More BIFF men yield to Army

Major Gen. Alex Rillera, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said Wednesday the 29 members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters agreed to return to the fold of law through the efforts of the 1st Brigade Combat Team based in nearby Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao del Norte.

“Credit for their having agreed to surrender should also partly go to local executives in the provinces of Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Sultan Kudarat and Cotabato,” Rillera said.

The 6th ID withheld, meantime, the names of the 29 BIFF men for their safety. The BIFF is known for harassing former members who have availed of the 6th ID's reconciliation program for violent religious extremists.

The group turned in assorted firearms and explosives before renouncing their membership with the BIFF during a surrender rite at the headquarters of the 1st BCT in Barangay Pigkalagan in Sultan Kudarat.

The BIFF and its allies, the Dawlah Islamiya and the Al-Khobar, have a reputation for bombing commercial establishments and buses whose owners refuse to shell out “protection money” on a monthly basis.

More than 200 BIFF members have surrendered in the past 13 months through different units of 6th ID in central Mindanao.

Local officials told reporters

11 of the 29 BIFF members who surrendered to the 1st BCT were experts in fabrication of improvised explosive devices that can be detonated from a distance using mobile phones.

John Felix Unson

Newsbriefs

WBG, DBM back BARMM’s digitalization initiative

COTABATO CITY — The digitalization initiative for BARMM's system of governance is being supported by the World Bank Group (WBG) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), following the consultation held last Feb. 15, 2023.

The World Bank Group reaffirms engagement with the Ministry of Finance, and Budget and Management (MFBM) as the two (2) agencies plan to beef up economic and digitalization opportunities in the Bangsamoro autonomous region.

Ndiame Diop, World Bank Country Director, discussed possible joint ventures on tax, expenditure management, and Islamic Finance which could highly contribute to the socioeconomic status in the region.

“We continue to support the BARMM in these aspects, and we are happy to discuss it with you. On the tax side, we did good work with the workshop and probably, tax devolution,” Diop said. BIO-BARMM

Dela Rosa lauds Marawi Compensation Board’s efficiency

MANILA – Senator

Ronald Dela Rosa on Wednesday commended the newly appointed officials of the Marawi Compensation Board (MCB) for doing a great job so far in working to set up the newly established organization.

Dela Rosa, who chairs the Senate Special Committee on Marawi City Rehabilitation and Victims' Compensation, said this was the first time that the members and resource persons of the committee were in good mood.

"Now, our proceedings were quite good. They are all clapping because our Marawi Compensation Board, which was just recently formed by President Marcos, only three weeks old but they have accomplished so much," the lawmaker told Senate reporters.

"Their commitment to address the problems in Marawi (victims) is really swift and heartfelt. So, we're very happy. Ako, I really feel contented sa kanilang ginagawa (in what they are doing)," he added. PNA

School van driver abducted, rescued in Marawi

POLICE personnel in Marawi City and Lanao del Sur successfully rescued a kidnapping victim during hot pursuit operation on Wednesday afternoon.

Colonel Robert Daculan, Lanao del Sur police provincial director, in his report to Brig. Gen. John Guyguyon, police director for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), identified the victim as Jamel Lantod Hadji Jabbar, driver of Siena School Foundation in Marawi City.

CLEAN TEETH, NICE SMILE. Cotabato Regional and Medical Center Dental Department personnel visit Bahay Maria and perform free dental check-ups and oral health lectures for the elderly. The lectures focused on the importance of oral hygiene and the proper way to brush teeth.

2 MPs want more women in BARMM parliament

AS the regional legislative body is finalizing the draft Bangsamoro Electoral Code, two Members of Parliament (MPs) have pushed for the increased women and youth participation in the 2025 parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

MPs Amir S. Mawallil and Rasol Y. Mitmug Jr made the proposals as the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) resumes deliberation Parliamentary Bill No. 29 or the proposed Bangsamoro Electoral Code

(BEC).

MPs Mawallil and Mitmug, a lawyer, are both proposing amendments to PB No. 29 seeking to increase the number of women nominees and making it mandatory to nominate more women for the parliamentary elections.

Under the draft BEC, Mawallil noted that it stated: “At least ten percent (10 percent) of the nominees in the list shall, preferably, be qualified party members who are women.”

“While the above-cited provision of PB No. 29 speaks of a minimum

Hunt for Lanao Sur MJ planters on

THE Lanao del Sur provincial police force is now trying to locate ten gunmen reportedly behind the propagation of more than 25,000 marijuana plants in Maguing town that policemen uprooted and burned last February 17.

Officials of the Lanao del Sur Provincial Police Office and senior members of the Provincial Peace and Order Council were quoted in radio reports this week as saying that ten gunmen with links to the Dawlah Islamiya were behind the propagation of marijuana in Barangay Bato-Bato in Maguing.

