Mindanao, the country’s second largest island, has long been referred to as the Philippines’ “Land of Promise.” It has often been misunderstood, and yet, it has produced a president out of a mayor from Davao City, Rodrigo Duterte, in 2016.
The island has six administrative regions: Northern Mindanao, Davao Region in the south, Zamboanga Peninsula in the west, Caraga in the east, Soccsksargen in south-central Mindanao, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Many of the cities and provinces in these regions have not been getting their place in the daily news cycle.
Spotlight Mindanao serves as our page to compile developing stories from Mindanao each day so that the island becomes a part of our daily news diet.
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LATEST UPDATES
CAAP turns over management of 6 airports to BARMM
Ferdinandh Cabrera
Bangsamoro officials on Wednesday, January 11, said the regional government would work to upgrade and make all six airports in the region operational, a day after the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) turned over these to them.
PNP majors, lieutenant colonels worry they’re next to be asked to quit
Cong Corrales
Subordinates of police generals and colonels who tendered their courtesy resignations worry they would be the next ones to be told to offer to quit the service, saying what’s at stake are their career and future.
Highway Patrol Group-Davao Region Deputy Director Surki Sereñas said police majors and lieutenant colonels like him were facing a similar situation.
He said Philippine National Police (PNP) chief General Rodolfo Azurin Jr. already spoke during a command conference about requiring majors and lieutenant colonels to submit their courtesy resignations after the generals and full-fledged colonels were done with theirs.
BARMM officials hail Galvez appointment: ‘Good for us’
Ferdinandh Cabrera, Ferdinand Zuasola
Bangsamoro region officials and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Monday, January 9, hailed the appointment of presidential peace adviser Carlito Galvez Jr. as defense secretary, saying his new task would be favorable to the predominantly Muslim region.
But not all are happy with the resignation of Department of Defense (DND) officer-in-charge Jose Faustino, who stepped down over the reappointment of General Andres Centino as chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Abu Sayyaf leader in Sulu, 20 of his followers surrender
Frencie Carreon, Richard Falcatan
The leader of the Dawlah Islamiyah-Abu Sayyaf Group (DI-ASG) in Sulu province and nearly two dozen of his followers laid down their arms and surrendered to the military on Sunday, January 8.
Twenty-three police generals and colonels in the Davao Region have tendered their courtesy resignations to heed the call of Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos for them to start the internal cleansing process in the Philippine National Police (PNP).
Davao Region police director Brigadier General Benjamin Silo Jr. said on Saturday, January 7, that the officials submitted their courtesy resignation papers to assure the people in the region that “we occupy the moral high ground in the PNP’s campaign against illegal drugs.”