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Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Sayyaf bomber captured in Zamboanga City

ZAMBOANGA CITY - Police captured a notorious Abu Sayyaf bomber in Zamboanga City in 
southern Philippines where he was hiding after escaping military operations in the restive region.

Chief Inspector Helen Galvez, a regional police spokeswoman, said Abdulham Ataram was 
captured Plaza Pershing, just several blocks away from City Hall, and he is being linked to the 
October 2007 bombing in Kidapawan City and a string of criminal charges in Basilan, one of 
5 provinces under the Muslim autonomous region.

Ataram was also accused of kidnapping and beheading over a dozen Christian coconut farmers 
in Basilan in June 2001. He is facing kidnapping and serious illegal detention, murder, multiple 
frustrated murders and multiple attempted murders,” among other crimes,” said Galvez

Police said the militant is also a member of the Abu Sayyaf’s Special Operations Group, blamed
 for the spate of bombings in the southern region. It was unknown how Ataram managed to flee 
Basilan and hide in Zamboanga. 

He is currently being interrogated by the police to determine Whether they are planning a terror attack or is any of his companions are also hiding here. 
The arrested person now under the custody of Regional Intelligence Unit 9,” Galvez said. 
(Mindanao Examiner)


Sunday, January 28, 2018

HOT OFF THE PRESS: The Mindanao Examiner Regional Newspaper January 29-Feb. 4, 2018

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Friday, January 26, 2018

Police hold 3 men for slay of Zamboanga bar girl


ZAMBOANGA CITY – Police are holding 3 men linked to the killing of a bar girl in Zamboanga City in southern Philippines, officials said Friday.

Officials said the men were being investigated for the murder of 26-year old April Rose Villanueva, whose decomposing body was found recently at a bushy area in the village of Sangali.

The body had no underwear, according to the police, raising speculations that she was raped before being brutally killed and dumped the corpse inside a private land. A knife and a sweatshirt were also recovered by police investigators from the area.

The pieces of evidence, officials said, led policemen to one of the suspects who denied committing the crime, but eventually broke down during investigation and pointed to 3 other accomplices to the heinous crime.

Villanueva, a native of Zamboanga Sibugay’s Surabay town, had been absent from her work for days until the stench and pungent smell of the cadaver led a farmer to the crime scene and reported it to the police.

Police were investigating if the killing had anything to do with the woman’s own admission when the victim was still alive that she had been helping with the authorities in the government’s war on drugs.
It was unknown whether the suspects - who are facing criminal charges - were drug users or not, but the investigation is still going on, officials said. (Mindanao Examiner)


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Marine soldier killed in Isabela City



ZAMBOANGA CITY – A member of the Philippine Marines was killed in a daring attack at the port area in Isabela City in the restive province of Basilan in the Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao, police said Friday.
Police said Corporal Jhun Rey Lauriaga, assigned with the 49th Marine Battalion Landing Team, was with his wife when the assailant shot in the head and escaped after the Thursday morning attack. Lauriaga, who was on a break, died on the spot while the woman escaped unhurt.
An initial police report has linked a former lover of Lauriaga’s wife as behind the killing and that police launched a manhunt in an effort to capture the criminal. It was unknown how the assailant managed to pass through the security at the pier and escaped after the shooting which occurred near a maritime police base.
Police said the 25-year old soldier was assigned in Tawi-Tawi, also in the autonomous region. The Philippine Marines and the governor of Basilan Jim Saliman and the mayor of Isabela, Al-Qaid Akbar have not released any statement on the killing or the lax security at the port area. (Mindanao Examiner)



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Army officer killed, 2 soldiers wounded in Davao City clash

DAVAO CITY – Communist insurgents killed an army officer and wounded 2 soldiers in a firefight in President Rodrigo Duterte’s hometown, Davao City in southern Philippines, officials said Friday.

Major Ezra Balagtey, an army spokesman, said First Lieutenant Jarren Jay Relota, 27, was killed in the village called Mapula in Paquibato district, a stronghold of the New People’s Army. He said Relota’s group from the 16th Infantry Battalion was sent to the village after civilians reported the presence of rebels.

“A platoon of Bravo Company led by Lt. Jarren Relota while responding to information on the presence of NPA in the aforementioned area was fired upon by an undetermined number of NPA terrorists,” Balagtey said. “During the exchange of fire and maneuver, the terrorists detonated an improvised landmine wounding two soldiers while killing Lt. Relota.”

