Apat na magkasabwat sa pamamalakad ng isang drug den sa Barangay Poblacion sa Kidapawan City sa probinsya ng Cotabato ang naaresto sa isang raid na isinagawa ng Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency 12 at ng pulisya nitong gabi ng Lunes, April 6.

Kinumpirma nitong Huwebes ni Charlene Magdurulang, PDEA 12 director, ang pagkaaresto ng apat na mga suspects sa naturang drug den raid kung saan nasamsam mula sa kanila ng abot sa P102,000 na halaga ng shabu.

Gagamitin na ebidensya sa paglitis sa apat na suspects sa paglabag sa Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 ang P102,000 na halaga ng shabu na nakumpiska mula sa kanila, ayon kay Magdurulang.

May dalang search warrant mula sa isang korte ang mga agents ng PDEA 12 at mga pulis na magkatuwang na nagsagawa ng naturang raid, ayon sa mga kasapi ng multi-sector Cotabato Provincial Peace and Order Council at mga barangay officials sa Kidapawan City na tumulong sa pagkasa ng naturang drug den raid.

Ang mga naarestong suspects, sina Aejay, 30-anyos, na siyang may-ari ng drug den, at mga kasabwat niyang sina Josephine, 51-anyos, Norman, 28-anyos, at ang 39-anyos na si Erick, ay matagal ng nagsasagawa para sa kanilang mga parukyano ng pot sessions sa kanilang drug den sa isang lugar sa Barangay Poblacion sa Kidapawan City, ang kabisera ng Cotabato province.

Ayon kay Magdurulang, malaki ang naitulong ng mga barangay officials at ng administrasyon ni Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza sa kanilang anti-narcotics operation na nag-resulta sa pagka-aresto ng apat na mga suspects at pagka-samsam mula sa kanila ng P102,000 na halaga ng shabu. (April 9, 2026)

Isang Malaysian citizen at lokal na kasabwat ang nakumpiskahan ng kalahating kilong shabu, nagkakahalaga ng P3.4 million, sa isang entrapment operation ng Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency at ng pulisya sa Sitangkai sa Tawi-Tawi nitong umaga ng Miyerkules, April 8.

Kinumpirma nitong Huwebes ng mga local government officials at mga traditional Sama at Tausug community leaders sa Sitangkai na tumulong sa pagpaplano ng naturang anti-narcotics operation na nasa kustodiya na ng PDEA-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao ang Malaysian shabu dealer na si Mohammad Bin Sabdani at ang kasamang Filipina, si Nashra Alih, nakatakda ng lilitisin sa paglabag sa Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

Ang 45-anyos na si Sabdani ay taga Kampong sa Pangkalan Kunak area sa Sabah na sakop ng Malaysia na malapit lang sa ilang mga island municipalities sa Tawi-Tawi, isa sa limang mga probinsya sa Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Si Alih ay residente ng Pukol sa Sitangkai island town sa Tawi-Tawi.

Sa ulat nitong Huwebes ni Edgar Jubay, director ng PDEA-BARMM, agad na inaresto ang suspect na Malaysian at ang kanyang kasamang babae ng kanilang mga agents, pinamumunuan ng kanilang Tawi-Tawi provincial team leader na si Abraham Solon Kalim, na kanyang nabentahan ng shabu sa isang entrapment operation sa Barangay Suwang sa Sitangkai.

Nakumpiska mula sa banyagang suspect at kanyang kasabwat ang 500 gramo ng shabu, nagkakahalaga ng P3.4 million sa naturang entrapment operation na naikasa sa tulong ng Sitangkai Municipal Police Station, ng Tawi-Tawi Provincial Police Office at ng iba pang mga units sa probinsya ng Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.

Sa mga hiwalay na pahayag nitong Huwebes, pinasalamatan nila Jubay at Police Brig. Gen. Jaysen De Guzman, director ng PRO-BAR, ang mga local executives sa Sitangkai at mga provincial officials sa Tawi-Tawi sa kanilang pagtulong sa pagkasa ng entrapment operation na nagresulta sa pagkaaresto kay Sabdani at Alih at pagka-kumpiska sa kanila ng abot sa P3.4 million na halaga ng shabu.

