fragmentation grenade near a roadside police check point here late Thursday.

No one was hurt in the bombing but the strong blast caused panic among villagers.

The two men sped away as the MK2 grenade one of them hurled near the police detachment went off. — The STAR/John Unson

Court proceedings and work at the Hall of Justice in Kidapawan City, North Cotabato has been stalled for a week since the Cotabato Electric Cooperative cut power over P300,000 in unpaid bills.

The Catholic radio station dxND on Wednesday quoted Cotelco general manager Godofredo Gomez as saying the cooperative had no choice since it also has to pay for electricity bought from power producers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has delayed the transfer of funds from the Supreme Court to lower courts, sources said. — The STAR/John Unson

Gunmen killed with assault rifles two villagers in an attack late Monday in an interior barangay in Surallah, South Cotabato.

The victims — a 54-year-old woman and her 34-year-old nephew — died from multiple bullet wounds.

Two men armed with M16 assault rifles reportedly crawled near the house of the victims, shot them through open windows and escaped.

Informants told police that the woman was locked in a land dispute with another family. — The STAR/John Unson

Three were hurt, one of them a 10-year-old child, in what could be a grenade explosion that ripped through a roadside area Barangay Kilada here late Wednesday.

The victims sustained shrapnel wounds in different parts of their bodies.

They were together near a store along a national highway in Barangay Kilada here when someone reportedly hurled an explosive and hurriedly escaped. — The STAR/John Unson

A drunken man killed with a knife a police sergeant in a rampage in Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat on Monday night that also resulted in his death.

The family of the suspect reportedly turned him over to the Esperanza municipal police station for custody for being unruly prior to the incident.

Police said the suspect stabbed Police Staff Sgt. Victor Araño inside the mess room of the Esperanza police station before running away.

Araño died in a hospital where he was rushed by companions for treatment.

From the police station, the suspect reportedly barged into a house nearby and held hostage two children that he eventually set free through the intercession of senior members of barangay officials and police officers.

Police said the suspect was shot dead by members of the municipal police when he grabbed from one of them a pistol while he was being cuffed. — The STAR/John Unson

Authorities seized more than P1 million worth of shabu in separate entrapment operations in central Mindanao’s South Cotabato and Maguindanao provinces Friday.

Agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-12 first confiscated P374,000 worth of shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) from Prince Ralph Alib, 42, during a clandestine tradeoff in Barangay Lagao, General Santos City.

Naravy Duquiatan, director of PDEA-12, said Sunday Ali is now in the custody of PDEA-12, to be prosecuted for violation of Republic Act 9165, also known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. — John Unson

A man said to have gone berserk killed late Thursday his wife and two young children and then stabbed himslf, the police reported Sunday.

In a statement Saturday, the Tupi Municipal Police Station said the 37-year-old man was restive and seemed agitated two days before he killed his wife and children.

Citing accounts of neighbors, the Tupi MPS said Dinal and his wife were overheard shouting at each other before the incident. — The STAR/John Unson

The police arrested Tuesday one of the five suspects in the 2011 murder in a nearby town of Italian priest Fausto Tentorio.

Police Brig. Gen. Alexander Tagum, director of the Police Regional Office-12, said Wednesday the 65-year-old suspect is now detained, awaiting prosecution.

The suspect was tagged in the 2011 fatal shooting of Tentorio in Arakan town in North Cotabato.

Tentorio was about to embark on his vehicle parked in a church compound in Arakan, an upland town, when his killers approached from behind and shot him with pistols killing him on the spot. — The STAR/John Unson

Authorities uprooted and burned 11,000 marijuana plants in an operation Tuesday in Columbio, Sultan Kudarat.

Naravy Duquiatan, director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-12, placed at P2.2 million their estimate of the marijuana plants reportedly propagated by a suspect and his accomplice, both of whom managed to escape.

The marijuana plants were neatly planted in rows in an upland area in Sitio Asmakul-Basag in Barangay Sinapulan, Columbio.

The operation that resulted in the confiscation of the 11,000 marijuana plants was launched after vigilant residents reported to the PDEA-12 and the local police its presence in Sitio Asmakul-Basag, a secluded area in Barangay Sinapulan. — The STAR/John Unson

Police seized over the weekend P2.4 million worth of imported cigarettes three smugglers were to sell to buyers in Libungan town in North Cotabato, a regional police official said Monday.

Personnel of the Libungan municipal police then confiscated the contraband from the suspects they were to entrap at the town proper.

Brig. Gen. Alexander Tagum, director of the Police Regional Office-12, said the sting was laid after members of the Libungan municipal police force received tips from patriotic informants purporting that a group is clandestinely distributing imported cigarettes to local traders. — The STAR/John Unson

The police foiled Monday an attempt to smuggle P5 million worth of imported cigarettes to General Santos City via the Davao-North Cotabato route.

The truck loaded with more than 200 boxes of foreign-made Tradition cigarettes was intercepted by police personnel at a checkpoint in Barangay Old Bulatukan in Makilala, North Cotabato.

Police Brig. Gen. Alexander Tagum, director of the Police Regional Office-12, said Tuesday four men escorting the cigarettes and the driver of the truck are now detained. — The STAR/John Unson
 

The World Bank and the government are to jointly construct a P100.3-million concrete farm-to-market road connecting two barangays in Tampakan, South Cotabato.

The five-kilometer road project that would cut through rugged hinterlands shall link Barangays Lampitak and Albagan in Tampakan, ancestral homeland of the indigenous Blaan people, also home to Ilonggo settlers.

Local officials said Sunday the project involves the World Bank, the Department of Agriculture and the local government unit of Tampakan.

Tampakan Mayor Leonard Escobillo said a concrete road connecting Barangays Lampitak and Abalgan will boost the agricultural productivity of residents in both areas. — The STAR/John Unson

Four persons, one of them a bus conductor, were killed in separate gun attacks in Aleosan, North Cotabato Saturday.

Three men together in a vehicle perished in the first incident, according to Police Cpt. Arvin John Cambang, chief of the Aleosan municipal police.

Cambang on Sunday morning said the victims were flagged down in Barangay Dualing by pistol-wielding suspects and shot one after another, killing them on the spot.

Probers are clueless yet on the identities of their killers and the motive for the attack. — AFP

A councilor of Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat succumbed to COVID-19 Monday, barely three months after the mayor died of the disease.

The 77-year-old Maximo Casador was a second-termer member of the Tacurong City council and was expected to seek reelection in the 2022 polls.

Allan Freno, city information officer, said Tuesday that Casador's remains had been cremated in keeping with state health protocols.

The Philippine flag is flown at half-mast at the ground of the Tacurong City hall compound in honor of Casador. — The STAR/John Unson

State agents seized P600,000 worth of shabu from two dealers, one of them a minor, entrapped over the weekend in nearby Midsayap town in North Cotabato.

Suharto Mascod Antilino and his 15-year-old accomplice were arrested after selling their illegal merchandise to non-uniformed personnel of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao during a tradeoff in Barangay Poblacion 7 in Midsayap.

The operation on Saturday that resulted in their arrest was assisted by personnel of the Midsayap municipal police. — John Unson

The police has clamped down on rape suspect who was arrested Saturday, the sixth from among top ten most wanted persons in Koronadal City in South Cotabato.

The 34-year-old accused rapist yielded when personnel of the Koronadal City police cornered him at Purok Malipayon in Barangay San Isidro here and showed him a warrant for his arrest. 

The accused is wanted for a rape offense without bail and for a separate child abuse case, or violation of Section 5 of the Republic Act 7610, also known as the Anti-Child Abuse Law.

Police Col. Jemuel Siason, director of the South Cotabato provincial police, said Sunday police had been tipped off to the accused's location. — AFP

The police have arrested two suspects for allegedly beheading a drinking buddy on Saturday.

They were arrested with the help of witnesses Sunday.

Police Lt. Col. Joan Maganto of the Tacurong City police said Monday they are now preparing criminal charges against the suspects.

They readily confessed to having beheaded a companion following an altercation while they were drinking together in Barangay San Emmanuel. 

Maganto declined to name the victim pending full disclosure by police forensic experts of a final report on the exact identity of the fatality. — The STAR/John Unson

Authorities confiscated 20 endangered Philippine hanging parrots from two illegal traders arrested in Koronadal City over the weekend.

The green hanging parrots (Loriculos philippensis) are more known as "colasisi" in Southern Mindanao.

The suspects fell in a sting in Barangay Concepcion laid together by the Koronadal City Police and the agents from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-12.

Police Lt. Col. Joven Bagaybay of the Koronadal City police said Monday the DENR-12 shall prosecute the suspects for violation of the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act. — The STAR/John Unson

Soldiers collected 97 more firearms from supporters of the New People’s Army and Dawlah Islamiya in Maitum, Sarangani in the past three months, a regional Army official said Thursday.
 
The firearms were voluntarily turned in by owners through the intercession of the Army’s 38th Infantry Battalion and officials of the 603rd Infantry Brigade, according to Maj. Gen. Juvymax Uy of the 6th Infantry Division.

