DURIAN POST

OPAPP brings ‘Projects for Peace’ to Davao City today

2010-01-27T23:29:00.000-08:00

THE Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) travels to the South today (Friday, 29 Jan 2010) as it brings the “Projects for Peace” program to Davao City.

The Davao sojourn is the second leg of the three-part “Projects for Peace” program which kicked off last Wednesday at the Astoria Plaza Hotel in Ortigas Center , Pasig City .

Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Annabelle Abaya said the “Peace Partners’ Forum” is designed to strengthen the participation of people down to the grassroots in the peace process undertaken by the government.

The government program aims to tap civil society as partners in the implementation of projects that would help in peace-building measure.

“The civil society knows best in identifying what projects are to be undertaken in their own locality that would redound to the benefit and welfare of the people in their respective communities,” Abaya pointed out.

Abaya said participants will be updated on the status of the implementation of the National Peace Plan (NPP) and the current thrusts and direction of the comprehensive peace process.

“They will also be briefed on the ‘Project for Peace’ as a comprehensive program of partnership between government and civil society,” she added.

In line with government’s efforts to forge peace agreements with rebel groups, the OPAPP engages partners from civil society in line with the continuing government’s efforts putting the peace process at the forefront.

Secretary Abaya said the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is working hard to forge separate peace accords with two main rebel groups -- the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army/National Democratic Front (CPP/NPA/NDF).

Davao City lawyer likens Ampatuans to crucified Christ

2010-01-06T23:45:00.000-08:00

Slams media for unfair reporting

By ROGER M. BALANZA

A Davao City lawyer counseling for the Ampatuans has likened Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. and the rest of the Ampatuans to Jesus Christ, “nailed on the cross without due process.”

For this idiotic and blasphemous remark, lawyer Philip Pantojan was “crucified “ by irate Dabawenyos in phone-in comments on ABC/CBN’s DXAB morning program Banat as soon as his statement was aired.

Andal Jr. is facing 41 counts of murder for the slaughter of 57 people, including 31 journalists, on November 23, 2009 in Maguindanao where his Muslim clan holds power.

His father, Andal Ampatuan Jr., former Maguindanao governor, and brother Zaldy Ampatuan, governor of the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), and several other relatives have been linked to the killing.

Andal Jr. is said to have led about 100 militiamen serving as army of the politically-powerful clan in the worst politically-motivated mass murder. The victims were aboard a convoy of vehicles to file the certificate of candidacy for governor of Buluan vice mayor Esmael Mangudadato, a political rival of the Ampatuans, when they were stopped and massacred and their bodies buried in a mass grave hurriedly dug up by an excavator.

Pantojan, is one of a battery of 80 lawyers reportedly hired by the Ampatuans, who are also facing rebellion charges.

From the start, my clients have been nailed on the cross without due process, Pantojan told DXAB reporter James Galay Wednesday night as Pantojan tried to prevent military and police from implementing a search warrant in an Ampatuan house in Dona Luisa Village, one of a dozen expensive residences built here by the Ampatuans of Maguindanao.

Galay played up the audio tape in a report on the Banat program hosted by Allan Abais on Thursday and sparked a flood of telephone calls from listeners lambasting the Davao City lawyer for his “idiotic and blasphemous remarks.”

Majority of the irate callers and text message senders, accused Pantojan of selling his profession for millions of pesos to defend the “killers.”

In the Wednesday interview by Galay, Pantojan also minced no words in lashing at media for allegedly “unfair reporting” against the Ampatuans since the November 23 massacre.

'Gibo' keeps lead in online survey

2010-01-06T00:34:00.000-08:00

Results of the latest online survey in the social networking site “Facebook” show Lakas-Kampi-CMD standard bearer Gilberto "Gibo" Teodoro Jr. consolidating his lead among the presidential candidates in the May 10, 2010 elections.

As of Wednesday noon, voting results for Round No. 8 of the Facebook application "Election 2010," which had 1,833 online ballots counted, featured the bar topnotcher and Harvard-trained lawyer maintaining his lead with 34.17 percent of the votes.

Teodoro is followed by Bro. Eddie Villanueva, with 30.92 percent; Senator Richard Gordon, 17.80 percent, and Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, with 12.04 percent. Round No. 8 started last January 5.

Teodoro had surpassed his third-place finish during the first round last year. He surged to the top during Round No. 5 where he had 46.07 percent of the total 2,062 votes, while Aquino had 20.85 percent.