Maliban sa kalahating kilong shabu, nakuha din ng PDEA-BARMM agents at ng mga pulis kay Sabdani at Alih ng isang vintage .30 caliber Springfield M1 Garand rifle at isang 9 millimeter pistol at mga bala, kaya sasampahan din siya ng hiwalay na kasong illegal possession of firearms. (April 9, 2026) 

Soldiers shot dead a long wanted high official of the New People’s Army and his female aide in a brief clash in Barangay Laconon in T’boli town in South Cotabato on Thursday morning, April 9.

Major Gen. Jose Vladimir Cagara, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, and Brig. Gen. Michael Santos, commander of the 603rd Infantry Brigade, separately told reporters at noon Thursday that the NPA leader Anthony Narvasa, secretary of the NPA’s Far South Mindanao Region operating in Central Mindanao, and his assistant, Rosa Kian, died instantly from multiple bullet wounds sustained in the encounter.

The gunfight erupted when Narvasa and his companions opened fire at soldiers from a unit of the 603rd Infantry Brigade that Santos dispatched to Barangay Laconon, a hinterland area in T’boli, to check on reports by villagers about their presence in the area, collecting money and rice from them at gunpoint.

Narvasa was wanted for high-profile criminal cases, including multiple murder, multiple frustrated murder, arson, armed robbery, extortion and large-scale trafficking of shabu and marijuana, pending in courts in different towns in South Cotabato and in Koronadal City, the capital of the province.

Ethnic T’boli tribal leaders and local executives had told reporters that companions of the slain Narvasa and Kian scampered away, carrying three wounded guerillas, when they sensed that more soldiers were closing in.

Santos said they are grateful to the ethnic T’boli tribal leaders who informed them about the presence of Narvasa and his followers in a hinterland in Barangay Laconon, enabling them to launch the anti-NPA maneuver that resulted in an encounter that left him and Kian dead and forced their comrades to retreat towards an unpopulated forest a few kilometers away.

Santos said soldiers found scattered around the cadavers of Narvasa and Kian five M16 assault rifles, two improvised rifles that can fire steel pellets using butane gas, hundreds of rifle ammunition, 40 millimeter grenade projectiles and components for improvised explosive devices. (April 9, 2026)

COTABATO CITY — Sixteen regional parties will pit candidates for the first ever parliamentary polls in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) on Sept. 14, officials of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) here said on Wednesday, April 8.

Among the 16 parties are the newly launched Bangsamoro Federalist Party that has thousands of members and followers, including incumbent local executives across BARMM’s five provinces, the equally large and influential Bangsamoro Party of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Serbisyong Inklusibo, Alyansang Progresibo.

The United Bangsamoro Justice Party of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front also has candidates for seats in the 80-seat BARMM parliament, presently occupied by lawmakers appointed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.

Thousands of Muslim and Christian supporters on Tuesday converged along the access routes to the 32-hectare BARMM compound in uptown Cotabato City to show support for the Bangsamoro Federalist Party, after their officials filed before the Comelec their petition to participate in the upcoming elections.

Among the senior officials of the Bangsamoro Federalist Party are the incumbent BARMM parliament members Naguib A. Sinarimbo and Tumanda D. Antok, who, along with another regional lawmaker, Michael E. Midtimbang, submitted then to the lawyer Ray A. Sumalipao, regional director of Comelec, their petition for the poll body’s imprimatur for their bloc to participate in the regional electoral exercise.

In a press briefing, Mr. Sinarimbo said members of the Bangsamoro Federalist Party recognize Bangsamoro Chief Minister Abdulrauf A. Macacua as figurehead of the Bangsamoro parliament and of all the ministries and support agencies of the Bangsamoro government.

“Our favored bet for chief minister of the region, to become figurehead of the parliament, if the elections pushes through as scheduled, is our current most senior official, Chief Minister Macacua, if he would aspire for a seat in the parliament to represent his district to the region’s lawmaking body,” Mr. Sinarimbo, Bangsamoro Federalist Party’s Cotabato City chapter president, said.