Four of the ten suspects hail from Butig, Lanao del Sur and were former members of the Maute terror group, according to the Police Regional OfficeBangsamoro Autonomous

Region.

Brig. Gen. John Guyguyon, director of PRO-BAR had earlier told reporters the teams involved in the antinarcotics operation in Barangay Bato-Bato immediately set the marijuana plants on fire after collecting specimen to be used as evidence in prosecuting its propagators.

Guyguyon said their anti-narcotics operatives placed at no less than P5 million the value of the confiscated marijuana plants.

The operation was launched after residents of Maguing informed officials of the Lanao del Sur Provincial Police Office about the propagation of marijuana plants in Barangay Bato-Bato by an armed group number of women nominees, it is our position that the same is not sufficient,” Mawallil and Mitmug said in a statement.

“To put it in perspective, in a list of 40 nominees, the provision only calls for four nominees out of the 40 names, or 10 percent of the nominees, to be women,” the two lawmakers added.

“We believe that 10 percent is too small a number to bring about meaningful change in support of the women’s agenda in the Parliament. And as the wording of the proposed bill says, it is ‘preferably’ and

YBL bomber, arsonist slain in Army operation

MILITARY authorities here announced Wednesday it neutralized during law enforcement operation a communist rebel leader involved in burning of Yellow Buses, several construction equipment, extortion and ambush of government forces in South Cotabato.

Martin Min Fay, 52, vice commanding officer of the Front Organizational Command (FOC) of Guerilla Front MUSA under the Far South Mindanao Region (FSMR), was killed by elements of 5th Special Forces Battalion and local police during the serving of warrant of arrest in Purok Alaw, Sitio Lembed, Barangay Laconon, Tboli, South Cotabato.

Brigadier General Pedro Balisi Jr., commander of 1st Mechanized Brigade, said

Special Forces battalion and the local police jointly conducted the operation with the help of locals.

Martin Min Fay, also known as Diego or Kidlat, resisted arrest by firing at lawmen who were approaching his safe house during the 5 a.m. operation.

Brig. Gen. Balisi the soldiers and the police were armed with arrest warrants issued by local court in South Cotabato against Fay.

No casualty was reported on government side. Balisi said state forces recovered from Fay a .45-caliber STI Lemcat Pistol, 13 rounds of .45-caliber ammunition, three mobile phones, two sling bags and personal items.

Accoding to

Daculan said the victim was forcibly taken by gunmen, including the van (FAB-1185) he was driving, in Barangay Beyabadamag, Marawi City and brought him to Marantao.

Police quickly launched hot pursuit operation that led to the rescue of the victim and the recovery of the Kia Van vehicle in Barangay Cadayawan, Marawi City.

The Marawi City PNP said the motive of the abduction was “rido” (family feud). PNA

OCM’s ‘customer feedback app’ promotes transparency

FOLLOWING its launch early this year, the feedback application known as the Community Monitoring and Actionable Concerns Tracking System (CM-ACTS) was officially turned over on Monday, Feb. 20, by the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) to the Office of Chief Minister.

CM-ACTS is a digital application developed for community feedback mechanism, which aims to bring the government closer to its citizens by using innovative technology that promotes good governance, specifically transparency and efficiency, of the Bangsamoro Government towards peace and development.

BDA Executive Director Rhadzni Taalim said the activity is one of the milestones of BDA to help manage expectations on the grounds through the CMACTS application. BIOBARMM

2 more hurt in latest gun attacks in Pikit, Cotabato

DESPITE the slight increase of inflation rate in the region in January of this year, BARMM is still considered "low" across the country placing the region at 4th lowest inflation rate in the Philippines.

The inflation rate across the BARMM region rose to 7.8 percent in January 2023 compared to December 2022 with the lowest inflation rate among all regions in the country at 6.3 percent, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA-BARMM) said in a report released Feb. 14.

PSA-BARMM Officer-in-Charge Regional Director Engr. Akan Tula mentioned that the main sources of inflation rate acceleration in the region’s inflation were due to increase in Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages at 9.6 percent compared to the previous month; an increase in Restaurant and Accommodation Services at

MDN GUV seeks budget release...from P1

of legal documents from MDN but, according to Lauban, despite complying with the requirements the request remained unacted.

He said, “the problem needs to be addressed urgently as the continuous delay on the designation of a provincial treasurer in MDN is already causing havoc on (its) dayto-day operations.”

Aside from provincial officials, provincial employees also cry for immediate release of funds so they will be paid of their salaries and wages.

Lauban believed that only President Ferdinand Marcos Jr can solve the impasse.

Sinsuat said as the acting