A mock poll conducted last month by the Manila Standard Today also showed that voters are convinced that Teodoro is the most competent and qualified presidential candidate.

"Teodoro voters resolutely see him as smart, intelligent and capable," Pedro Laylo, the broadsheet's resident pollster, said, commenting on a poll result of 2,500 respondents throughout the country.

Also commenting on the Facebook’s simulated election results, Teodoro’s supporters said the results are hardly surprising.

In his comment, Ryan del Rosario pointed out that "Intelligent voters will really pick G1BO," adding that "Gibo Teodoro's campaign is based on positive change, solutions, track records, decency and competency."

Another comment made by Ringo N. Cielo Perezi stated that he voted for Teodoro because “amongst the presidentiables, I think he is the only one that can deliver what he says... he looks sincere and intelligent to me."

Likewise last month, a poll by the online edition of the country's oldest newspaper, the Manila Bulletin, saw a significant boost for Teodoro whom the thinking crowd described as the most competent among the presidential hopefuls.

The result of the online poll in the Manila Bulletin website (http://www.mb.com.ph/home) at the time showed Teodoro posting a steady lead over the other contenders with 45 percent (25,814) of the total 57,578 "votes" from those who participated in the poll.

Teodoro was followed by Senator Aquino (39 percent or 22,191 votes), Senator Manny Villar (10 percent or 5,821 votes), and former President Joseph Estrada (3 percent or 1,635 votes).

The Manila Bulletin online poll asks visitors to its site the question: "Which presidential candidate for the May 2010 elections is most capable of handling the duties as the Philippines' next leader?" (PNA)

Businessman bats for promotion of Davao City as Southern Mindanao industrial hub

2010-01-05T00:47:00.000-08:00

City losing out to Panabo, Tagum in luring investors in manufacturing

Davao City needs a stronger promotion as Southern Mindanao’s industrial hub even as it remains a favorite destination for investors.

The Davao City Investment Promotions Center (DCIPC) in a year-end report said about P5.9 billion had been invested in the city in 2009 mostly on tourism and property development.

There is one aspect in the promotions that has been left out, said businessman Angelo Aportadera from the city’s industrialized zone of the Second District.

Aportadera, who is taking a crack at a seat at the Davao City Council in the coming May elections, said while Davao City has a strong agricultural base and a booming industry in real estate development and tourism, its potential as Southern Mindanao’s industrial center must also be fully exploited.

We need massive promotion as an industrial center, he said, noting the number of manufacturing plants in the Second District has been in the doldrums for years.

The Second District has all the amenities for manufacturing industries to thrive, said Aportadera who is running under the council slate of mayoral aspirant Speaker Prospero Nograles.

Aportadera said he would focus on promoting his district to lure manufacturers if given a chance to make it in the coming polls.

We have an international standard government port in Sasa Wharf and several private wharves that are key factors in luring investors, he said. “Add to this, we have a large workforce that could respond to needs for manpower for new investors.” He noted that the district is now home to a booming socialized housing industry where residents could be tapped as source of manpower for new industries.

Aportadera said without massive promotion, Davao City could lose to Tagum City and Panabo City in luring new manufacturing investments sourcing their products in provinces in Southern Mindanao. (APOnews)

MT. KITANGLAD NOW AN ASEAN HERITAGE PARK

2010-01-03T21:52:00.001-08:00

Bukidnon peak is the third highest peak in the Philippines after Mount Apo in Davao in Southern Mindanao Region and Mt. Iglit-Baco in Oriental Mindoro.

MALAYBALAY CITY-- The estimated 30,642 hectares Mount Kitanglad in Bukidnon province in Northern Mindanao was declared as an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Heritage Park.

The declaration of Mount Kitanglad Range Protected Area was declared during late December’s 11th annual meeting of ASEAN ministers of environment in Singapore, it was learned.

Mt. Kitanglad range contains a wide range of biodiversity and is one of the priority protected areas in the Philippines established by law.

Mt. Kitanglad is the third highest peak in the Philippines after Mount Apo in Davao in Southern Mindanao Region and Mt. Iglit-Baco in Oriental Mindoro.

Mt. Kitanglad also joins 27 other ASEAN Heritage Parks.

