MAGUINDANAO LAKERS... FROM 11 PHILIPPINE... COTABATO...

FROM 3 lone congressional districts and belong to 3rd and 6th income generating classification of districts.

No. 10 Oklahoma City.

The two PPOs will be led by officers with the rank of fullfledged Colonels.

FROM 2 several military veterans led by the 100-year-old Teofilo Gamutan, Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte, 10th Infantry Division commander Major General Jose Eriel Niembra, and Task Force Davao Commander Col. Darren Comia.

The PPO of Maguindanao del Sur will be based in Shariff Aguak town while Maguindanao del Norte’s PPO will be in Parang, according to Brig.Gen. Allan Nobleza, the newly-assigned regional director of Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BAR).

Maguindanao del Sur has 24 towns while Maguindanao del Norte has 12 towns.

President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. on April 5 appointed as OIC Govenors Bai Mariam Sangki-Mangudadatu for Maguindanao del Sur and Abdulraof Macacua for Maguindanao del Norte.

Before their appointments, Mangudadatu was reelected as Governor of the undivided Maguindanao in May last year while Macacua was Senior Minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. (Ferdinandh B. Cabrera / MindaNews)

SEC... FROM

4 to the benefit of the people”.

In response, the administration of Governor Cagas vowed to craft an executive order that would support the SEC initiatives.

Aside from the governor, also present during the courtesy visit to the office were all members of the Provincial Board. At the presentation of SEC programs were top officials of the executive department.

The visit of SEC officials to the province is part of the Commission’s larger effort to combat investment scams across the country as the Commission has also been conducting similar activities in other areas, including seminars, forums, and roadshow activities.

“sets the stage for more proactive measures to secure at least two Philippine eagle families within Arakan town, including piloting a power line retrofitting project.”

Ibañez said the foundation worked with the local government and communities within Mount Sinaka to conserve a pair of Philippine eagles, which the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed as a “critically endangered” species.

With only less than 2,000 hectares of forest cover, Ibañez stressed that Mount Sinaka is considered as the smallest nesting habitat of the Philippine eagles.

PEF executive director Dennis Salvador said they have been helping empower the local communities to become “responsible neighbors to the eagles through education, forest protection and restoration projects, and livelihood support” since the foundation confirmed Mount Sinaka as an eagle nesting site in 1995.

Ibañez said that “COTELCO expressed that it wants to modify and insulate their power lines at Mount Sinaka to protect the eagles.”

Karol Mei Colambot, COTELCO head of promotions, said it is one with PEF in protecting the national bird at Mount Sinaka. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)

PH... FROM 5

Philippines in less than a year. Within 2022, the two countries also sought to expand cooperation on culture, education, as well as interparliamentary relations.

“Things have been holding in the relations between our country and Morocco. After the visit, a lot of things have transpired and a lot of agreements signed,” Baja said.

“We have some pending agreements that are close to signing and hopefully can materialize within the year,” he disclosed. (PNA) investors and buyers, officials of the Department of Agrarian Reform 11, and other government agencies.

Marila L. Corpuz, technical director for operations of the Department of Agriculture 11 (DA 11), disclosed that DA 11 is now looking into an expansion area to maintain the production of durian to meet the demand in China and one of these areas is Kidapawan City.

“We have so much demand in China. We are looking into an expansion area and we will partner with some investors to invest in production to maintain the yield,” Corpuz said.

DA 11 director Abel James Monteagudo said that DA 11 is also working on a five-year development plan for the durian industry that will intensify technical support and the provision of quality planting materials, fertilizer, pesticide, equipment, and tools as well as the establishment of post-harvest facilities.

“The first shipment contains 18 metric tons of fresh durian and we are hopeful that more locally produced fruits, including coconut and bananas, are to be shipped to China in the coming months,” he said.

PBBM... FROM 3

nounced four locations considered “suitable and mutually beneficial” as EDCA sites that are seen to boost the disaster response of the country as the locations will also be used for humanitarian and relief operations during emergencies and natural disasters.