Major General Noel Clement, the regional army commander, expressed grief over the killing of Relota and vowed to “continue to pursue the peace in the area, and prevent such incident that will add misery to the communities.”

“We grieve for the death of Lt. Relota. However, we salute his display of the finest tradition of soldiery and gallantry in pursuing peace and protecting the people of Paquibato. We hope that by his sacrifice, we will bring peace in the area,” Clement said.

Rebels have also vowed to launch more attacks against government and military targets and said they would bring the war right in the doorstep of Duterte’s hometown.

The NPA said it will not be cowed by Duterte’s all-out war against the communist group, saying, rebel forces are ready to strike at any opportune time anywhere in the country. The rebel group also claimed responsibility for a recent attack in Davao City’s Calinan district where insurgents destroyed several trucks owned by fruit companies operating there.

The rebels have been waging a secessionist war for many decades now and there is no indication the communist insurgency would be resolved during Duterte’s administration or until his term ends in 2022. (Mindanao Examiner)

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35,000 students in Maguindanao's conflict areas benefit from DepEd-ARMM programs

COTABATO CITY – About 35,000 students living within conflict-affected areas, or ‘SPMS box’, in the province of Maguindanao have been reached by the Department of Education in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DepEd-ARMM) while 52 scholars have benefited from the Commission on Higher Education’s College Financial Assistance Project.

These efforts were made possible through the Humanitarian and Development Assistance Program (HDAP), a flagship initiative of autonomous Muslim region under the administration of Governor Mujiv Hataman. The program seeks to create stable and sustainable communities across the region.

SPMS box refers to an area that covers 15 municipalities including the adjoining towns of Sharrif Aguak, Pagatin (Datu Saudi), Mamasapano and Shariff Saydona. These municipalities were affected by military operations launched against lawless elements after the Mamasapano incident in 2015.

Taya Aplal, DepEd-ARMM special events director, said all the 31 schools inside Maguindanao’s conflict-affected areas were declared as ‘Salam’ schools, or Zones of Peace.  This came after a memorandum of understanding was signed by the stakeholders including non-state actors – Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front – with the military and local government units.

As of date, DepEd-ARMM has organized and conducted psycho-social support services and psychological first-aid in the 31 schools to address the stress experienced by the students, teachers and students. Supplementary feeding and distribution of school materials were also conducted by the agency under its Support Services Education Recovery Program.

The Education department is currently in the process of finishing the Education Emergency Module that follows international standards but with a context-based conceptual framework that gives importance to survival, disaster preparedness and functional literacy. 

Special classes focusing on reading, writing and arithmetic have been integrated with peace education and values formation under the Special Education Recovery Program, also under DepEd-ARMM.

In partnership with agencies such as Department of Agriculture, Department of Trade and Industry, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and international nongovernmental organizations, community-based livelihood programs were organized.

With active participation from students, parents and teachers, the livelihood programs are expected to sustain and maximize development in the communities. Amounts of up to P30,000 were  granted to each beneficiary school as aid to help in implementing the content of the modules.

“Makakatulong ang pag-implement ng lahat ng ito sa pag-prevent ng violent extremism, dahil ibang approach na ito sa education – may innovation,” Aplal said.

Aplal claims success in the implementation of HDAP projects under DepEd-ARMM since the start of the program in 2015. The DepEd-ARMM director said the implementation reports they received were based on assessments and were validated. “The services we provided really benefited our schools and their communities.” (Bureau of Public Information)

 