More than 50 firearms were collected from Sarangani residents by both units early on. — The STAR/John Unson

Soldiers found 15 home-made bombs and a fragmentation grenade in an abandoned lair of terrorists following a brief encounter Sunday.

Personnel the 601st Infantry Brigade immediately deactivated the improvised explosive devices recovered in the hideout of Dawlah Islamiya bomber Jaiden Nilong in a secluded area at the border of South Cotabato’s adjoining T’boli and Polomolok towns.

The Dawlah Islamiya, which has three subgroups, the Ansa’r Khilafa Philippines, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the Al-Khobar extortion gang, uses the flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria as its banner. — The STAR/John Unson 

A combined police-army team shot dead an alleged member of the Dawlah Islamiya terror group in a brief encounter in Tupi, South Cotabato.

The South Cotabato provincial police identified the fatality as Jalman Orandatang of the Ansar Khilafa Philippines group of the Dawlah Islamiya that uses the flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria as its banner.

Orandatang was killed in Barangay Kablon in Tupi, South Cotabato while resisting arrest.

Police personnel were to frisk and search him for a pistol along a stretch of a highway in Barangay Kablon, but he and his companion pulled out guns and opened fire, provoking a shootout.

Orandatang  died instantly from multiple gunshot wounds while his companion, a certain Jonny, was wounded in the gunfight.

The scene of the encounter is near the headquarters of the Philippine Army’s 5th Special Forces Battalion in Barangay Kablon.

Residents in villages around said they noticed Orandatang and his companion observing the Army camp from a distance. — The STAR/John Unson

A combined police-army team shot dead an alleged member of the Dawlah Islamiya terror group in a brief encounter in Tupi, South Cotabato.

The South Cotabato provincial police identified the fatality as Jalman Orandatang of the Ansar Khilafa Philippines group of the Dawlah Islamiya that uses the flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria as its banner.

Orandatang was killed in Barangay Kablon in Tupi, South Cotabato while resisting arrest.

Police personnel were to frisk and search him for a pistol along a stretch of a highway in Barangay Kablon, but he and his companion pulled out guns and opened fire, provoking a shootout.

Orandatang  died instantly from multiple gunshot wounds while his companion, a certain Jonny, was wounded in the gunfight.

The scene of the encounter is near the headquarters of the Philippine Army’s 5th Special Forces Battalion in Barangay Kablon.

Residents in villages around said they noticed Orandatang and his companion observing the Army camp from a distance. — The STAR/John Unson

The police clamped down five men in General Santos City for an illegal online cockfight and taking gambling bets from watchers.

Police Maj. Rommel Constantino, chief of General Santos City's Police Precinct 1, said the five men were caught by a police team in the act of facilitating the online cockfight in the premises of the Land Transportation Office near the city hall.

Constantino said the five men to be prosecuted for violation of Presidential Decree 1602, which penalizes illegal gambling. —The STAR/John Unson

A security guard drowned and around 300 hectares of rice farms were damaged as flashfloods caused by heavy downpours swept through parts of North Cotabato Tuesday.

The 46-year-old guard had been protecting the site of a hydroelectric power facility project in Alamada town in North Cotabato.

He was sleeping inside a makeshift bunkhouse, along a river straddling through the project site, that rampaging floodwaters hit and swept downstream.

Rescuers found his body late Tuesday in a shallow portion of a river in Barangay Polayagan in Libungan, North Cotabato, about six kilometers away.

Floodwaters also destroyed 49 houses near a river in Barangay Raradangan, Alamada. — The STAR/John Unson

Three mechanics were badly hurt in an attack by a man armed with an M16 assault rifle in Barangay Lapu in Polomolok, South Cotabato on Sunday.

Police Lt. Redin Cuevas, intelligence officer of the Polomolok municipal police, said Monday the victims are now confined in a hospital.

They were together fixing a pickup truck when their attacker arrived and opened fire, hitting all three of them. 

The suspect escaped using a getaway motorcycle driven by a companion. — The STAR/John Unson

Barangay officials in Midsayap town voluntarily turned over Tuesday to the military 18 firearms in support of the government’s disarmament campaign in troubled southern provinces.

The cache — a 5.56 Bushmaster, two M14 assault rifles, a .30 caliber Garand, five bolt-action rifles of different calibers, an M79 grenade launcher, a 12-gauge shotgun, five .45 caliber pistols and a .38 revolver — were surrendered by 10 barangay officials to Brig. Gen. Roberto Capulong.

Capulong is the commander of the Army’s 602nd Infantry Brigade that covers a number of towns in North Cotabato province. — The STAR/John Unson

Region 12 had 14 new COVID-19 related deaths on Wednesday, data obtained from the Department of Health-12 indicated.

Region 12 covers the provinces of South Cotabato, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani and the cities of Koronadal, General Santos, Kidapawan and Tacurong.

The region has 426 new COVID-19 infection cases as of 6:00 p.m. Wednesday.

Reports obtained from the DOH-12 also stated that a total of 291 patients have recovered from coronavirus infection as of Wednesday. — The STAR/John Unson 
 

Three passengers were burned alive when an arsonist set on fire a bus using gasoline while motoring through M'lang, North Cotabato on Thursday afternoon.

Initial reports from the local government unit of M'lang and the municipal police said one of the passengers of a unit of the Yellow Bus Company poured gasoline on the floor of the vehicle, lit the fuel with a disposable lighter and jumped out through its half-open hydraulic door.

Four other passengers, who suffered serious burns in different parts of their bodies, were rushed to a hospital by LGU emergency responders. — The STAR/John Unson

Security officials say 34 communist rebels surrendered with their firearms to the military forces in Lebak and Kalamansig towns, Sultan Kudarat.

Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan Jr., commander of the Western Mindanao Command, says the rebels, coming from different platoons of the New People’s Army Daguma front of the Far South Mindanao Region, surrendered Tuesday to the military forces under the 603rd Infantry Brigade.

Vinluan says 21 of the rebels who surrendered in Lebak were presented to 603rd Infantry Brigade commander Col. Eduardo Gubat and Mayor Frederick Celestial at the municipal hall. — The STAR/Roel Pareño

State operatives captured the elusive siblings Montukan and Walo Bungay, long wanted for heinous offenses, after a six-hour chase in Pikit town Sunday.

The duo was tagged in high-profile crimes, including robbery with homicide, multiple murder, frustrated murder and cattle theft.

Major Gen. Juvymax Uy, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division said Monday the Bungays were cornered in Barangay Bualan in Pikit, North Cotabato by personnel of the 602nd Brigade led by Brig. Gen. Roberto Capulong and members of the Philippine National Police. — The STAR/John Unson

The local Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease will lock a barangay in Carmen, North Cotabato down due to rising COVID-19 cases.

Carmen Mayor Moises Arendain, the town's IATF chairperson, said the decision to lock the Barangay Poblacion of Carmen down was reached after the task force experienced had difficulty in contact tracing.

Arendain told radio station dxND they have had a gard time locating individuals who had close contacts with local COVID-19 patients, a problem that necessitates the lock down of the Barangay Poblacion in Carmen to enable them to address the issue.
 
He said the lockdown shall be enforced until June 1.

The municipality of Carmen now has 46 COVID-19 cases. Eight of the patients are employees of the municipal government.

Arendain said they will provide food and other essential provisions to some 15,000 families ordered to stay in their homes for the duration of the lockdown. — The STAR/John Unson

Personnel of the city police impounded 45 motorcycles and held for orientation 63 violators of curfew and other local anti-COVID-19 regulations in a series of operations in the past three days.

The City Government of Koronadal City reported via Facebook Monday that three of the apprehended violators are minors.

Some of the motorists were apprehended, in joint operations by the Koronadal City police and anti-coronavirus frontliners from the May 15 to 17, for not wearing facemasks and for violation of the citywide nighttime curfew meant to limit movement of residents to protect them from COVID-19. — The STAR/John Unson

Thousands of homes in Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani provinces have gained access to electricity through 3,000 solar home system units coursed through South Cotabato II Electric Cooperative (SOCOTECO II) under the Strengthening Off-grid Lighting with Appropriate Renewable Energy Solutions (SOLARES) project last April, the Peace and Equity Foundation says in a release.

Sino Soar Hybrid (Beijing) Technology supplied the units to SOCOTECO II while funding and technical assistance was provided by PEF, the Department of Energy and the European Union (EU).

The SOLARES project was launched in 2018 by Mahintana Foundation, PEF, the EU and SOCOTECO II, and the Sultan Kudarat Electric Cooperative to increase energy access in off-grid areas through installation of solar home lighting systems and access to livelihood and financing opportunities to 6,000 off-grid rural households in the two provinces. 

The local governments of the two provinces will also provide technical assistance while local microfinance institutions (MFIs) will help finance livelihood projects of the communities, PEF says.

Watermelons and cantaloupes are selling at a low price along highways crisscrossing South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat provinces.

Due to the low prices of palay and corn grains, many farmers in towns in the two provinces shifted to growing watermelon and cantaloupe, which has resulted in overproduction.

