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COTABATO CITY – Troops manning checkpoint in the southern Philippines were told Tuesday to stay vigilant and alert after an unidentified man abandoned his motorcycle which later caught fire after seeing a military roadblock in Maguindanao’s Talayan. Major Arvin John Encinas, a spokesman for the 6 th Infantry Division, said the man escaped and left his motorcycle upon seeing troops inspecting vehicles passing at the checkpoint. He said the motorcycle was abandoned in front of a government school 100 meters away from the checkpoint and minutes later it burst into flames. He said the motorcycle was burned, but intact. “We still do not know why the motorcycle caught fire. We are still investigating this incident, but the driver who remains unidentified avoided the checkpoint and made a sudden U-turn and abandoned his motorcycle,” Encinas told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner by phone from his headquarters in Maguindanao, one of 5 provinces under the Muslim autonomous region. Encin...

DAVAO CITY is providentially endowed with great and unique resources: fertile soil, rivers and streams, forest reserves where lies the recharge areas of its rich aquifers. Much of its watershed areas had been raped by loggers who made fortunes out of the mahoganies that they cut and exported. Many of them neither looked back nor share a tenth of the billions they earned from the timber lands of Davao City. Most of them were the first to erect tall buildings in Makati and Manila bearung their names. Some would now and then go back to Davao and elsewhere in Mindanao to run for elective positions and we were crazy to elect and re-elect them until they die. But the Divine Providence looks at us with kindness. Davao’s watersheds lie next to the slopes of the majestic Mt. Apo and close to Mt. Talomo and Mt. Tipolog. These mountains are all veritable recharge areas of the city’s valuable aquifers - structures of permeable rocks where the underground water are contained and trapped. These unde...

COTABATO CITY - The Philippine Army said 10 pro-ISIS fighters, including a former and notorious Moro Islamic Liberation Front or MILF commander, surrendered in the restive southern province of Maguindanao, and handed over assorted weapons. Major General Cirilito Sobejana, commander of the 6th Infantry Division, said the militants were all members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters or BIFF led by Gani Saligan. He said Saligan's group surrendered a .50-caliber Barrett sniper rifle, one Ultimax machine gun, one M14 rifle and .45-caliber pistol, including ammunition. “The surrender of the rebels is a breakthrough in countering violent extremism considering that there are still members of the outlawed group who desired to return to the fold of law,” Sobejana said. Saligan was a notorious commander of the MILF who broke away from the rebel group and joined the BIFF where he led militants in numerous assaults and attacks on government troops, and spate of bombings that targeted ci...

ANG MAKAMATAY nga pagboto sa bomba sa sulod sa Mt Carmel Cathedral sa Jolo ningbuhi og usab sa mga dugoon ug makalilisang nga mga hulagway sa parehas kapintas nga pagpaboto og bomba sa San Pedro Cathedral sa Davao City. Kining patraydor ug mangtas nga ataki labi na sa usa ka balay alampoanan gikondenar sa mga relihiyon nga Kristiyano ug Islam ug ginahimo lamang sa mga tawong di normal ang pagtuo ug pangutok. Ang ataki sa katedral sa San Pedro ug sa Mt Carmel nahitabo panahon sa martial law. Ang insidente sa Davao nahitabo sa panahon ni Marcos ug karon anaa na sab ning ataki sa simbahan sa Jolo. Ang trahedya sa Davao nahitabo sa panahon nga hapit na matapos ang martial law. Sa akong pangagpas, niining duha ka panghitabo, ang pag-implementar sa balaod militar dili hugot ug ang mga lakang sa seguridad kulang. Wa  itago ni Pres. Rodrigo Duterte ang grabe niyang kasuko sa pagpamomba nga kaduha pa gyud gihimo, sa sulod ug sa gawas sa simbahan. Ang nahitabo sa Jolo dapat nga maghatag og b...

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Police are set to file criminal charges against 5 suspected Abu Sayyaf militants being linked to the twin suicide bombings of a cathedral in the southern Philippine province of Sulu following their surrender to security forces sent to hunt them down. National Police Chief Oscar Albayalde said among those who surrendered is Kammah Pae, who was among those who coordinated the January 27 deadly bombings of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral in Jolo town that killed and wounded dozens of people. He identified the four other suspects as Salit Alih and Albaji Kisae Gadjali, Rajan Bakil Gadjali and Kaisar Bakil Gadjali. “The five surrendered due to the massive hot pursuit operations by troops from the Patikul Municipal Police Station, 52nd Special Action Company, Sulu Provincial Mobile Force Company, 14th Regional Mobile Force Battalion, CIDG9, RIU9, and 35th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army,” Albayalde said in a news conference Monday. He said security forces also d...

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Two persons were injured Sunday after a small cargo boat loaded with fuel and cooking gas caught fire at a wharf in the southern Philippine port city of Zamboanga, the local mayor said. Mayor Beng Climaco said the victims were rushed to hospital after suffering from burns they sustained during the fire on board the M/V NS Express Cargo. Their condition is still unknown. She said the boat was about to sail for Siasi Island in Sulu province when a short circuit in the ignition switch sparked a fire and quickly spread in the vessel. “The cargo vessel, while about to leave for Siasi, caught fire due to short circuit that originated at the vessel's ignition starter. The vessel was loaded with 75 drums of gasoline and 8 LPG tanks,” Climaco said, citing a report by the Zamboanga City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. Photos by Clint Senosa of the Zamboanga City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council show the burning vessel MV NS Express Cargo. A sho...

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Security forces are battling two brutal pro-ISIS groups in southern Philippines as government offensives continue Sunday in the restive region. Over 2 dozen soldiers had been killed and wounded in fighting Abu Sayyaf militants over the past days following two suicide bombings on January 27 of a cathedral in Jolo town in Sulu province being claimed by ISIS. Five soldiers had been confirmed dead and nearly two dozen more injured in clashes with over 100 Abu Sayyaf fighters in Patikul town. The fighting triggered an exodus of civilians in villages there. There had been no reports of civilian casualties, but the Joint Task Force Sulu said they have received intelligence reports that a foreign militant, who goes by his nom de guerre Abu Black, was killed in the fighting, but his nationality remains unknown. Another Abu Sayyaf commander, Idang Susukan, was also wounded in the clashes and lost his finger, the report added. The regional military headquarters, Western Mindanao ...