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Volume VIII, No. 231
Comelec unveils ‘ballot faces’ for May polls THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Saturday has released the ballot faces for every region to be used in the May 13, 2019 National and Local Elections (NLE). “The ballot faces for #NLE2019 have been posted on the official Comelec website,” Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said in a statement. The public may view the ballot faces at http:// w w w. c o m e l e c . g o v. ph/?r=2019NLE/BallotFaceTemplates. Those who have queries may send an e-mail to law@comelec.gov.ph or call (02) 527-1897.
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Monday, February 25, 2019
COTABATO City--A malfunctioned engine brought down a crop duster in Ampatuan, Maguindanao Saturday morning. A report from the office of Senior Supt. Ronald Briones, Maguindanao police provincial director, said the pilot, identified as Capt. Dennis Pandi, survived the crash. “The chemical sprayer plane was a total wreck’” Briones said. Responding employees and plantation workers of Amardi Banana Corporation rushed Pandi to a hospital in nearby Shariff Aguak town following the incident. The injured pilot works for Davao Airworks, a firm providing chemical spraying services to agricultural plantations across Mindanao. Robert Mauricio of Amardi firm said the aircraft experienced engine malfunction while spraying over the banana plantation in Ampatuan town, forcing its pilot to find an open space for emergency landing. He said the plane hit rows of banana trees before it crashed landed at past 9 a.m. Mauricio said the pilot was declared in stable condition at the Maguindanao provincial hospital. (PNA)
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Military: ‘We make friends not enemies’ By RUEL V. PELONE Managing Editor with GERRY LEE GORIT Correspondent
See COMELEC, page 11
Pilot survives plane crash
1923
BANGSAMORO IN TRANSITION. Members of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), the body that
will govern the Bnagsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) take their oath before President Rodrigo Duterte at the Rizal Hall of Malacanang on 22 February 2019. In photo are Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, who was also named Interim Chief Minister, MILF 1st vice chair Ghazali Jaafar, MILF peace implemening chair Mohagher Iqbal (partly hidden) beside former Peace Process Undersecretary Nabil Tan. MindaNews photo by MAnman Dejeto
BTA MEMBERS TAKE OATH Duterte: The road to peace may be long and rough, but I am glad that we have finally reached its endpoint.’
By CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS, MindaNews
A NEW CHAPTER in Philippine history began on Friday, February 22, 2019 at the Rizal Hall here with the leadership of the two Moro liberation fronts that waged half a century of armed struggle to assert their right to self-determination, and representatives from other sectors of Moro society and the minorities in the core territory of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) taking their oath as members of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) that would govern the area until the first set of officials is elected and sworn into office on June 30, 2022. Describing the historic event as welcoming a “new era of peace and development in Mindanao,” President Rodrigo Duterte, the country’s 16th President and the first Mindanawon to lead the nation, said, the road to peace may be long and rough, “but I am glad that we have finally reached its endpoint.” The first Philippine President with Moro roots administered the oath of the BTA members, ending it with a Takbir, “Allahu Akbar” (God is the greatest) instead of the usual “So help me God.” Duterte said the BARMM, the new political entity that will replace the 28-year old Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is not just the fulfillment of a campaign promise but “the realization of our collective desire … of all our dreams and end long decades of armed struggle that hindered the growth of the region (that) I also consider my home.” He urged BTA members to “always embody See MEMBERS, page 11
CAGAYAN de Oro City-The Army’s 4th Infantry Division yesterday said it has nothing to do with the alleged “list” identifying 19 individuals and 4 organizations as members of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). In a press statement, 4ID Commander Brig. Gen. Franco Nemecio M. Gacal said: “We are making friends not enemies.” Gacal said the document shown by members of Karapatan during an activity held at Philtown Hotel did not come from the military. Karapatan is an alliance of individuals, groups and organizations working for the promotion and protection of human rights in the country. “It (list) does not belong to us and we do not engage in cheap propaganda,” the military official said. 4ID Spokesperson Capt. Regie H. Go said they learned the matter when reporters informed them about the alleged “list” of CPP members in the city on February 22. Members of Karapatan exposed the alleged “military hit list” during the justheld assembly and launching of Hustisya-Northern Mindanao at Philtown Hotel on January 22. In a news release posted online, Karapatan claimed a suspected military agent handed two brown envelopes to hotel guards around 10:30 in the morning on January 22. It said each envelope contained 13 copies of flyers listing organizations of youth and teachers, and tagging names of church workers, lawyers, rights advocates and that of a journalist, as “terrorist members of the New People’s Army and Communist Party of the Philippines.” But Go said the cheap leaflets can be crafted by anybody who wants to sow intrigues and create wedge among the peace loving See MILITARY, page 5
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