Mt. Kitanglad covers seven municipalities and a city in Bukidnon province, namely: Talakag, consisting of 4,945 has., Baungon (3,157 has.), Libona (6,196 has.), Manolo Fortich (595 has.), Sumilao (3,532 has.), Lantapan (7,912 has.), Impasug-ong (1,985 has.) and Malaybalay City (2,317 has.).

Mt. Kitanglad was declared a protected area in 2000 by virtue of Republic Act No. 8978. It is the habitat of the Philippine Eagle, which is considered one of the largest eagles in the world and the most endangered. It is also where rafflesia, the biggest flower in the world, is found.

Record from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) showed that about 80 percent of the residents in the area are populated by indigenous peoples, such as Manobos, Talaandig, Higaonon, Matigsalug and Umayamnon.

It was gathered from the DENR that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was very “optimistic" that the declaration will further enhance the government's efforts in not only conserving the country's biodiversity but also in preserving the culture and tradition of the region.

According to DENR, scientists have discovered a source of anti-malaria drug in the bark of “Cinchona tree” which can be found in the area.

It was further gathered that Mt. Dulang-dulang, the highest point in the Mt. Kitanglad range at 2,938 meters above sea level, is a sacred place where indigenous people hold rituals of thanksgiving to the spirits.

Under the ASEAN Heritage Parks program, protected areas with unique, diverse, and outstanding value are given the highest recognition as an ASEAN Heritage Park.

The program aims to promote conservation of the region's natural heritage.

The DENR in Northern Mindanao, particularly the Provincial and Community Environment and Natural Resources Offices (PENRO, CENRO) in Bukidnon and Malaybalay City deployed more forest rangers this year to continue implementing the environment preservation and forest protection in the area. (PNA)

‘Child rapist’ congressman making up for his sins

2010-01-03T21:47:00.000-08:00

Jalosjos to build billion-peso theme park

DAPITAN CITY – Saying he has a heart for the less privileged, former Zamboanga del Norte congressman Romeo Jalosjos, who had served more than a decade for statutory rape, is building what could be the Philippines’ version of Disneyland.

Jalosjos had recently gained a parole from President Arroyo after serving 13 years in jail for the rape of an eleven year old child.

And it could be payback time for the former congressman: He is naming the P2-billion peso theme park to rise in this city after President Arroyo, a longtime political ally.

In a recent news conference, Jalosjos said Gloria's Fantasyland, with interactive rides as its main features, has already started construction and would be opened soon.

This is going to be the Disneyland of the Philippines for the less privileged who can experience the excitement without having to go to Hong Kong, Japan, or the United States, said Jalosjos, whose sexual trysts with the minor girl made him a most hated celebrity.

The theme park would be located near the Gloria de Dapitan entertainment complex, and a bank has approved initially funding of P500 million for the project.

Fantasyland would feature brand-new imported rides, like the giant roller coaster, mini train, choco cup ride, midi flume ride, carousel, Apollo, bumper car rides, horror house, and swinger, said Dindo Ilagan, park director of Gloria de Dapitan.

The theme park will open tentatively on May 29, on opening of the Hudyaka ZaNorte Festival, being hosted for the first time by Dapitan City.

Bayan disowns wanted militant leader

2010-01-03T21:45:00.000-08:00

AFP: Luque proved Bayan is a communist front

By ROGER M. BALANZA

DAVAO CITY - The militant group Bayan Muna was at a loss to explain the presence of wanted militant leader Alvin Luque in a celebration of the founding anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

The military said Luque’s presence proved connections of militant groups to the communist movement.

Joel Virador, vice president for Mindanao of Bayan Muna, said Luque, also known as Kumander Venus in the military circle, is no longer connected with Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), the umbrella of several cause-oriented and progressive groups here.

Luque, former secretary general of Bayan, while facing trial for rebellion and arson before a Davao City court here, has jumped bail with an un-served warrant of arrest.

While disowning Luque, Virador credited him for his contribution to Bayan, Bayan Muna and other progressive groups.

Luque attended the 41st anniversary celebration of the CPP somewhere in Southern Mindanao presided by National Democratic Front (NDF) spokesman Jorge “ Ka Aris” Madlos.

Brig. General Eduardo del Rosario said Luque’s presence at the CPP celebration had proven his links with the communist movement and the charges of rebellion and arson. In court records, a former New People’s Army rebel had fingered Luque as leading communist rebels in the burning of a public utility bus in Davao del Sur.

It has also bolstered our position that the CPP/NPA and the NDF organizations and party list groups belong to one organization, which aims to supplant democracy with communists through armed and legal struggles, del Rosario told Davao journalists following reports of Luque’s appearance at the CPP anniversary.