The shift in crops in both provinces has resulted in big surpluses of watermelon and cantaloupe, now sold at only P20 a kilo in roadside stalls. — The STAR/John Unson

Investigators are still clueless on the fatal ambush in General Santos City on Sunday night of a former councilor in a nearby town, an attack that left his spouse and brother wounded.

Police Maj. Yol Hilado, chief of the city's Police Station 3, says Tuesday they are still trying to identify the killers of the 41-year-old Montasher Celozar Singcoy, who died on the spot from bullet wounds.

Singcoy was a former municipal councilor in nearby Malapatan town in Sarangani, about an hour away from General Santos.

Singcoy, his wife Akiba and his brother, were together in a car that motorcycle-riding men trailing shot with pistols in Barangay Baluan. — The STAR/John Unson

A military official says joint security forces recovered an improvised explosive device in a raid Thursday against suspected Daulah Islamiyah target and foiled a bombing plot in Pikit town, North Cotabato.

The joint forces of the 34th Infantry Battalion and police 4th Special Action Battalion conducted the search warrant against target suspect Taoki Payapat alias "Alvin" at Sitio Pedtubo, Barangay Langayen where they recovered the IED.

Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan Jr., commander of Western Mindanao Command, says the suspect managed to escape during the raid in his hideout. — The STAR/Roel Pareño

A bomb expert of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters surrendered to the military Saturday and handed over a sniple rifle and an improvised explosive device in Midsayap town, North Cotabato, a senior military official said Monday.

Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan Jr., commander of the Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom), said BIFF bomb expert Tong Ayob Dubpalig, alias Tong or Ruben, submitted himself to Brig. Gen. Roberto Capulong, commander of the 602nd Infantry Brigade and Lt. Col. Edgardo Vinchez, commanding officer of 34th Infantry Battalion based in Barangay Salunayan.

"Dubpalig withdrew his support to the BIFF-Karialan faction and submitted himself to the military forces in the area to live a peaceful life," Vinluan said. — The STAR/Roel Pareño

A policeman was killed while two others were wounded in an ambush in Barangay Pulonuling in Tupi, South Cotabato on Friday morning.

The fatality, Police Sgt. Reynante Espero, died on the spot while his companions, Police Sgts. Jorex Velasco and Jerome Silvederio, sustained gunshot wounds in different parts of their bodies.

The three policemen were riding a car together that gunmen trailing behind in another vehicle shot with pistols while motoring through a stretch of the Koronadal-General Santos Highway that passes through pineapple plantations in Barangay Pulonuling. — The STAR/John Unson

The New People’s Army set free Wednesday night in Don Carlos, Bukidnon a technician of a power utility abducted two days before in Arakan, North Cotabato.

Engineer Godofredo Homez, manager of the Cotabato Electric Cooperative, confirmed Thursday that captive Kier Selibio has been reunited with his co-workers and relatives.

Homez refuted circulating stories purporting that Selibio's captors set him free in exchange of ransom.

"There is no truth to that," Homez told reporters.

Selibio,  a solar power technician, was inspecting COTELCO’s solar power generating facilities in Barangay Kabalantian in Arakan when NPAs snatched him on suspicions he was spying for the military.

Homez said Selibio was left hogtied and blindfolded by his captors along a stretch of a national highway in Don Carlos in the hinterland Bukidnon province near North Cotabato. — The STAR/John Unson

Nine residents of the neighboring Davao del Sur and North Cotabato were slightly injured due to Sunday’s tremors that jolted the two provinces, also felt in many parts of Mindanao.

Four of them are residing in different towns in North Cotabato, according to sources from the office of Gov. Nancy Catamco, chairperson of the provincial disaster risk reduction and management council. — The STAR/John Unson

Twenty-six passengers were injured when a unit of the Mindanao Star Bus rolled over and plunged into a 10-foot ravine in Kidapawan City on Sunday.

Bus driver Jaypee Josue reportedly lost control of the bus when something fell from  an overhead compartment and hit his eye.

The 26 injured bus passengers were immediately rushed to different hospitals by responding policemen and responding emergency workers from the Kidapawan City government.

Four of the 26 passengers were discharged from the hospital after receiving first aid. — The STAR/John Unson

Two more senior New People’s Army guerillas pledge allegiance to the government and promise to help urge active comrades to surrender, the military says Sunday.

The duo, Jonathan Saliling and Michael Lugko, yield to the Army’s 7th Infantry Battalion under the 601stBrigade after learning that local executives in Sultan Kudarat’s adjoining Senator Ninoy Aquino, Isulan and Esperanza towns are helping the military identify NPAs operating in barangays under their jurisdiction.

Saliling and Lugko also turn over an M14 assault rifle each to Lt. Col. Romel Valencia, 7th IB’s commanding officer, during a simple rite at the battalion’s headquarters in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat. — John Unson

Government troops stumbled on a newly-abandoned New People’s Army camp Tuesday and recovered the bodies of two alleged rebels in the mountains of Palimbang town, Sultan Kudarat, military officials said.

Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan Jr., commander of Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom), said the latest discovery was a result of the focused military operations conducted by the 63rd Division Reconnaissance Company (DRC)  in tracking down the NPA rebels in Barangay Namat Masla, Palimbang town on Tuesday afternoon.

The discovery was the second that day after  troops from the same unit of 63^rd DRC also discovered and captured another abandoned camp that was rigged with an improvised explosive device (IED) in the nearby town of Kalamansig. — The STAR/Roel Pareño

Bomb experts defused Monday two improvised explosive devices found along a farm trail in Pikit town, where armed groups using the flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria as their banner operate.

The IEDs were fashioned from mortar projectiles rigged with detonators that can be activated from a distance using mobile phones.

Maj. Gen. Juvymax Uy of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division says Tuesday the IEDs were first spotted one after another in Sitio Dasulong in Barangay Ginatilan in Pikit, North Cotabato by a member of the Citizens Armed Force Geographical Unit and by his neighbors. — The STAR/John Unson

The police confiscated 33 sachets of shabu from a frontliner nurse who fell in an entrapment operation in Midsayap town Tuesday.

Julius Cesar Dadero Duque, a nurse in the local government unit of Midsayap, is now detained.

He was arrested after selling 33 sachets of shabu to an undercover officer of the Midsayap municipal police during a tradeoff Tuesday.

Calinga said Duque is a nurse assigned to a COVID-19 isolation facility of the Midsayap LGU. — The STAR/John Unson

Dozens of large trees fell and a number of structures were damaged when a tornado swept through three barangays in the seaside Palimbang town in Sultan Kudarat on Sunday.

The Palimbang disaster risk reduction and management council, personnel of the Bureau of Fire Protection and members of emergency reaction group Katiacap are still been clearing the adjoining Barangays Milbuk, San Roque and Libua of debris.

Mayor Joenime Kapina says Monday the municipal police and the Army's 37th Infantry Battalion are helping the MDRRMC respond to the emergency. — The STAR/John Unson

Two residents were drowned Tuesday in floodwaters that flowed downstream through a large river in Makilala town following heavy rains in hinterlands around nearby Mount Apo.

Only one of the two fatalities, Edzel Lanzon Gudmalin, has been identified so far.

North Cotabato's upland Makilala town is located at the foot of Mount Apo, the country’s highest peak surrounded by tropical rainforests from where large rivers crisscrossing the municipality spring from.

The bodies of the two victims were found one after another by emergency responders. — The STAR/John Unson

A diocesan priest in North Cotabato province has tested positive for COVID-19, the first ever in Mindanao.

Kidapawan Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo says Monday the priest is now under quarantine.

"Masses in the diocese will continue under stringent anti-COVID-19 protocols," Bagaforo says Monday.

He says he has directed the more than 30 priests under the diocese to take precautions against the novel coronavirus.

"I’m appealing to all to also include the priests in your prayers for good health during this pandemic," Bagaforo also says. — The STAR/John Unson

Gunmen repeatedly shot and finished off with a grenade a fruit trader in an attack in Barangay Singao in Kidapawan City on Sunday night.

The victim, Mark Romerde, died on the spot from multiple bullet and shrapnel wounds.

Jim Batislaong, a senior member of Singao’s barangay council, told responding police probers and reporters that Romerde was whiling away time along with his wife in their residential yard when the suspects arrived and shot him with pistols.

His wife, who managed to run away, was unscathed. — The STAR/John Unson 

Residents in North Cotabato province are panicking over frequent sightings since December of venomous King Cobras slithering through their farms, with a number of people killed in attacks since.

North Cotabato Gov. Nancy Catamco, chairperson of the provincial disaster risk reduction and management council, announces Tuesday that her office has allocated funds for the procurement of anti-venom injections for snakebite patients.

No fewer than 50 large King Cobras, known locally as "Banakon", have been killed by residents in North Cotabato’s Magpet, Arakan, President Roxas, Makilala and M'lang towns and in barangays in the provincial capital, Kidapawan City. — The STAR/John Unson

The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process says it condemns "in the strongest possible terms" an ambush in Kabacan, North Cotabato over the weekend that left eight people dead.

"We offer our deepest condolences to the families of the victims. May you have the strength and courage to cope with this painful loss. Our agency stands behind all of you during this most difficult time, and shall provide you the assistance you will need to recover from your loss," the office says.