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Thursday, January 25, 2018

Confidence in ARMM government will help BBL passage, says Senator Zubiri

COTABATO CITY - “It is clear that public service in the ARMM is on an entirely different level,” Sen. Miguel Zubiri said after an emotional speech by Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman during the Joint Public Hearing on the Bangsamoro Basic Law Bills held Thursday in Cotabato City. 
Zubiri, who chairs the Senate subcommittee on the BBL, said it is the third joint public hearing on the proposed law.
An emotional Hataman, holding back his tears, expressed his sadness over accusations that the ARMM has done nothing to help the Bangsamoro people. “I think of the sacrifices that many of my colleagues had to make, some of them even leaving their families behind in the island provinces, just to serve the ARMM and to show that Moros and Muslims can lead our people,” he said.
“It’s sad that there are people who discredit the value of the BBL and the gains of the ARMM,” the governor said. “This is challenge to all of us. Will we really sacrifice the future of the Bangsamoro just to advance our personal interests?”
Hataman stressed the importance of unity among leaders in the ARMM at this time, especially when any indication of discord is taken advantage of by those who are discrediting not only the BBL but their capacity to lead their people.
“Let us not wait for more deaths in our region, or for the return of ISIS. Let us not give terrorists a convenient narrative in which they can say to the government, ‘see, you’re only making fools out of us,” he added.
Salient points of the BBL
Atty. Raissa Jajurie, of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), also presented an overview of the revisions they made to the initial BBL draft they had in 2014, resulting to a new draft that is more aligned with the 1987 Constitution and the aspirations of the Bangsamoro people.
These revisions, she said, include explicitly reserved seats in the Bangsamoro parliament for more sectoral representatives and the creation of a transitional justice mechanism in the new Moro region.
Hataman, on the other hand, highlighted the clause regarding the Bangsamoro’s fiscal autonomy. He said that without fiscal autonomy, “we are autonomous only by name.”
Citing the Marawi siege, he said the regional government spent P70 million in the first three weeks of the conflict and there was an urgent need to realign funds to respond to the crisis. However, due to the lack of fiscal autonomy, they had to first secure permission from national government agencies to do so.
The ARMM, in effect, was only able to re-channel some of its funds to Marawi sometime in December – more than six months since the crisis started.
“How autonomous are we really if the functions of the national agencies are devolved to their ARMM counterparts, but the funds aren’t?” Hataman asks. “If the solution is in our hands, and the problems are ours, shouldn’t the decisions involved in the process be ours, too.”
Overwhelming support
Representatives of different sectors were given a chance to express their stance regarding the BBL, starting with the Regional Legislative Assembly (RLA)’s presentation of their position paper on the proposed legislation.
“We hereby express our unequivocal support to the establishment of the Bangsamoro region, rooted on decades if not centuries of historical injustices,” RLA Speaker Datu Roonie Q. Sinsuat said, as he called upon members of Congress to “enact a BBL that is reflective of the aspirations of the Bangsamoro.”
A Sama youth from Simunul, Tawi-tawi expressed his support, but not without some concerns. “If the intent is inclusion, why is the Sama people not represented in the BTC? I am standing here today because I want to contribute to everlasting peace in the Bangsamoro,” he said.
“We are not here to beg. We are here to remind you that as the first Muslim inhabitants of the Bangsamoro, we support the passage of the BBL, and we hope there will be more opportunities for us to participate in the future,” he added.
Zubiri responded, saying that he has already been to Simunul and that it was a “life-changing experience.” He assured the young man as he noted that a public hearing will be held in Tawi-tawi on February 8, and that the Sama "will be given all the time we could give, so you can provide us inputs on how to further improve the BBL.”
Near the end of the hearing, Senator Sonny Angara said that ”the legislative process continues as we create a BBL that responds to the aspiration of the people.”
Meanwhile, Senator JV Ejercito said that he was happy to see and hear that the BBL is clearly supported in the region. “As your representative and your voice in the Senate, especially now that the constitutional infirmities of the old BBL draft have been addressed, I also support the BBL.” “I am for peace,” Ejercito added.
BBL timeline of the Senate
During the hearing, Zubiri laid out the initial timeline that the Senate has set for the passage of the BBL. “Hopefully, there will be no stumbling blocks. Our timeline is to finish by the second week of February all the consultative hearings. Our Valentines gift to the Bangsamoro will be a finished committee report, and then we will start the deliberations around the third week of Februrary. Before the end of session in March, we’ll be holding our third hearing and we hope we can pass the BBL by then,” he said.
Senator Risa Hontiveros echoed the statement delivered early in the program by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front chairman, Al-Hajj Murad Ebrahim. “The BBL will be a political and not just a legal document, and we would have to stretch the spirit of the Constitution, exercising innovation while remaining faithful to its spirit,” she said.
Zubiri, who earlier filed his own BBL draft, has replaced it with the approved BTC draft. Hontiveros also filed in the senate the same BTC draft, and so did Senator Bam Aquino. At the start of the program, Hontiveros also said, “Insha’Allah, this will pass. Mabuhay po ang BBL.”
Hataman has once again expressed his willingness to resign, should the BBL be passed before the end of his term to give way to the Bangsamoro Transition Authority. (Bureau of Public Information)
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