MAGUINDANAO: Two factions in the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (Milf) have been trading shots in recurring encounters since Wednesday at the border of Maguindanao’s adjoining towns of Rajah Buayan and Mamasapano.
The hostilities forced more than a hundred Moro families to evacuate to safer areas, according to local officials.
Rajah Buayan Mayor Zamzamin Ampatuan, chairman of the municipal peace and order council, said the hostilities between the two groups, which both belong to the Milf’s 105th Base Command, was sparked by the murder of a guerrilla by another rebel from the other side. Ampatuan said ranking leaders of the Milf’s 105th and 106th Base Commands are now trying to resolve the conflict amicably.
Bread sold with poppy seeds
BAGUIO CITY: The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) yesterday said that some shops in the country’s City of Pines may be serving breads and pastries laced with poppy seeds.
Director Gil Castro of the PDEA-Cordillera regional office, declined to provide more details on the matter so as not to compromise their operations. He just warned the public against poppy seeds and its by-products.
The PDEA and the Department of Health Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on February 21, 2011, issued a memorandum ordering all establishments “to immediately stop the importation, sale, trading, administration, dispensation, delivery, distribution and transportation of poppy seeds and products containing poppy seeds.”
4.5 quake jolts Manila, Luzon
MANILA: A magnitude of 4.5 earthquake shook parts of Luzon, including Metro Manila, Wednesday night but left no damage or casualties.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said the tremor occurred at 10.46pm with its epicentre traced some four kilometres southwest of San Quintin town in Pangasinan.
The quake was reportedly felt at Intensity 3 in the cities of Caloocan and Mandaluyong, and in Dagupan, Baguio, and Binalonan town in Pangasinan.
Agencies