"This barbaric attack shows the great lengths these lawless elements will go through to sow fear, anger and discord among the people. We believe that no person in the right frame of mind would carry out such a crime against humanity, more so, to take away precious, innocent lives," it also says as it calls for sobriety and restraint over the incident.

Police say a farmer was killed while three of his sons were badly hurt when a huge tree fell on their shanty as strong winds pummeled farming enclaves in Magpet town in North Cotabato early Friday.

The police identifies the fatality as Edwin Bayawan, 50, who died from injuries sustained in the accident.

His injured sons, Jessie, 23, Jerome, 24, and the 15-year-old Jigger, are now confined in a hospital. — The STAR/John Unson

Agents arrested an alleged drug dealer who used as cover for his illegal activity his being a chef in a local restaurant.

The suspect, Francis Aliperio, is now in the custody of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-12.

He fell in an entrapment operation along GenSan Drive in Barangay Morales in Koronadal City, South Cotabato on Monday laid by agents of PDEA-12 with the help of local officials and barangay leaders.

In a statement, the PDEA-12 said relatives of Aliperio provided them information on his shabu peddling activities using his being chef in a local restaurant as cover. — The STAR/John Unson

The local government of General Santos City has quarantined a second group of 165 residents who had contact with a neighbor who tested positive to COVID-19 while already out of a quarantine facility.

Physician Lalaine Calonzo, chief of the epidemiology and surveillance unit of the city health office, was quoted in radio reports Monday as saying that they have traced in recent days a total of 225 persons who had contact with the COVID-19 patient residing in Barangay Calumpang.

The result of the swab testing of the patient, a locally-stranded individual, came out only after completing the two-week quarantine. — The STAR/John Unson

A foreigner under quarantine went on a rampage on Sunday and destroyed P30,000 worth of equipment in a COVID-19 isolation facility in Kidapawan City.

The incident involving Gonzalez de Langarica Moriño of Barcelona, Spain triggered panic among Filipinos also being quarantined in the facility.

Moriño calmed down only after he was informed by health workers in the Apo Summit COVID-19 isolation center in Kidapawan City that a police team had arrived to arrest him.

Lt. Col. Rammel Hojilla, chief of the Kidapawan City police, says Monday they will file corresponding charges against Moriño. — The STAR/John Unson

A policeman was while three other frontliners were wounded when gunmen on a motorcycle attacked a quarantine checkpoint in Esperanza town Thursday.

Lt. Col. Lino Capellan, spokesman of the Police Regional Office-12, identified the fatality as Police Master Sgt. Arnold Paclibar, who died on the spot from multiple bullet wounds.

Paclibar was shot repeatedly by two men on a motorcycle that he tried to stop for inspection at a checkpoint in the town center of Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat. — The STAR/John Unson

Military officials say a leader of the Islamic State-inspired Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighter and 14 followers were captured while five other members were killed Thursday in the encounter against the government troops in a town of Sultan Kudarat,

Col. Joel Mamon, commanding officer of 601st Brigade, says nine others from the militant group were also wounded during the firefight about 6:29 a.m. in Purok Galmak, Barangay Baumol, Lamabayong town.

Mamon says the captured BIFF leader was Tugali Guiamal Galmak alias Commander Tugali, a former member of the Pentagon Gang, a kidnap-for-ransom group that is notorious in kidnapping operation in central Mindanao. — The STAR/Roel Pareño

North Cotabato has confirmed its first COVID-19 case, a patient believed to have been exposed to the novel coronavirus at a cockfight in Davao City.

North Cotabato Gov. Nancy Catamco and members of the provincial board separately told reporters the patient is a male from Midsayap and is at least 40 years old.

He has been confined at an isolation facility in Kidapawan City. 

Catamco said contact tracing is now being done.

The governor appeals for sobriety among Midsayap residents. — The STAR/John Unson 
 

 Residents of President Roxas town picketed at the entrance to a state-run hospital to dramatize their opposition to its possible conversion into a COVID-19 isolation facility.

The plan is part of a COVID-19 containment effort of the health department and the provincial government of North Cotabato, where there is no recorded coronavirus infection case yet.

Officials said the opposition of residents to the possible use as an isolation facility of the New Cebu District Hospital in President Roxas town in North Cotabato could have stemmed from fallacies about the coronavirus, among them a belief that air can spread it in their barangays.

Indignant residents told reporters they were not consulted on the plan to use the hospital compound as a COVID-19 isolation facility.

They barricaded at the entrance to the hospital compound and blocked the route with used tires.  — The STAR/John Unson

A militiaman killed with his service rifle a companion said to have run amok on Monday in their detachment Arakan town in North Cotabato.

Demer Sulayman, a member of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit, was reportedly forced to open fire on Ronnie Inuyog who went berserk amid an altercation with another militiaman.

Police Capt. Gaspar Maguiwe, chief of the Arakan municipal police, says Tuesday that Inuyog attacked Sulayman who merely tried to pacify him while having a loud argument with another CAFGU member.

Instead of calming down, Inuyog vented his ire on Sulayman who was forced to shoot him thrice for trying to strangle him. — The STAR/John Unson

A court has ordered the arrest of 18 operators of a pyramiding money market scheme using the Alabel-Maasim Credit Cooperative as front.

The Regional Trial Court Branch 46 in Alabel town in Sarangani issued last week the warrant for their arrest for syndicated estafa but copies were obtained by media outfits in central Mindanao only on Saturday.

Respondents Jerson Cagang, Conrado Mancao, Tirso Cereno, Juanito Jhon Castillo, Benigno Cereno, Albert Cagang, Fe Cagang, Ailene Mancao, Roshine Cereno, Jason Baybay, Liezel Vilan, Ivy Caparos, Calixto Bana-ay, Marlyn Tulio, Diana Ferry Sope, Anni Joy Dela Cruz, Marlon Marvin Lim and Eustaquio Hocson, were behind the operation of the now moribund ALAMCCO investment outfit. — The STAR/John Unson

Sixteen alleged members of the New People’s Army on Saturday pledged allegiance to the Philippine flag through the efforts of the Army’s 603rd Brigade.

The 16 NPAs first yielded assorted firearms and components of improvised explosive devices to officials of the 37th Infantry Battalion who fetched them before the weekend from their hideouts at forested hinterlands in Palimbang town in Sultan Kudarat. — The STAR/John Unson

Soldiers took over after a brief gunfight Saturday another enclave of the Dawlah Islamiya where members fabricated powerful improvised explosive devices.

Personnel of the Army’s 7th Infantry Battalion under the 602nd Brigade and the 62nd Reconnaissance Company of the 6th Infantry Division found components for IEDs, rifle ammunition and grenade projectiles hidden in the group’s makeshift shelters in Barangay Manaulanan in Pikit town in North Cotabato. — The STAR/John Unson

A drug suspect was killed while eight others were arrested in simultaneous anti-drug operations in the Soccsksargen region on Tuesday, Police Regional Office 12 says.

"Suspect Maula Managuili Kadil, 37 years old, married and a resident of Purok Baumol, Barangay Pidtiguian, Lambayong, Sultan Kudarat died in a drug bust operation after resorting to violence in resisting lawful arrest using a cal. 38 revolver," PRO-12 says.

Regional police say Kadil sold an undercover police officer P500 worth of shabu but pulled out a gun and fired a shot as the cop was giving the signal for other officers to arrest the suspect.

"The latter was fortunately not hit but this instance prompted back-up operatives to retaliate causing the suspects instantaneous death," PRO-12 says.

The Peace and Equity Foundation has partnered with the United States Agency for International Development, Philippine Fiber Industry Development Industry, United Maligang Farmers Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Joscual Trading and the local government of T'boli in South Cotabato to boost the coffee and abaca industries in the town.

According to a press release from PEF, the partnership will benefit 200 farmers with the Knoon Highland Farmers Association, 75 of whom will be trained to produce high quality green coffee beans.

PFIDI and UMFMPC will also help revitalize abaca farming, which can be grown all year while coffee is a seasonal crop.

A barangay tanod was killed when gunmen shot a vehicle carrying a senior leader of the Moro National Liberation Front in Barangay Ilian in Matalam, North Cotabato on Sunday.

Kunti Kadatuan Solaiman died on the spot from multiple bullet wounds.

His companions, Kutin Idtug—who is MNLF's political affairs officer in North Cotabato province—and a barangay chairman in Ilian, and Antonio Saban, were both wounded in the incident.

The victims were on a government service vehicle en route to the town proper of Matalam when they were attacked while passing by a sugarcane plantation along the way.

Investigators are certain it was Idtug who was the target of the ambush. — The STAR/John Unson

A police team killed the second most wanted shabu trafficker in central Mindanao in a brief gunfight in Polomolok town in South Cotabato Tuesday.

The 38-year-old Taugan Usman Vicente died on the spot from multiple gunshot wounds.

Agents who were to entrap him in Barangay Crossing Palkan in Polomolok shot him dead him instead after he reportedly pulled out a pistol after sensing that the person buying P80,000 worth of shabu from him was a non-uniformed policeman.