Virador said del Rosario’s tale about progressive groups being linked to the communists movement is an old tale that dates back to the time when the military officer was commander of the Army’s 73rd Infantry Battalion.

Del Rosario had also served as the special Army continent Task Force Davao, when his favorite line was that progressive groups in the city were communist fronts. He has recently been named as commanding officer of a brigade covering Southern Mindanao.

Del Rosario, with the elections approaching, also warned about communists plan to embed their members in government by having them run in the elections.

Before he was issued a warrant, Luque had run for Davao City councilor in the 2004 elections but lost.

Del Rosario said Virador and Ariel Casilao and Lea Librado, who are from the militant groups, are following the footstep of Luque.

Luque is now unmasked as a communist. He disappeared to join the underground when he was charged and issued a warrant of arrest. Virador, Casilao and Librado are now following his footstep by joining the election. Our people must no be deceived, he said.

Drought creeping into Davao Region

2010-01-02T21:07:00.000-08:00

El Nino forecasts alarm Davao farmers

Banaybanay, Davao Oriental --- Farmers in this rice-producing province were alarmed with the recent Pag-asa forecast which projected an El Nino dry spell by mid2010 that will devastate at least of nine of its 14 barangays.

The Davao region was classified as “moderately vulnerable” to the impact of the El Nino phenomenon which meant lesser rainfall this year.

“Dugang kalisod sa mga mag-uuma ang mamahimong epekto sa El Nino taliwala sa nagkagrabeng krisis sa agrikultura. Ang mga mag-uuma sa Banaybanay nga nagatikad sa kapin kon kulang 5,000 ektarya dugay na nga nakasinati og grabeng kalisud tungod sa kawad-on og yuta, sa pagkalubong sa utang sa Land Bank, sa kamahalon sa pestisidyo nga gikinahanglan sa mga hybrid nga humay," said Lito Lao, chairperson of the of the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Sidlakang Dabaw (ALMASID) – Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP)

Banaybanay produces an annual yield of 36,000 tons of rice and benefits more than 60,000 families.

He added further, “Kun adunay madaot nga pananom karong tuiga, walay laing maapektuhan kun dili ang mga gagmay nga mag-uuma ug mga kabus nga mamamalit nga naga-antos sa padayong pagsaka sa presyo sa bugas.”

With this, farmers groups are demanding for long term and more effective solutions and called for an end in the the Arroyo government’ importation program saying that it will worsen the impact of the El Nino Mitigation Program.

For his part Pedro Arnado, regional coordinator of ANAKPAWIS partylist criticized the Department of Agriculture saying “the DA has claimed to have identified steps to mitigate the impacts of El Nino and yet it has continued with massive rice importation despite its negative impact to the country’s rice and agricultural industry”.

Arnado said that in December last year, the National food Authority (NFA) has awarded four foreign bidders a contract allowing them to supply the country a total of 509, 950 metric tons of rice.

“How can the local rice industry progress or even recover from its slump when the Arroyo government stubbornly refuses to support our own farmers and increase local rice production? Worst, Mrs. Arroyo has refused to initiate a genuine land reform program and has instead enforced the inutile CARP extension with reforms which has only worsened the anti-farmer policies of the old CARP,” said Arnado.

As a long term solution to the problem of food insecurity wrought by climate change impact and agricultural crisis, Anakpawis called for the enactment of the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB) or House Bill 3059 which to date remains hanging in the Lower house that is comprised of a majority of “landed-elites.”

DOE backs Conal’s Sarangani project

2009-12-30T01:07:00.000-08:00

“Renewable energy not ready for country’s power needs”

By ROGER M. BALANZA

Renewable energy is still on its promotional stage. Coal-fired power plants are the cheapest sources of energy. The country is facing an energy crisis.

With these scenarios as a background, the Department of Energy is forced to support coal-fired plants as a solution to the looming crisis.

DoE Undersecretary Zamzamin Ampatuan said in Davao City last week that coal remains as a solution to the power crisis.

He told local media renewable energy sources may be a solution in the long-term, but “we cannot do away with coal yet.” Zamzamin however said DoE stands pat on its promotion of renewable energy sources, but advocacy could never be an answer at this point in time.

He said when the crisis hits Mindanao would be in a cold seat, as high demand during peak hours takes a toll on the Mindanao power grid.