The MNLF’s Bangsamoro Party, led by senior members of the front, including BARMM Labor and Employment Minister Muslimin G. Sema, was the first to seek Comelec’s permission to participate in the upcoming BARMM elections.

The Bangsamoro Party is popular for its policy of not allowing members to attack or criticize abusively, via the mainstream media, or through Facebook, the political platforms of other regional parties in the autonomous region.

The MNLF group led by BARMM parliament member Abdulkarim T. Misuari also has its Mahardika Party that now has favored bets for the regional parliament. (April 8, 2026, a BusinessWorld report, JFMU, Cotabato City)

Tatlong mga officials ng Bangsamoro government ang nadagdag sa Regional Advisory Group for Police Transformation Development (RAGPTD) nitong Martes, April 7.

Ang tatlong officials ng Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, ang mga abogadong sina Al-Rashid Balt, director-general ng Ministry of Public Order and Safety, at Abdul Rashid Kalim, chairperson ng Bangsamoro Human Rights Commission (HR sector), at ang physician-ophthalmologist na si Kadil Sinolinding, Jr. na kasalukuyang BARMM health minister, ay nanumpa bilang mga bagong RAGPTD members sa meeting ng grupo sa Al-Nor Complex sa Cotabato City nitong Martes.

Tampok sa naturang meeting ng RAGPTD-BARMM, magkatuwang na pinangunahan ng abogadong advisory group president na si Ronald Hallid Dimacisil Torres at ng director ng PRO-BAR, si Police Brig. Jaysen De Guzman, ang panunumpa sa katungkulan nila Balt, Kalim at Sinolinding bilang mga bagong miyembro ng naturang multi-sector na grupo.

Hiwalay na tiniyak nila Balt, Kalim at ni Sinolinding na nagsisilbi din bilang miyembro ng regional parliament, na kanilang lubos na susuportahan ng mga programs at activities ng RAGPTD-BARMM na nagsusulong ng professionalism, community services at mga humanitarian missions ng Philippine National Police sa limang probinsya at tatlong lungsod sa BARMM.

Ang RAGPTD-BARMM ay may mga miyembro din na mula sa ibat-ibang sectors, kabilang ang academe, media, o Fourth Estate, Muslim at Christian religious communities, business sector at iba pang mga ahensya ng Bangsamoro government.

Makikita sa larawan ang tatlong mga Bangsamoro government officials na nanumpa bilang mga bagong miyembro ng RAGPTD-BARMM sa presensya ng mga kinatawan ng PRO-BAR at ng advisory group president na si Torres na siyang chairman ng Bangsamoro Business Council na may mga kasapi sa limang probinsya at tatlong lungsod sa autonomous region. (April 8, 2026) 

Policemen arrested six more shabu dealers in separate entrapment operations in four areas in Cotabato City in less than 24 hours, enforced after their close relatives reported their illegal activities to the office of Mayor Bruce Matabalao.

The six suspects, Michael Igno Dahili, Gerald Tenorio Tagalogon, Anton Castillion Cedeño, Ali Salilaguia Suga, Quetze Lauban Wahab and Harris Nandog Gaduan, are now locked in separate detention facilities of the Cotabato City Police Office (CCPO), awaiting prosecution in court.

Dahili, Tagalogon and Cedeño were arrested before dawn Wednesday in an entrapment operation, involving agents of the City Police Drug Enforcement Unit, led by Lt. Patricia Bueno and the director of the CCPO, Col. Jibin Bongcayao, in a residential area in Barangay Rosary Heights 11.

Bongcayao and Brig. Gen. De Guzman, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, separately told reporters that barangay and city officials were instrumental in the arrest of the three suspects, immediately detained by their subordinate-operatives after procuring from them shabu during a tradeoff in Barangay Rosary Heights 11.

Suga was arrested by combined non-uniformed personnel of the Cotabato City Police Station 3, under Capt. Eduardo Malicdem, the CCPO after selling to them his illegal merchandise at Purok Balabaran in Barangay Rosary Heights 10 on Tuesday afternoon.