Vicente, of Barangay Sadsalan in Lambayong town in Sultan Kudarat, ranks second among the top ten drug traffickers in central Mindanao wanted by the Police Regional Office-12.

— The STAR/John Unson

Provincial officials are scrambling to comply with all documentary and technical requirements for the opening of the mothballed Central Mindanao Airport in M'lang, North Cotabato.

North Cotabato Gov. Nancy Catamco says Tuesday that provincial officials are already processing the documents needed for the national government to allow the opening soon of the facility.

President Rodrigo Duterte told Catamco and local mayors in the province during a sortie in M'lang last week that he wants the airport, constructed about a decade ago, to operate to boost North Cotabato's economy. — The STAR/John Unson

A powerful explosion ripped through a residential site in Pikit, North Cotabato before midnight Sunday causing panic among villagers in the area, authorities say.

Captain Mautin Panandigan, chief of the Pikit municipal police, says Monday that someone shot the house of Abdulkadir Bedtog Buda in Fort Pikit area with a 40-mm grenade.

The attacker escaped after the explosive went off.

Buda is principal of the Datu Embak Magansing Memorial High School in Pikit municipality. — The STAR/John Unson

Gunmen shot dead three members of an Ilonggo family and wounded three others in an attack on Saturday night in Matalam town.

The relatives Jose, Ernesta, Lorena, all surnamed Getalla, died on the spot from multiple bullet wounds.

They were dining together in their house in Purok Sampaguita in Barangay Poblacion in Matalam, North Cotabato when gunmen barged in and shot them with assault rifles.

Three other members of the Getalla family, Emmelita, Jose and Darryl, were seriously wounded in the incident. -- The STAR/John Unson

Alleged large-scale drug dealer Abu Mamalangkay Matalam, who was arrested in Pikit town in North Cotabato on Monday, is now facing charges over P120,000 worth of shabu and a .30-cal carbine found in his hideout.

Naravy Duquiatan, director of PDEA-12 based in General Santos City, says operation that led to Matalam’s arrest was assisted by the Pikit municipal police and units of the Army’s 602nd Infantry Brigade under the 6th Infantry Division. — The STAR/John Unson

More than a dozen houses were flattened by strong winds that battered parts of M'lang town in North Cotabato on Tuesday.

The office of North Cotabato Gov. Nancy Catamco on Wednesday assured affected villagers her of help.

The municipality is still recovering from strong earthquakes in the province in October and November. — The STAR/John Unson
 

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front lost a senior leader in ambush in Matalam town Tuesday.

Kagui Mansor Imbong, a ranking official in the MILF’s 108^th Base Command, was on a motorcycle when he was attacked by gunmen while motoring through a busy road in Barangay Elian in Matalam, North Cotabato.

He died on the spot from multiple bullet wounds. — The STAR/John Unson

Experts on Friday allayed fears of an eruption of the Mt. Apo volcano following the recent earthquakes that jolted this province, something the local communities are so scared of.

Hermes Daquipa of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said, during a dialogue Friday with representatives from the Mines and Goesciences Bureau and provincial officials led by Gov. Nancy Catamco, that while the volcano on top of Mt. Apo is active, it does not contain magma that can flow down to villages along mountainsides.

Dozens of barangays in North Cotabato’s capital, Kidapawan City, and in nearby Makilala town are located either along the sides or at the foot of Mt. Apo, the country’s tallest mountain range covered with scattered tropical rainforests. -- The STAR/John Unson

The Army-led Joint Task Force Central has tightened security in central Mindanao following a series of attacks by Islamic militants on military detachments in Maguindanao.

Members of the Dawlah Islamiya terror group shot with 40 millimeter grenade projectiles two detachments of the Army’s 57^th Infantry Battalion in Datu Unsay town in Maguindanao last weekend.

The attack was preceded by the harassment by the group of soldiers guarding two detachments of the Army’s 38th Infantry Battalion in the province. — The STAR/John Unson

North Cotabato Gov. Nancy Catamco has returned from a three-month suspension orderd by the Office of the Ombudsman over a graft case involving a project entered into while she was in the private sector.

Spiritual leaders of highland tribes in North Cotabato performed at sunrise today a blessing rite for Catamco to mark her return from the suspension.

The symbolic prayer rite was held at the town proper of the earthquake-stricken Makilala town in North Cotabato.

The tribesmen also prayed for her administration to surmount the challenges brought about by the devastating episodes of earthquakes that jolted the province in the past four weeks displacing more than 100,000 residents. — The STAR/John Unson

The Department of Trade and Industry-12 is enforcing a “price freeze” on consumer goods sold in four earthquake-stricken areas in North Cotabato.

The move is meant to ease the plight of thousands of residents in Tulunan, M'lang and Makilala towns in in North Cotabato and in the provincial capital, Kidapawan City, who were displaced by the magnitude 6.3 earthquake that shook parts of Mindanao on October 16.

There have been more than 800 aftershocks since.

All four areas have been placed under a state of calamity by local officials to hasten the release of funds for relief operations.

The local government unit in Kidapawan City started monitoring prices on Monday to keep businesses from taking advantage of North Cotabato residents staying in evacuation centers. — The STAR/John Unson

An Army sergeant and a Maguindanaon couple were arrested in separate government anti-narcotics operations in  over the weekNorth Cotabato over the weekend.

The arrests of Sgt. Oscar Dapriza of the 39th Infantry Battalion and spouses Jomar and Noraisa Sampulna in North Cotabato’s Tulunan and Carmen towns, respectively, were carried out by joint teams of the Philippine Army, units of the Police Regional Office-12 and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-12. — The STAR/John Unson

Authorities are anticipating retaliations by  local terror group after seven members  were killed Wednesday in a clash with combined police and Army personnel in Midsayap town.

A wanted bomber, Mama Macalimbol, and six of his henchmen were killed in the incident.

Macalimbol, a key member of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, is wanted for a series of recent bombings in central Mindanao.

Macalimbol faced criminal cases in local courts. — The STAR/John Unson

Probers are still trying to determine the perpetrators of the fatal ambush last week of the municipal treasurer of President Quirino town in Sultan Kudarat province, senior police officials said Sunday.

Rey Torres was in a service vehicle on his way home to Barangay Katiku, President Quirino from work when he was attacked by men armed with pistols, killing him on the spot.

The gunmen fled using motorcycles parked nearby.  — The STAR/John Unson

Three suspected drug dealers were killed in a gunfight Monday with a police team that tried to search for narcotics in their hideout in President Quirino town.

Tato Dilangalen, Alano Sepi Usop and a relative named Big Boy Sepi Usop all died on the spot from multiple bullet wounds.

Personnel of the Sultan Kudarat provincial police were supposed to implement a search warrant Tacurong City Regional Trial Court Branch 20 when the suspects resisted and they were shot, police said.

Investigators found a fragmentation grenade, a pistol and several sachets of shabu in the house where the three suspects were killed.

The suspects had been under surveillance for their distribution of shabu in President Quirino and in neighboring towns in Sultan Kudarat province. — The STAR/John Unson 

Authorities arrested Monday a 42-year-old woman who tried to smuggle shabu into the South Cotabato provincial jail, where her husband is detained for drug trafficking, by hinding it in her shoes.

Joy Gallego Macera of Barangay Avanceña in Koronadal City was intercepted by guards in the South Cotabato Rehabilitation and Detention Center, acting on tips from neighbors who knew about her plan to bring in shabu for her husband, Jeffrey Macera.

Jeffrey is in detention for charges of violating the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. — The STAR/John Unson

Units of the Police Regional Office-12 arrested 10 large-scale shabu peddlers, one of them a woman, in two days of operations in different central Mindanao provinces.

In a statement Friday, the PRO-12 says among those nabbed in the simultaneous operations from early Tuesday until late Wednesday were a woman and two others distributing shabu in different barangays in Polomolok town in South Cotabato.

The suspects?—Ailyn Celiz, Mark Jil Española, Alfredo Pescasiosa?—are now detained.

Kim Benjie Rafael Sadiang and Michael Permetes Dequina were arrested in separate raids in nearby Tantangan town also in South Cotabato.

PRO-12 says Ryan Maladia, Bualan Salaysay and Cerado Morales were arrested in Malapatan town in Sarangani, in Kidapawan City and in Surallah, South Cotabato, respectively.

Mark James Pama Villaruz also fell in an entrapment operation in Kidapawan City on the same day.

The last to fall was Jonathan Viray, caught in Cotabato City while in the act of selling shabu to a police officer disguised as a drug dependent. ?— The STAR/John Unson

A woman sustained a bullet wound when armed guests to a wedding in a remote barangay in Midsayap town in North Cotabato fired guns overhead in revelry that scared villagers in farming enclaves nearby.

The stray bullet incident comes amid an ongoing government campaign against loose firearms. -- The STAR/John Unson

A joint police-Army team arrested six "contract killers" and seized their rifles, pistols and grenades in an operation in Pikit town in this province early Tuesday, authorities say.

Toto Panares, Ibrahim Guimalan, Jonathan Batunga, Ibrahim Katogan, Bohari Katogan and Kus Minga yielded peacefully when agents of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-12 and the Army’s 7th Infantry Battalion barged into their hideout in Barangay Unug-ug in Pikit to search for firearms and explosives.