The four locations inspected and assessed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) include the Naval Base Camilo Osias in Sta. Ana, Cagayan; Lal-lo Airport in Lal-lo, Cagayan; Camp Melchor Dela Cruz in Gamu, Isabela and Balabac Island in Palawan.

Marcos granted in February US troops access to four more Philippine military camps on top of the five existing locations under the EDCA.

Filipino and American troops are also scheduled to hold their largest-ever military exercise this April.(PNA)

WORLD... FROM 5

grain producers -- to export grain through a safe corridor in the Black Sea.

It was agreed after the Russian invasion in February 2022 blocked 20 million tons of its grain in port.

The FAO index averaged 126.9 points, down 2.1 percent from the end of February and down by 20.5 percent since March 2022.

The fall was aided by international wheat prices sliding 7.1 percent, notably on strong Australian output and improved crop conditions in EU states but also high Russian supplies and “ongoing exports from Ukraine from its Black Sea ports”.

A record Brazilian harvest also saw world maize prices drop by 4.6 percent, the FAO said.

FAO chief economist Maximo Torero said, however, prices remained “very high and continue to increase in domestic markets, posing additional challenges to food security... particularly so in net food importing developing countries,” struggling additionally with weak currencies.

“For us, it’s just good that we don’t have to travel,” James said after the Lakers ended their regular season with a home win over Utah. “We’ve traveled a lot lately. It’s good that we get to stay here, but we shouldn’t get comfortable. We have to stay on edge.”

The Lakers-Timberwolves winner gets No. 2 Memphis in Round 1; the winner of Friday’s West play-in game will start the playoffs next Sunday at No. 1 Denver.

No team in the West has had a better record since the All-Star break than the Lakers, who went 16-7 down the stretch — even with James sidelined for about half of that run by injury.

Minnesota locked up the No. 8 seed (and two chances at the playoffs) by holding off New Orleans 113-108.

It was the last game to finish in the league this season, though for Gobert, it ended early. He threw a punch at Kyle Anderson — his teammate — after heated words during a first-half time-out, didn’t return to the game, and Minnesota also lost Jaden McDaniels to a right hand injury after he appeared to punch a wall.

“We made the decision to send Rudy Gobert home after the incident in the second quarter,” Timberwolves President Tim Connelly said in a postgame statement. “His behavior on the bench was unacceptable and we will continue handling the situation internally.”

There appeared to be progress on that front quickly, with Wolves veteran Mike Conley suggesting that the team is ready to move forward.

“We’re going to need all of us,” Conley said.

Gobert chimed in Sunday night as well, tweeting: “Emotions got the best of me today. I should not have reacted the way i did regardless of what was said. I wanna apologize to the fans, the organisation and particularly to Kyle, who is someone that i truly love and respect as a teammate.”

If the Timberwolves lost that game, they would have been the No. 9 seed out West. There were 16 possible ways the 5-6-7-8-9 seeds on the West bracket could have gone on Sunday — and the Pelicans had a shot to finish as high as No. 5. Instead, they settled for No. 9.

All Set In East

The Eastern Conference postseason matchups were all set before Sunday. No. 7 Miami plays No. 8 Atlanta on Tuesday, and No. 9 Toronto plays No. 10 Chicago on Wednesday. The Heat-Hawks winner advances to play No. 2 Boston in Round 1; the Raptors-Bulls winner will play the Heat-Hawks loser on Friday for the chance to play No. 1 Milwaukee in the opening round.

No. 3 Philadelphia will play No. 6 Brooklyn, and No. 4 Cleveland will meet No. 5 New York.

The Brooklyn-Philadelphia series starts Saturday at 1 p.m. Eastern. The rest of Saturday’s schedule has the Heat-Hawks winner visiting Boston, then New York at Cleveland and finally Golden State visiting Sacramento.

The Clippers-Suns series starts next Sunday, as will the matchups featuring Denver, Milwaukee and Memphis.