Ampatuan bared DoE’s support for coal-fired power plants as Conal Holdings Corporation starts building a 200-megawat plant in Sarangani.

Majority-held by the Alcantara Group of Companies, the $450 million coal-fired power plant in coastal town Maasim help boost support for the 484-MW reserve requirement on the power supply needed by Mindanao.

Civil society and church groups fearing risk to health and environment are opposing the Conal project. The company has allayed public fears, with an investment of $7.5 million in reforestation of about 8,000 hectares to absorb carbon exhausts around the plant..

Gregorio S. Gonzales, project manager of Conal Holdings Corp., said the project consists of two phases: one, construction of the first 100-megawatt plant and the common facilities for the whole power station complex; two, construction of the second 100-megawatt capacity plant.

The plant will be in full operation by 2012, said Gonzales earlier in General Santos City, among areas to be supplied by the Conal Holdings plant.

In reports published in local papers on an earlier presentation to the General Santos City Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GSCCCI) and the South Cotabato II Electric Cooperative (Socoteco II) in November last year, Aboitiz Energy solutions warned that reserve capacity in Mindanao will fall to 7.5 per cent or 84 MW short of its 212 (MW) requirement in 2010.

Archimedes Flores, general manager of the sister company of Davao Light and Power Company, said by 2011, Mindanao will likely face a shortage of 174 megawatts (MW) of power supply.

Transmission Corporation (now the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines-NGCP) said that in 2008, the total dependable capacity in the island is only at 1,510 MW.

Generating plants are, however, required to keep 13 percent of its generating capacity for reserve, straining the reliability of power supply in the island as experienced by long and frequent power interruptions during the last several months.

Flores said the power demand in the island is projected to increase by at least 5.76 percent annually starting next year.

NGCP General Santos City manager Manuel Jamoy said based on the trend in demand growth, the company is projecting a 2,556 megawatt required capacity for the Mindanao grid by 2014 while the Department of Energy (DOE) pegged it at 2,283 megawatts.

In October last year, Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes warned that by this year, electricity demand in the island will "outstrip supply in Mindanao."

The DOE said this year would already be critical for the Mindanao grid with peak demand reaching 1,525 megawatts excluding the additional capacity requirement of 100 megawatts.

For its part, Conal Holdings pegged the growth in power demand at a conservative three percent per annum in the preparation of its expansion plans using 2008 with a peak demand level of 1,288MW as the base year.

At this rate, the actual reserves in the Mindanao grid will likely fall to 60MW in 2014 and to 16MW in 2015 before completely going in deficit in 2016. When reserve capacity goes down to this level, any plant outage in the grid will lead to power outages. Thus, the completion of the second 100MW of the project in late 2014 will just be in time to stave off a regime of rolling brownouts due to a shortage in capacity in the Mindanao Grid.

Conal Holdings Corporation vice president for business development Joseph C. Nocos said whichever statistics are used in projecting the dependable and generating capacities in the island, Mindanao would most likely experience prolonged power interruptions if no new power plants are commissioned by then.

"When forecasting power demand, the relevant period for anticipating power supply demand is five years because it will take at least that long to plan, build and operate a power plant," Nocos said.

He said the 200-megawatt coal-fired power plant they will build will not totally solve the looming power shortage in the island, especially since "none of these projections anticipate the entry of large new industrial loads such as the Hanjin ship building facilities in Tagoloan or the new shopping malls that are coming up in General Santos City," Nocos added.

"But it will help ease the shortfall. What is paramount is for the Socoteco II to have a reliable and cheap source of power supply which our company will provide," he explained.

Davao Region’s biggest appliance store opens Mindanao’s biggest show room

2009-12-25T04:19:00.000-08:00

Antiqueno makes it big in fastest-growing industry

By ROGER M. BALANZA

After becoming the Davao Region’s fastest growing appliance and furniture dealer, the LYR Group has added another feat with what could be Mindanao’s biggest showroom.

Its latest project, Rubi Grand Showroom, with a 7,400 square meter floor area in Ulas, Talomo in Davao City, opened this week.

Larry Ysulat Rubinos, LYR president and founder, said Rubi Grand aims to capture the large market not only in the southern part of the city but also nearby provinces in the south including Central Mindanao.

The LYR Group has now a total of 10 showrooms throughout Southern Mindanao with four in Davao City, another four in Tagum City, and one each in Nabunturan in Compostela Valley and in Digos City in Davao del Sur.