The operation, assisted by the North Cotabato provincial police, was based on warrants issued by a local court. — The STAR/John Unson

Authorities say they have nabbed Central Mindanao’s most wanted drug dealer who is a senior member of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in a hospital.

The 43-year-old Samad Masgal, most known as BIFF’s Commander Madrox, was admitted in the Cotabato Regional Medical Center here on August 31 for an injury that led to the amputation of his left arm. — The STAR/John Unson

Anti-narcotics agents seized P120,000 worth of compressed marijuana from a large-scale peddler who fell in an entrapment operation Sunday, authorities say.

Suharto Kusain, 24, is now in the custody of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-12 after being arrested in a buy-bust operation in Lambayong, Sultan Kudarat.

Naravy Duquiatan, director of PDEA-12, says Monday that Kusain got his supply of marijuana from a grower in North Cotabato province.

Kusain is among PDEA-12’s top ten most wanted marijuana trafficker in central Mindanao.

PDEA-12 agents nabbed another drug dealer in an operation in Barangay Fatima in General Santos City a day before Kusain was arrested.

Claudie Diola, 36, was cornered by PDEA-12 agents after two weeks of surveillance.

Diola doubled as tricycle driver as cover for his large-scale trafficking of shabu in different barangays in General Santos City. — The STAR/John Unson

Authorities are cautioning residents of Magpet, North Cotabato against people claiming to be organizing a local group of the Moro National Liberation Front.

Two of the recruiters, spouses Lito and Michelle Andi, were arrested this week for illegal possession of firearms.

The police team that raided their hideout in Magpet also seized a pack of methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) from the two.

Police say Andi and his wife were recruiting MNLF members, promising them humanitarian support, employment and other assistance from foreign benefactors.

The MNLF forged a peace deal with Malacañang in 1996 that ended the group’s revolutionary activities in the south, particularly the provinces in what is now the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Magpet Mayor Florentino Gonzaga says Friday he has warned his constituents against joining the group, which has been collectiong "admission fees" from their recruits.

He says the group has recruited at least 200 people. -- The STAR/John Unson

Three elusive large-scale drug traffickers fell in an entrapment operation Tuesday by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Army’s 7th Infantry Battalion.

Tapia Malingco Matucan, Amier Rasul Mama and Chenny Espiritu Tallorin are now in the custody of PDEA-12.

They will be prosecuted for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.

Matucan, Mama and Tallorin were entrapped in Pikit town in the first district of North Cotabato Tuesday via a sting laid by agents of PDEA-12, Army personnel and local police. — The STAR/John Unson

 North Cotabato Gov. Nancy Catamco says her 90-day suspension from office is only a temporary setback for the provincial government's development programs.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government on Thursday served Catamco a suspension order from the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court for a case from 2004, when she was still a private citizen.

Catamco was elected congresswoman in 2010 and was reelected twice before she won the May 13 gubernatorial race in North Cotabato.

Under Section 13 of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, which the Sandiganbayan cited in its resolution to suspend her, "any incumbent public officer against whom any criminal prosecution under a valid information...shall be suspended from office."

The court noted that suspension is mandatory when the public officer is charged for violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act; Title 7, Book II of the Revised Penal Code, and "any offense involving fraud upon government, or any offense involving fraud of public funds or property."

Catamco began serving the 90-day suspension on Friday.

"This is only a temporary setback. I’m saddened with this development. I know how my supporters feel about this suspension but we have to abide with law. Our zeal to spread peace and development in the province will never be dampened. This is just a three-month suspension," Catamco says.

The charges filed against Catamco in 2004 stem from the award by the municipal government of Poro, Cebu of a P5-million fertilizer contract to Perzebros Company, allegedly without public bidding.

Catamco and her estranged husband Pompey Reyes owned Perzebros.

The contract was for the supply of 3,333 bottles of liquid fertilizer at P1,500 each. The Commission on Audit reportedly found out that it was overpriced by P1,092 per bottle.

Poro Mayor Edgar Rama is the principal accused in the case. — The STAR/John Unson

Of 636 residents of Kidapawan City in Cotabato afflicted with dengue fever in the past seven months, two were reported to have died in the hospital, data from the city government indicates.

One of the two fatalities was an eight-month-old infant.

The City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit reports Thursday that this year’s number of recorded dengue cases was 235-percent higher than what were listed from January to early August last year.

The City Health Office has intensified its anti-dengue cleanup and information drive in all of the barangays here, a statement from the mayor’s office said.

— The STAR/John Unson

Tacurong City police suspect contract killers in the killing of a senior commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and his aide in a daytime attack on Tuesday.

Sanggutin Musil, also known as “Commander Gerry,” and his aide Alex Amino Toto were stopped at a gasoline station along the Alunan Highway in Tacurong when two men on a motorcycle shot them at close range.

The duo, both residents of Barangay Pimbalayan in nearby Lambayong town in Sultan Kudarat province, died inside the car from bullet wounds.

Lt. Colonel Rey Egos of the Tacurong City police says the attack seems premeditated and may be linked to an old grudge, or involvement in clan war.

Probers are still trying to identify the culprits from security videos from the gasoline station and nearby establishments. — The STAR/John Unson

The military say soldiers found this week a 10-kilo improvised explosive device in an abandoned enclave of the New People’s Army in Cagayan de Oro City.

Lt. Col. Benjamin Pajarito Jr. of the Army’s 65th Infantry Battalion says the home-made bomb was planted like a booby trap along a route leading to an NPA lair in Barangay Pigsag-an in Cagayan de Oro City.

The IED was rigged with a contraption that could set off its detonator once tripped or accidentally touched even with slight pressure.

Army ordnance experts managed to promptly dissemble the IED for proper disposal. — The STAR/John Unson

The provincial government of North Cotabato on Monday urges authorities to stop the narcotics trade in the province, which has seen the most arrests of alleged drug traffickers in the region.

No fewer than 10 of the shabu dealers arrested in the past two years in North Cotabato, covering 17 towns and more than 40 barangays in its capital, Kidapawan City, have links with the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and reportedly even shared earnings to the group, according to military and law enforcement officials.

The first-termer North Cotabato Gov. Nancy Catamco says Monday she is ready to extend technical and financial support to boost the anti-drug trafficking campaigns of the police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

"Whatever it takes, as long as not against government accounting restrictions, I will provide to the police and PDEA just for this drug problem to get fixed," Catamco says.?— The STAR/John Unson

A woman was killed while two others, one of them a minor, were injured in an explosion in Pikit town in this province before dawn Thursday, officials say.

Local officials identified the fatality as Misbah Masla of Barangay Kabasalan in Pikit town in the first district of North Cotabato.

Barangay Kabasalan is near the 220,000-hectare Liguasan Delta, a known haven of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters that uses the flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria as its banner.

Masla’s husband, Alimoden, and their 10-year-old son, were injured in the blast.

In a statement Thursday, the military's Western Mindanao Command says Alimoden is a member of the BIFF.

The WestMinCom says he is a follower of the fanatical cleric Abu Toraife, whose real name is Abdulmalik Esmael, leader of one of three BIFF factions.

Now confined in a hospital in the town proper of Pikit along with his son, Alimoden says it could have been a rocket launched from military helicopter or an artillery round that hit their house. — The STAR/John Unson

Police say they are still investigating on who were behind the arson attack that damaged the newly-constructed police community action center in Lambayong town in Sultan Kudarat.

Lambayong’s police chief, Capt. Herma Luna, says the building was not totally razed by fire.  

They could not confirm yet either if a local Islamic State-inspired group was responsible.

Lambayong is located along central Mindanao’s 220,000-hectare Liguasan Delta, a known haven of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters. — The STAR/John Unson

Cotabato Gov. Nancy Catamco has reorganized the provincial security council that will work on peace initiatives in the province, which is also still called North Cotabato.

Catamco, a former member of Congress, convened the council Monday for a change in direction for the peace and order programs in the 17 towns in the province and in its capital, Kidapawan City.

Police and military officials took turns briefing Catamco on the security situation in the province, where there is presence of the New People’s Army and the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

The inter-agency PPOC is comprised of members from various line agencies, the police, the military and sectoral leaders in North Cotabato.

Central Mindanao’s top Army official, Major Gen. Diosdado Carreon of the 6th Infantry Division, attended Monday’s PPOC meeting, held at Catamco’s office in the provincial capitol in Barangay Amas, Kidapawan City. — The STAR/John Unson

Thirteen members of the Tantangan, South Cotabato municipal police have been relieved for being out of their precinct when officials conducted an inspection over the weekend.

Among those relieved was Capt. Romeo Albano, municipal police chief, who, along with 12 subordinates, was nowhere to be found when officials of the National Police Commission arrived for a surprise inspection.

Catholic station dxOM in Koronadal City reports Veronica Hatague, director of Napolcom-12, has recommended the immediately replacement of the police officers to teach them a lesson.

Hatague said their periodic unannounced inspection of police precincts in Region 12 is part of an effort to ensure the efficiency and emergency preparedness of police personnel.

