NEWS BRIEFS | 22 August 2024

Losses due to ASF reach P77M in North Cotabato

Losses by the hog industry in North Cotabato due to the African Swine Fever infestation have reached a P77 million.

the towns of Antipas, President Roxas, Makilala, Pigcawayan, Matalam, Tulunan, M’lang, Kabacan, Arakan, and Midsayap, according to the provincial veterinary office.

Dr. Rufino Sorupia, North Cotabato veterinarian said the ASF has spread to the hog farms in the towns of Antipas, President Roxas, Makilala, Pigcawayan, Matalam, Tulunan, M’lang, Kabacan, Arakan, and Midsayap, and in Kidapawan City.

Sorupia said Antipas and Makilala have been placed under a state of calamity. (Froilan Gallardo/MindaNews)

SRA eyes satellite office in Bukidnon

The Sugar Regulatory Commission is planning to open a satellite office in Bukidnon to answer the clamor of the Mindanao Federation of Sugarcane Planters Inc. for better services.

Administrator Pabo Luis Azcona said the SRA, a government agency attached to the Department of Agriculture would be able to serve Mindanao sugarcane planters in Bukidnon, Davao and Lanao provinces.

Former representative Manuel Antonio Zubiri (3^rd District, Bukidnon) said land planted to sugar in Mindanao has reached almost 79,000 hectares, of which 59,000 hectares are in Bukidnon. (Froilan Gallardo/MindaNews)

3 drug suspects yield P10-M shabu

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency operatives in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao arrested three suspected drug peddlers and seized more than P10 million in two separate operations conducted in Cotabato City and Lanao del Sur.

PDEA-BARMM Director Gil Cesario Castro said their agents supported by a unit of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force arrested Wednesday a certain Amenola Sabdullah, 40, who yielded a half-kilo of shabu worth P3.4 million during a buy-bust operation in Malabang, Lanao del Sur.

Castro said PDEA operatives also arrested Tuesday two peddlers identified as Ebrahim Guind Esmael, 43, and Dali Malogayak Abdulkarim, 49, and seized from them a kilo of shabu worth P6.8 million in Rosary Heights 9 Village in Cotabato City. (Froilan Gallardo/MindaNews)