Wahab was immediately frisked and cuffed by policemen from the Cotabato City Police Station 2, led by Capt. Anuar Mambatao, and officials of the CCPO, after turning over to them a sachet of shabu in Purok 3 in the Bishop Mongeau area in Barangay Rosary Heights 9, Cotabato City at about dusk Tuesday.

Gaduan was entrapped at almost midnight Tuesday along Sinsuat Avenue in Barangay Rosary Heights 7 by anti-narcotics agents from the Cotabato City Police Station 2 and the CCPO.

Bongcayao and his superiors in PRO-BAR separately said it was for the support of Matabalao, who, as mayor, is chairperson of the multi-sector Cotabato City Peace and Order Council, and his constituent-barangay officials that the six longtime shabu traffickers got busted in four separate entrapment operations from between past noontime Tuesday until early Wednesday.

Bongcayao said local executives and relatives of the suspects who reported to Matabalao and his constituent-barangay leaders their circulation of shabu to contacts around observed from a distance the entrapment operations that led to their arrest and confiscation from them of shabu that the CCPO and PRO-BAR shall use as evidence in prosecuting them for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

Photo shows the three shabu dealers entrapped before dawn Wednesday, in Barangay Rosary Heights 11, are now all detained, to be prosecuted for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. (APRIL 8, 2026) 

Magkatuwang na pinasinayaan ng mga doctor at mga kawani ng Cotabato Sanitarium and General Hospital sa Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte ang kanilang bagong P3.4 million 10-room leprosy custodial facility nitong Lunes, April 6.

Mismong si physician Ibrahim Pangato, Jr., medical center chief ng Cotabato Sanitarium General Hospital, o CotSanGen Hospital, ang nanguna sa inagurasyon ng naturang leprosy custodial facility sa likurang bahagi ng kanilang hospital compound sa Pinaring sa Sultan Kudarat.

Ang Sultan Kudarat ay isa sa limang probinsya sa Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Dumalo sa naturang okasyon ang municipal administrator ng Sultan Kudarat na si Banjo Mampon at ang staff ni Congresswoman Dimple Mastura na si Joesan Pacaldo.

Ayon kay Pangato, naitatag ang 10-room leprosy custodial facility sa pagtutulungan ng lahat ng mga doctor, mga medical support at administrative personnel ng CotSanGen Hospital.

Mula sa pondo ng CotSanGen Hospital ang ginamit na P3.4 million na pangtustos sa naturang proyekto, ayon kay pangato.

Orihinal na isang leprosy treatment facility ang pinagmulan ng CotSanGen Hospital sa Barangay Pinaring. Ang naturang confinement area ng mga pasyenteng may leprosy, o ketong, ay unang itinatag matapos ang World War 2 noong 1940s.

Mula sa naturang makalumang leprosarium ay umusbong ang ngayong at moderno ng CotSanGen Hospital na isang general service medical facility na, nagsasagawa ng mga medical services katulad ng kung anong meron sa mga regular hospitals sa hindi kalayuang lungsod ng Cotabato, ang kabisera ng Bangsamoro region.

Ang CotSanGen Hospital ay may mga malalaki, modernong gusali na sa loob ng compound nito. Si Pangato ang nagsisilbing center chief nito mula pa noong 2011. (April 7, 2026)

Residents of Datu Paglas, Maguindanao del Sur surrendered 12 combat rifles on Monday, April 6, in support of a regional disarmament campaign of the 6th Infantry Division and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity.

Major Gen. Jose Vladimir Cagara, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said on Tuesday that the firearms, nine .30 caliber M1 Garand rifles, an M14 rifle, an M1 Carbine rifle and an M2 Carbine rifle, were turned over then by residents of Datu Paglas to officials of the 1st Mechanized Brigade and the 2nd Mechanized Battalion, during a symbolic rite in the municipality, in compliance with the Small Arms and Weapons Management Program of the 6th ID and the OPAPRU.

The SALW Management Program complements the government’s peace process with Moro communities in Region 12 and in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, where there are state-recognized enclaves of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front. The two fronts have separate peace agreements with the national government and have representatives in the 80-seat BARMM parliament.