A large part of Davao City’s southern sector is booming with residential housing projects, giving Rubi a ready market. It is also a strategic link to Davao del Sur, General Santos City and Central Mindanao.

Rubinos, with roots from Antique and calls Davao del Norte his home, had parlayed his company from a small furniture shop in the early 80s that started in Mabaos in Tagum City into what is now Mindanao’s biggest appliance and furniture dealer.

"Progress is now in the southern and northern parts of the city, but we opened in the south as it is also easier for people from outside Davao to access," Rubinos told mediaat Rubi’s grand opening on December 22, 2009.

He said Rubi’s expansive showroom gives more options from the upscale sector to the lower C and D markets and allows for comfort and ease when customers make their choice under the roof of Mindanao’s biggest appliance and furniture showroom.

Investors pour P5.9 billion in Davao City in 2009

2009-12-25T04:17:00.000-08:00

Floirendo-Ayala project is top investment

By ROGER M. BALANZA

Abreeza, the mixed-used property development project of Ayala Land Inc. and the Floirendo Group of Companies, is the single biggest investment in Davao City in 2009.

Pegged at a cost of about P3 billion when completed, Abreeza would have shopping centers, business processing outsourcing firms, office spaces, banking and financial centers, and hotels. Construction of the property is already underway.

Built on a 10-hectare property of the Floirendos in downtown business district JP Laurel Avenue, Abreeza accounts for more than half of P4.2 billion poured into real property development and tourism, said Roberto Teo, head of the Davao City Investment Promotions Center (DCIPC).

The Ayala-Floirendo joint venture was started middle of last year and joins other existing big malls on prime land JP Laurel Avenue. It is said to be completed this year.

All in all DCIPC processed investment worth P5.9 billion, said Teo, at a year-end interview on status of investments in the city, adding real estate development beat other sectors in terms of investments volumes.

The property development projects Chula Vista, Santiago Villas, Villa Azalea, and Deca Homes Resort Residences also chipped in volumes to make the sector retain its vibrancy as the city’s most preferred investment areas.

DCIPS is the local government’s investment promotion arms and grants a line of incentives for investors into preferred investment areas on Tourism and Recreational Facilities, Agri Business and Food Processing, Light Manufacturing and Assembly, Property Development, Transshipment Infrastructure, Establishment of Foreign Bank Branches, Medical, Educational, Training, and Sports Facilities, Telecommunications.

Maguindanao Massacre 17: ANDAL AMPATUAN SR. IS NOT SICK

2009-12-25T04:09:00.000-08:00

MANGUDADATU: AMPATUANS A SHAME TO MORO PEOPLE

By ROGER M. BALANZA

Buluan, Maguindanao Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu, who lost his wife and two sisters in the infamous Maguindanao Massacre, said the Ampatuans behind the murder of 57 people are a shame to the Moro people.

But the Muslim leader, in a forum in Davao City, said the Ampatuan clan led by former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr., should be differentiated from the rest of the Ampatuans who have nothing to do with the most gruesome political killing that included 31 local journalists on November 23, 2009.

Andal Sr., along with sons Andal Ampatuan, Jr., mayor of Datu Unsay town, and Zaldy Ampatuan, governor of the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), several other relatives and more than 100 militiamen, have been implicated in the mass murder.

They are a shame to the Moro people, he told a business forum on Wednesday, as government continues to probe the massacre that has triggered national and international uproar.

Mangudadatu noted that even Davao City residents are happy the Ampatuans, who are now under arrest, met a dead road after decades of ruling Maguindanao with impunity. On top of the 57 killed on November 23, the Commission on Human Rights said about 200 others may have been murdered by the Ampatuans.

We heard about them shooting people in Davao City. We also heard about their public display of arrogance, he said.

But Mangudadatu said the crime of the Ampatuan clan should not be imputed on the others carrying the Ampatuan name. There are good Ampatuans, he said.

But Mangudadatu dismissed as a lame excuse the claim by Andal Sr. that he is sick. Andal Sr. is now being detained at a military hospital in Davao City, and has not yet appeared in court to face the rebellion and multiple murder charges filed against him and his clan members.

Prior to his arrest, he was always playing in the casino in Manila, said Mangudadatu.

Mangudadatu however is thankful that the government is serious is making the Ampatuans answer for the heinous crime of murdering 57 people in one setting. He should be treated as a high profile criminal to be kept not in a military hospital but in maximum security like former President Estrada (charged with plunder) and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) chair Nur Misuari (for rebellion), he said.