— The STAR/John Unson

Authorities recorded 139 aftershocks by noontime Wednesday after a 5.6 magnitude earthquake jolted Kidapawan City and North Cotabato province on Tuesday night.

Engineer Hermes Daquipa, field officer of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology for Kidapawan City, says Wednesday that 12 more low intensity tremors were felt in the province since Tuesday night.

He says some of the more than a hundred aftershocks were not felt but were detected by their seismograph.

The earthquake Tuesday night was of tectonic origin, according to Daquipa.

Offices in the Kidapawan City hall and the North provincial government center about 10 kilometers away have been suspended after a strong tremor on Wednesday morning sent employees running for their lives.

Schools in Kidapawan City and nearby North Cotabato towns have also been closed since 7:00 a.m. Wednesday in anticipation of aftershocks.

Kidapawan City, which covers more than 40 barangays, is the capital of North Cotabato. — The STAR/John Unson

Classes have been suspended in Kidapawan City and nearby towns in anticipation of possible aftershocks following a 5.3 magnitude earthquake on Tuesday night.

City education officials announced the temporary suspension of classes via the popular Catholic station dxND in Kidapawan City, capital of North Cotabato province.

No one was reported hurt in the earthquake. — The STAR/John Unson

The two most elusive drug dealers in the province with links to the Maute terror group and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters again managed to elude government units that tried to arrest them Thursday.

Abdulsalam Maraguiar and Antolin Akmad managed to escape even before approaching agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-12 and personnel of the local police and the Army’s 34th Infantry Battalion could surround their hideouts in an interior barangay in Pigcawayan, North Cotabato.

The raiding team, led by PDEA-12’s director, Naravy Duquiatan, was to search for narcotics in the neighboring lairs of the duo based on a warrant issued by a court.

PDEA-12 agents found more than P200,000 worth of methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) in their abandoned hideouts.

The raid was launched after neighbors informed the PDEA-12 and the Pigcawayan municipal police of the presence of Maraguiar and Akmad in the municipality, where they relocated last month from Maguindanao province.

The suspects have eluded more than 10 attempts to arrest them in Maguindanao. — The STAR/John Unson

More than 300 families were forced to relocate to safer areas by recurring gunfights since last week  between two rival groups in Palimbang town, South Cotabato officials.

Fridaliza Gazo of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office in South Cotabato was quoted in radio reports Wednesday as saying that relief services have been extended to evacuees now in Barangay Ned in Lake Sebu town.

Lake Sebu is a town in South Cotabato province.

Barangay Ned is close to Barangay Molon in Palimbang town in Sultan Kudarat, where the groups of Mike Binago and the allies Tat Tuan and Salik Adam figured in encounters that started over the weekend.

Both groups are armed with assault rifles, 40 millimeter grenade launchers and B-40 anti-tank rockets, a signature weapon of Moro secessionist guerillas.

Major Gen. Cirilito Sobejana of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division said says military units in Palimbang have been directed to intervene.

Sobejana said they will also do their best to prevent any spillover of the conflict to highland dwelling enclaves outside of Barangay Molon. — The STAR/John Unson in Sultan Kudarat

A mayor in Maguindanao appeals to the leadership of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to focus attention on the lack of fire trucks in many BARMM towns.

The constraint affects many of BARMM’s 116 towns in its five component provinces --- Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, both in mainland Mindanao, and in the scattered Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

“Good enough, fire stations in nearby towns that have fire trucks responded and the fire that hit our municipality was contained,” says Radjah Buayan Mayor Zamzamin Ampatuan.

The fire destroyed five buildings, among them a birthing clinic and an internet café.

Ampatuan says he is optimistic BARMM’s local government minister, lawyer Naguib Sinarimbo, can help bring to the attention of the central office of the Bureau of Fire Protection the lack of fire trucks in so many towns in the Bangsamoro region.

“We know the BARMM leadership will not let us down,” Ampatuan adds. — The STAR/John Unson

Three villagers, one of them a minor, were seriously wounded in an ambush Sunday in Pikit town in North Cotabato, police say.

Omar Delna Acob, 26; Tala Maulana Matabalao; 30,and a 15-year-old were to deliver corn to a buyer in the town proper of Pikit when gunmen on motorcycles overtook the cargo vehicle they had hired, blocked their route and opened fire.

Acob, Matabalao and the minor, all residents of Barangay Ginatilan in Pikit, sustained bullet wounds in different parts of their bodies.

Capt. Mautin Pangandingan, chief of the Pikit municipal police, says Monday that probers are still trying to identify the culprits and the motive for the attack.

The victims are now confined in a hospital in Pikit, according to Pangandingan. — The STAR/John Unson in North Cotabato

An adolescent villager was killed and dozens of families have been displaced in a spate of gunfights involving two rival groups in the seaside Palimbang town Friday, the police disclose Sunday.

The fatality was identified as Richard Tulik, a high school student.

The Regional Police Office-12 say Sunday that the feuding groups, one led by Mike Binago and the other by allies Salik Adam and Tat Tuan, first clashed in Barangay Molon, sending hundreds of villagers running for their lives.

The two heavily-armed groups are locked in longtime squabbles for control of villages in the area whose residents they extort "protection money" from regularly.

Tulik was trapped in the crossfire as the running firefights spilled over to hinterland farming enclaves near the border of Palimbang and Lake Sebu town in South Cotabato. — The STAR/John Unson in Sultan Kudarat province

Senior Army officials say that its personnel are now being positioned in Upi, South Upi and Datu Blash Sinsuat towns following the pull out of the 7th Marine Battalion last Sunday.

The three towns are now under the jurisdiction of 6th Infantry Division covering most towns in the first district of Maguindanao, a component province of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Officials of the Philippine Marine Corps, the Army’s 6th Infantry Division and the 1st Marine Brigade based in nearby seaside Lebak town in Sultan Kudarat has led the June 16 sendoff rite for hundreds of Marines to be reassigned in Sulu.

Marine units in Maguindanao and in the coasts of Sultan Kudarat in Region 12 are under the tactical control of 6th ID.

Besides being bastion of the Abu Sayyaf, Sulu also has high prevalence of clan wars involving large Tausug clans maintaining armed groups to perpetuate political power, some of them conniving with the Abu Sayyaf. — The STAR/John Unson

Senior Army officials say that its personnel are now being positioned in Upi, South Upi and Datu Blash Sinsuat towns following the pull out of the 7th Marine Battalion last Sunday.

The three towns are now under the jurisdiction of 6th Infantry Division covering most towns in the first district of Maguindanao, a component province of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Officials of the Philippine Marine Corps, the Army’s 6th Infantry Division and the 1st Marine Brigade based in nearby seaside Lebak town in Sultan Kudarat has led the June 16 sendoff rite for hundreds of Marines to be reassigned in Sulu.

Marine units in Maguindanao and in the coasts of Sultan Kudarat in Region 12 are under the tactical control of 6th ID.

Besides being bastion of the Abu Sayyaf, Sulu also has high prevalence of clan wars involving large Tausug clans maintaining armed groups to perpetuate political power, some of them conniving with the Abu Sayyaf. — AFP

A livelihood skills training program facilitated by the Malungon, Sarangani municipal government and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency has given 30 recovering drug dependents a new lease on life.

The 30 men, who were dependent on methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu), were beneficiaries of a rehabilitation package extended free by the Balay Silangan Reformation Center in Malungon.

The office of Malungon Mayor Maria Theresa Constantino is the main benefactor of the center.

Naravy Duquiatan, director of PDEA-12 based in General Santos City, says Wednesday the 30 recovering drug addicts were awarded Monday with certificates for having completed a rehabilitation program meant to hasten their reintegration into the local communities.

Besides the livelihood skills program, they were also provided with basic health awareness, psycho-social and spiritual interventions by experts enlisted by the Malungon local government unit.

The simple graduation rite Monday was capped off with PDEA-12’s announcement during the event that all 31 barangays in Malungon are now “drug free,” meaning cleared from peddlers and buyers. — The STAR/John Unson in Sarangani province

President Duterte is now in General Santos City to lead the distribution of 12,548 Certficate of Land Ownership Award covering 24,000 hectares of land across Region 12.

The General Santos City-headquartered Police Regional Office-12 is on high alert because of a scheduled visit by President Rodrigo Duterte and a prayer rally by members of KAPA Community Ministry International Inc. in the same city.

The president is scheduled to lead the turnover of Certficates of Land Ownership Award to around 13,000 agrarian reform beneficiaries while KAPA will be holding the prayer rally at a sports complex in the city.

"The coincidence of both event projects risks to the safety of the president as well as the innocent civilians alike considering the volume of the people gathering in the city. Albeit KAPA members earlier pronounced that they will only proceed peacefully with the prayer rally, there is high probability that lawless groups might take advantage of this and advance with felonious deeds," PRO-12 says in a release to media.

KAPA has been in the news after President Duterte called for the ministry, which the Securities and Exchange Commission says operates an investment scheme similar to a Ponzi scam, shut down.

PRO-12 adds all police personnel are on standby in case of untoward incidents.