Cagara said Brig. Omar Orozco, commander of the 1st Mechanized Brigade, his subordinate-officers in the 2nd Mechanized Infantry Battalion and the mayor of Datu Paglas, Datu Ibrahim Paglas IV, cooperated in securing the surrender of the 12 assault rifles via backchannel dialogues.

“It was a community effort, supported by the Moro community leaders Datu Paglas,” Cagara said.

Units of the 6th ID in the provinces of Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato and Sarangani and in Cotabato City, the capital of BARMM, had collected in the past 26 months 2,544 assorted firearms, 40 millimeter grenade and B40 rocket launchers, mortars, M60, .30 and .50 caliber machineguns that owners surrendered to manifest their recognition of the SALW Management Program. (April 7, 2026)

Officials of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) on Tuesday, April 7, destroyed using a mechanized shredder P266 million worth of cigarettes seized in separate operations in the Zamboanga peninsula and nearby Bangsamoro island provinces in the past 24 months.

Radio reports on Tuesday afternoon stated that the contraband was shredded using a machine of a private firm in Barangay Manicahan in Zamboanga City.

The smuggled cigarettes were reportedly turned over to the BOC by police units in Regions 9 and in Basilan, an island province in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, seized in recent anti-smuggling operations assisted by local government units.

A BOC official in Region 9, the district collector Elenita Abaño, was quoted in radio reports as saying that the Indonesian-made cigarettes were destroyed using a mechanized shredder to disprove notions that such contraband that policemen, soldiers and bureau employees confiscate in joint operations are just being kept and, after a period of time, sold to retailers secretly.

In BARMM, police and BOC officials burn in open fields, in the presence of reporters and local executives, smuggled cigarettes seized in anti-smuggling operations in the region.

A report from the BOC’s office in Region 9 stated the a total of 5,069 large boxes of cigarettes from Indonesia and 2,620 more smaller reams of such contraband were destroyed using a shredder in Barangay Manicahan in Zamboanga City on Tuesday, in the presence of local executives. (April 7, 2026)

Soldiers and policemen seized in a joint operation on Saturday, April 4, military-type firearms and ammunition from two Moro groups that clashed a few hours before in Barangay Masigay in Datu Piang in Maguindanao del Sur.

The encounter between the two Moro groups, one led by Mando Santukan and the other by Kob Silongan, caused panic among villagers in Sitio Tambua in Barangay Masigay and forced many of them to relocate to safe areas.

The two groups, one identified with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the other comprised of former members of the now defunct Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters who had pledged allegiance to the government in recent months, are squabbling for control of territories in Datu Piang and in nearby towns and got locked in a deep-seated animosity triggered by their having supported rival candidates for local elective posts during the May 12, 2025 local elections.

Major Gen. Jose Vladimir Cagara, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, told reporters on Sunday that his two subordinates, Brig. Edgar Catu of the 601st Infantry Brigade and Lt. Col. Erwin Felongco of the 38th Infantry Battalion and Col. Michael John Mangahis, director of the Maguindanao del Sur Provincial Police Office, cooperated in overseeing the operation that led to the confiscation of the firearms of followers of Santukan and Silongan.

The confiscated cache, comprised an M60 machinegun, an M4A1 rifle, an M16 rifle, an M14 rifle, two M653 rifles and more than a thousand rounds of ammunition of various calibers, is now in the custody of the 38th IB, whose commanding officer, Felongco, is involved in multi-sector peacebuilding programs in Datu Piang and in other towns around, where there state-recognized domains of the MILF that have a peace agreement with the national government.

Cagara, who is also overseeing the anti-terror Joint Task Force Central, said they are grateful to local executives and traditional Moro community leaders for supporting the joint Army-police operation in Barangay Masigay that resulted in the seizure of the combat weapons that followers of Santukan and Silongan had used in their clashes early Saturday.

Photo shows the firearms seized from gunmen belonging to two enemy groups that clashed in Datu Piang over the weekend, now in the custody of the 38th IB. (April 6, 2026, JFU, PhilStar)