On November 23, Mangudadatu sent his wife and relatives and women supporters with 31 journalists in a convoy to file his certificate of candidacy in Sharrif Aguak municipality. But more than 100 militiamen, led by Andal Jr., intercepted the convoy.

Despite the tragedy, Mangudadatu, a political rival of the Ampatuans, is pushing through with running for governorship of Maguindanao in the May elections in 2010.

APOLLO QUIBOLOY FIELDS BET IN DAVAO CITY POLLS

2009-12-25T04:02:00.000-08:00

DAVAO SOLON UP AGAINST ‘SON OF GOD’

By Roger M. Balanza

Davao City Representative Isidro Ungab could be the only candidate in May 2010 facing a rival backed by one who claimed to be the Son of God.

But Tamayong Barangay Captain Greg Canada may find his godly-supporter helpless against the incumbent Ungab, who is leading with wide margins in surveys against four wannabes eyeing his Third District congressional seat. Ungab also has the support of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, head of the local bloc Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod, which has ruled local politics for years.

Televangelist Pastor Apollo Quiboloy is in his first open foray into bigger politics with his support for Canada, who won his seat as barangay chair of Tamayong in the 2007 barangay polls also with the backing of the head of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, The Name Above Every Name also known as the Kingdom. Barangay Tamayong is home to Quiboloy’s Prayer Mountain, the seat of his religious empire.

Canada joins three other Ungab rivals who are already losers before the bells ring to signal the fight: come-backing former congressman Ruy Elias Lopez and last-termer councilors Nonoy Al-ag and Vic Advincula.

Lopez already has sealed the doom of his political future in a split with Mayor Duterte in 2004 over GMA’s impeachment which the then congressman supported. His brother Rene, who run for the post left vacant by last termer Lopez in 2007, lost to Ungab who was supported by Duterte.

Lopez is on a come-back trail and has pitched camp with Speaker Prospero Nograles of the Lakas/Kampi/CMD. Nograles is running against Vice Mayor Sara Duterte in the mayoral race, with Mayor Duterte as her vice mayor. Joining the Nograles-Lopez company is another loser, former Mayor Benjamin de Guzman who facing up to Mayor Duterte.

Quiboloy, who proclaims himself as the Son of God, heads the Kingdom, now an international religious phenomenon claiming hundreds of thousands of followers worldwide.

But in the Third District, the Kingdom lacks the political footing to push Canada as a winning bet backed by a religious group, with its membership said to be only a thin 1,500. The district has about 350,000 in registered voters, nearly half of whom voted for Ungab in the 2007 polls in his first crack at the congressional seat.

To break the Ungab grip, the Canada camp is trying to sell the idea that he is supported by Mayor Duterte, who has Quiboloy as religious adviser and confidante. Al-ag and Advincula are gambling on possibility Mayor Duterte may declare the Third District as a Hugpong free zone, thus upping their chances of winning.

But on the ground however, Mayor Duterte and Vice Mayor Sara made clear who would be the Hugpong candidate in May by having Ungab tag along in their barangay sorties.

MATI NOW A FULLFLEDGED CITY

2009-12-25T03:57:00.000-08:00

Triple celebration for Mati City residents

By ROGER M. BALANZA

Mati residents have one other reason to celebrate December with jubilation. Coming ahead of Christmas and New Year, Mati has realized its dream to become a city.

In a pre-Christmas offering to jubilant Mati residents, the Supreme Court has endowed Mati, along with 15 other aspiring local governments, the much awaited status as a city

The High Tribunal in a 6-4 vote reversed its earlier ruling that granting city hood to the towns was unconstitutional. The ruling stemmed from a petition by other local government units opposing grant of city hood to 16 towns, including Mati.

Mati Mayor Michelle Rabat and Davao Oriental Governor Corazon Malanyaon welcomed the decision saying Mati as a city would have economic ripple effect on the entire province and a big break for Mati residents.

Mati City would be the lone city in this province with the oldest towns in the country.

Civic groups and non-governmental organizations, who backed local government officials and residents in opposing the earlier ruling by the high court, joined in the celebration over Mati’s new status.

Mayor Rabat said she expects the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to restore the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) after the SC decision. Mati, which received annually P180 million in IRA as a town, would have an IRA of P450 million as a city.