"Other public safety and law enforcement agencies along with PNP force multipliers were also prompted to stay coordinated with this PRO in safeguarding the status quo in the city," PRO-12 says.

The General Santos City-headquartered Police Regional Office-12 is on high alert because of a scheduled visit by President Rodrigo Duterte and a prayer rally by members of KAPA Community Ministry International Inc. in the same city.

The president is scheduled to lead the turnover of Certficates of Land Ownership Award to around 13,000 agrarian reform beneficiaries while KAPA will be holding the prayer rally at a sports complex in the city.

"The coincidence of both event projects risks to the safety of the president as well as the innocent civilians alike considering the volume of the people gathering in the city. Albeit KAPA members earlier pronounced that they will only proceed peacefully with the prayer rally, there is high probability that lawless groups might take advantage of this and advance with felonious deeds," PRO-12 says in a release to media.

KAPA has been in the news after President Duterte called for the ministry, which the Securities and Exchange Commission says operates an investment scheme similar to a Ponzi scam, shut down.

PRO-12 adds all police personnel are on standby in case of untoward incidents.

"Other public safety and law enforcement agencies along with PNP force multipliers were also prompted to stay coordinated with this PRO in safeguarding the status quo in the city," PRO-12 says.

A tornado flattened more than a dozen houses in Barangay Buayan in M'lang town in this province at dusk Tuesday, the municipal disaster risk reduction and management council says.

It says torrential rains preceded the strong whirlwind that blew down the houses, which were made of light materials.

The council also confirm that several houses were also hit and damaged by trees felled by the tornado.

It was the second to hit the same barangay in two years. — The STAR/John Unson in North Cotabato

An official of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency says authorities seized P6.8 million worth of shabu from two drug traffickers arrested Friday in Barangay Eastern Samar in Wao town in this province.

Darangi Ombo Angatong and Lendi Asiw Mangondacan fell in an entrapment laid jointly by combined personnel of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, the Lanao del Sur provincial police and the Army’s 34th Infantry Battalion.

Juvenal Azurin, director of PDEA-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, says the operation that led to their arrest was based on tips relayed to him and Lanao del Sur’s police director, Col. Madzgani Mukaram, by vigilant residents in Wao.

Azurin says Angatong and Mangondacan shall be prosecuted for violation of the Philippine Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, also known as Republic Act 9165.

Personnel of the Lanao del Sur provincial police and PDEA-BARMM agents seized from them P6.8 million worth of shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) they were to sell to non-uniformed agents disguised as drug dependents.

Azurin says the sting that resulted in the confiscation of a big volume of shabu from the two men was laid with the help of agents of the Criminal and Investigation and Detection Group-BARMM. — The STAR/John Unson

Forty-seven of the 57 barangays in Midsayap, North Cotabato—where drug dealers are said to be protected by either private armed groups or Islamic State-inspired militants—are now “drug free,” the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency says.

Naravy Duquiatan, director of PDEA-12 says Sunday the 47 barangays were officially declared cleared from drug traffickers and dependents during an inter-agency event in Midsayap last Thursday.

Midsayap is in the first district of North Cotabato, near the 220,000-hectare Liguasan Delta, a haven of drug dealers being coddled there by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, which operates in the fashion of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

Duquiatan says Thursday’s activity, organized for the purpose of announcing the feat, was attended by Midsayap Mayor Romeo Araña, representatives from the Regional Police Office-12 and from the North Cotabato provincial government. — The STAR/John Unson

Chief minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao says he is thankful to the Australian government and other foreign institutions involved in education programs benefiting the five provinces of BARMM.

Australia, the United States of America and other foreign entities have continuing education projects in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao even before its replacement with a BARMM regional government last February. — The STAR/John Unson

Two large-scale drug dealers were arrested in separate operations by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Malungon, Sarangani on Tuesday, the agency says.

The first to fall in one of the two operations by agents of the PDEA-12 was Sammy Garcia, 52, who was cornered in his hideout in Barangay Kiblat in Malungon.

His accomplice, the 46-year-old Allan Sano, was nabbed in Barangay Datal Tampal in the same town an hour later.

The duo have allegedly been distributing methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) and dried marijuana leaves in secluded barangays in Malungon and nearby towns in Sarangani province.

PDEA-12 agents recovered shabu from the suspects.

They are now both detained, awaiting prosecution for violation of the Philippine Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. — The STAR/John Unson

The police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group is investigating a money market scam that duped hundreds of police personnel with promises of big profits.

Regional police officials tell reporters Sunday that four from their ranks—Cpl. Rhodora Bombita, Cpl. Daisy Javierto, Lt.Col. Henry Biñas and Col. Raul Supiter—will execute statements against the operators of the PlanProMatrix, or PPM.

The four witnesses belong to the Police Regional Office-12 in General Santos City.

'"Surely this case will serve as a lesson to those who easily gets fooled with 'too good to be true' earnings from pyramid money market schemes," a senior police official in the region, who is involved in the investigation, says on Sunday. — The STAR/John Unson

A van fell down a cliff along the road in Alamada in Cotabato province on Tuesday, leaving 17 hurt.

The victims were on their way home to Davao City from the Asik-Asik falls in Alamada when their van plunged into a ravine due to a "mechanical malfunction."  

Major Aldrin Gonzalez, spokesman of the Police Regional Office-12, says the driver of the van, Vic Kristoffer Billena, lost control of the vehicle when its brakes failed as he was going downhill

Gonzalez says responding personnel of the Alamada municipal police and local officials rushed the victims to different hospitals.

More than 30 people were hurt in the past 12 months in accidents involving vehicles carrying tourists from the scenic Asik Asik falls in Alamada, which is frequented by tourists. — The STAR/John Unson

Two governors—one waiting to take her oath of office and another due to move to Congress on June 20, want a peace program to quell religious extremism plaguing some areas in central Mindanao.

Public officials close to North Cotabato Rep. Nancy Catamco, governor-elect, said Sunday she is likely to tap community elders to talk to misguided Islamic militants to determine what socio-economic and other humanitarian interventions are needed to hasten their reintegration into mainstream society.

Catamco defeated a veteran politician, Carmen Mayor Roger Taliño, in last week's elections. Taliño is the father of three-termer Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza

Taliño-Mendoza was elected vice governor last May 14, outvoting Catamco’s running mate, Socrates Piñol, a member of the provincial board.

"I am certain she will also focus on reconciliation with local officials who supported her rival’s candidacy. I know Congresswoman Catamco well. She is not a vindictive politician," Piñol said Sunday.

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, who will represent the province's second district at the House of Representatives, has recommended a suspension of military offensives against local Islamic State-inspired blocs.

Mangudadatu says leaders of these extremist groups might decide to return to the fold of law if assured of relief and livelihood packages that can help restore normalcy of their lives.

"How many mothers have become widows in recent months? Many children of militants have become orphans and thousands of innocent families always get displaced as a result of this conflict. It is time for paradigm shift. We can try a paradigm based on diplomacy and reconciliation this time," Mangudadatu says. — The STAR/John Unson

Two women will be at the helm of the provinces of North Cotabato and Maguindanao.

North Cotabato Rep. Nancy Catamco has been proclaimed the winner in the May 13 gubernatorial race, where she defeated Mayor Roger Taliño of Carmen town.

Taliño is father of the now three-termer North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza, who was elected vice governor.

Catamco's running mate, Socrates Piñol, a member of the provincial board, was not as lucky.

"It will not dampen my zeal to continue working for our people. I shall be serving them now in a private capacity. They will still see me around," said Piñol, who is the Agriculture secretary's brother.

The Commission on Elections has also proclaimed Mariam Sangki-Mangudadatu as governor-elect of Maguindanao.

She defeated a relative, Mayor Freddie Mangudadatu of Mangudadatu town, by an overwhelming margin. Her running mate, Vice Gov. Lester Sinsuat, was re-elected to a third and last term.

Sangki-Mangudadatu is wife of re-elected Sultan Kudarat Gov. Suharto Mangudadatu, Mayor Mangudadatu's cousin.

Freddie is the younger brother of Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, who has been elected congressman. — The STAR/John Unson

The police office of Soccsksargen says Wednesday 15 more alleged members of the New People's Army have surrendered to authorities.

Brig. Gen. Eliseo Rasco, director of Police Regional Office-12, says the 15 NPAs yielded through the efforts of local officials in Lebak town in Sultan Kudarat.

Rasco says the rebels belong to the NPA's Guerilla Front 73, which operates in the hinterlands of Sultan Kudarat's neighboring Lebak, Kalamansig, Palimbang and Senator Ninoy Aquino towns.

The 15 NPAs, all members of an indigenous highland community, surrendered to Mayor Dionesio Besana, representatives from PRO-12 and officials of the 1st Marine Brigade led by Marine Brig. Gen. Eugenio Hernandez during a simple ceremony in Lebak town on Tuesday.

More than 50 NPAs from Lebak and Kalamansig surrendered in batches in the past 24 months. — The STAR/John Unson

Follow this thread for updates on Central Mindanao, which covers South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos, and is now also called Soccsksargen.