NEWS BRIEFS TULUNAN DISASTER OFFICE SHORT OF FUNDS FOR QUAKE VICTIMS TULUNAN, North Cotabato—The municipal government here disclosed that they still need additional funds in order to provide financial assistance to the victims of 4.8 magnitude earthquake that hit the town in October. Jeric Ardina,Tulunan disaster risk reduction management officer, said their office needs at least P500,000 to complete the financial assistance for the 87 families that lost homes due to the quake. Ardina said they already utilized their P329,000 Quick Response Fund, but not all earthquake victims were given financial assistance to rebuild their homes. Victims who totally lost their homes were given P10,000 eachwhile those whose houses incurred partial damage received P5,000 as assistance,Ardina said. The earthquake hit the villages of Bacung, Banayal, Bituan, and Tuburan, damaging houses, village halls, and some public school buildings. (WILLIAMOR A. MAGBANUA) SPECIAL GROUP FORMED TO CURBCRIMINALITIES IN PIKIT PIKIT, North Cotabato—The Cotabato Police Provincial Office (CPPO) formed last week a special group that will concentrate on curbing criminalities in this municipality. Senior Superintendent Danilo Peralta, Cotabato Provincial Director said Task Force Pikit was created following a series of carnappings, shootings, and the UCCP Church blast perpetrated by still unidentified suspects in the area. Peralta said more or less 100 police personnel from the Regional and Provincial Public Safety Battalion were deployed in Pikit to augment the local police in hunting down criminals and ensure that peace and order is properly maintained. “We again call to our constituents in Pikit to help our policemen to curb any form of criminality and prevent criminals from harm anybody not only in Pikit but in other towns of the province as well,” Peralta said. (WILLIAMOR A. MAGBANUA) BIFF, OCG LINKED TO KABACAN BLAST KABACAN, North Cotabato - Police authorities here believed that Sunday nights bombing here that left a 19 year-old student dead and 16 others wounded could be the handiwork of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF). In his report to the North Cotabato police office, Senior Inspector Jarwin Castroverde, Kabacan OIC police chief, said the blast could be a retaliatory attack by the BIFF to divert the attention of the military conducting manhunt operations in nearby towns. However, Castroverde also said that police are not discounting the possibility that it was a handiwork of an organized crime group (OCG) operating in Kabacan to avengethe killing two of its members during a July shootout here. Suspected carnappers identified as Esmael Lucas and Baclaran Balabagan were killed when they traded shots with police personnel in Barangay Osias. Castroverde said that Philippine Army bomb experts have already identified the bomb that went off atop the overpass fronting the Kabacan Central Pilot Elementary School (KCPES) at the national highway. “The bomb was fashioned from a 60 mm mortar with a mobile phone as triggering device,” Castroverde said. Mayor Herlo Guzman condemned the attack and also offered an additional P100,000 cash rewards. “We condemn this barbaric act. However we assure our constituents that your local government unit (LGU) is doing everything to ensure safety of our people,” Guzman said. (WILLIAMOR A. MAGBANUA)
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 05:32:33 +0000
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