4 Cotabato towns declare state of calamity due to El Niño
Four towns in North Cotabato have declared they are on a state of calamity after days of scorching heat destroyed their agricultural crops worth more than P650 million.
M’lang town Mayor Russel Abonado told reporters that the drought brought by the El Niño phenomenon has destroyed crops and killed livestock in their 37 barangays.
He said only rice fields with irrigation canal systems were spared.
Aside from M’lang, three other towns in North Cotabato province—Aleosan, Alamada and Arakan—also declared their own state of calamity.
North Cotabato agriculture officer Ruel Villanueva said thee three towns suffered P306 million losses in agricultural crops. He said the towns of Magpet and Pigkawayan reported losses too.
Shabu worth P6.8 million seized in Marawi operation
A joint task force of composed of police and army troopers conducted an anti-drug operation in Marawi City last weekend that lead to the arrest of two suspects and the seizure of a kilo of shabu worth P6.8 million.
Gil Cesario Castro, director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, identified the suspects as Abdu Batugan and Panarigan Radia, both residents of the municipality of Lumbayanague in Lanao del Sur.
Castro said the two suspects were arrested by the team after they handed over the illegal drugs to a policeman posing as a buyer in Barangay Saduc, Marawi City last Saturday.
13 illegal recruitment victims rescued in Tawi-Tawi
Police rescued 13 victims of illegal recruitment as soon as they arrived by boat in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi Friday night.
Brig. General Prexy Tanggawohn, BARMM police director, said police operatives intercepted the victims as soon as they arrived in Bongao port aboard M/V Ever Queen of Asia from Zamboanga City.
When interviewed by members of the Bongao anti-trafficking task force, Tanggawohn said the victims told them they planned to proceed to Sabah, Malaysia where they were promised jobs.
He said the victims could not produce travel documents when asked by the police.
