P207-M paid to Marawi siege victims
The Marawi Compensation Board (MCB) said it has paid at least P207 million to victims of the 2017 Marawi siege who have lost houses, properties and lives of relatives.
The national government has allotted P2 billion for qualified claimants in a payment scheme criticized by claimants as “too slow and too little” in the face of rising inflation.
In a recent congressional hearing, Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong (1st District, Lanao del Sur) told MindaNews that the disbursement of the P2 billion was too slow and members of Congress wanted to find ways to hasten the process.
MCB chair Lawyer Maisara Damdamun-Latiph said claimants have only until July 3 to file their claims pursuant to the Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Act of 2022.
BoC destroys smuggled cigarettes worth P592 million
Using an excavator and water, the Bureau of Customs (BoC) destroyed 8,816 cases and 1,014 reams of smuggled cigarettes worth P592. 22 million in Zamboanga City last week.
BOC Zamboanga District Collector Arthur Sevilla said the cigarettes represent the total haul of anti-smuggling operations from November 2023 to April 2024 in the Zambonga Peninsula and the provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi in the Bangsamoro region.
Sevilla said the cigarettes were manually crushed by an excavator and drenched by water inside a BOC-rented warehouse in Baliwasan Village in Zamboanga City before it was buried in a sanitary landfill.
34 drug suspects arrested in Region 12
The Philippine National Police (PNP) in Region 12 said they have arrested 34 drug peddlers and seized P2.2 million worth of shabu during a region-wide anti-drug operations in the past two days.
PNP Region 12 director Brigadier General Augustus Placer said the operations also netted 63 firearms of various calibers, two vehicles and P118, 210 in cash.
Placer said all the arrested suspects are detained in various police stations pending the filing of criminal cases against them.