Mati already has been receiving the bigger amount until the earlier Supreme Court ruling that declared its cityhood as unconstitutional.

In its latest ruling, the Supreme Court granted cityhood to Baybay in Leyte; Bogo in Cebu; Catbalogan in Samar; Tandag in Surigao del Sur; Borongan in Eastern Samar; Tayabas in Quezon province; Lamitan in Basilan; Tabuk in Kalinga; Bayugan in Agusan del Sur; Batac in Ilocos Norte; Mati in Davao Oriental; Guihulngan in Negros Oriental; Cabadbaran in Agusan del Norte; Carcar in Cebu; El Salvador in Misamis Oriental and Naga in Cebu.

Mining bureau rapped for allowing mining in landslide prone area

2009-12-25T03:51:00.000-08:00

Davao tribal small scale miners in grave risk

By ROGER M. BALANZA

The government is pushing indigenous peoples into small scale mining in Compostela Valley to the valley of death, by identifying mining sites for them that have a history of deadly landslides.

The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) has recommended two mining sites as Minahan ng Bayan (People’s Mining) in Barangay Napnapan in Pantukan municipality for tribal natives.

But Governor Arturo Uy said the mine sites Purok Mangispis and Sitio Pulang Lupa are landslide-prone, and had already claimed at least 25 lives.

Uy wondered why MGB made the recommendation after the agency ordered the closure of all mine tunnels there after landslides hit the area in May 2009. The tragedy had prompted Gov. Uy to order the total stop in mining operations as government probed risk to life of small scale miners.

The governor said he would ask the Provincial Mining Regulatory Board to study the MGB recommendation and may oppose declaration of the two mine sites for people’s mining to save lives of indigenous peoples.

Noel Angeles, MGB Davao Region officer-in-charge, said findings of an MGB technical team has declared as safe to operate 23 mine tunnels in Purok Mangapispis and 17 in Sitio Pulang Lupa. One tunnel operator whose site was declared as critical has been forced to stop operation, after the ocular inspection by the technical team.

Angeles said the MGB recommendation to open Mangispis and Pulang Lupa, a traditional mine site for tribal natives of the Mansaka and Mandaya tribes since the early 80s, is supported by findings of safety and in line with government program to support small scale mining to enhance economic growth in the countryside and provide employment for indigenous peoples.

Northern Mindanao: No to Maguindanao cops

2009-12-21T01:27:00.000-08:00

There is no place in Northern Mindanao for policemen in Maguindanao linked to the November 23 massacre of 58 people by the Ampatuans and their henchmen.

Reports they have been transferred to Northern Mindanao has fired up opposition of the region ending up as dumping ground for killer cops.

Congressman Rufus Rodriguez, echoing public sentiment against the transfer, said there is need to check if the policemen are involved in the mass murder of the victims that included 31 journalists.

Reports said 31 policemen from the volatile Maguindanao province have arrived to replace the Regional Mobile Group which has been reassigned to Maguindanao, after the entire police force of the province was placed on the freezer after the gruesome killing.

It would be a gamble to have policemen who are killers and rapists patrolling our streets, said Rodriguez. Investigators said some policemen had been involved in the worst political violence in the prelude to the 2010 May elections.

The victims of the mass slaying in Shariff Aguak included the wife and two sisters of Buluan vice mayor Esmael Mangudadatu, a political rival of the Ampatuan clan.

They were on a convoy to file the certificate of candidacy for Maguindanao governor of Mangudadatu when they were stopped by armed men led by Datu Unsay mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. Charges of multiple murder have already been filed against Ampatuan Jr., his father former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr., his brother Zaldy Ampatuan, governor of the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), several other Ampatuan clan members and militiamen who served as the Ampatuans’ private army.

The lawmaker’s reaction is but among the various responses generated by the transfer of the Maguindanao-based policemen, some of whose colleagues are implicated in the massacre of 57 people in Ampatuan town last November 23.

The policemen arrived at Camp Alagar here over the weekend, but their assignment is still unknown.

Rodriguez said the policemen need to be checked for their involvement in the massacre.

“They must be subjected to debriefing and undergo the moral recovery program of the Regional Police Office. We don’t want to take chances, said a police officer who begged anonymity.

Cagayan de Oro Mayor Constantino Jaraula however said public apprehension may be unfounded.

Jaraula said he also believes that the policemen are not implicated in the mass murder and were reassigned to Northern Mindanao because of our moral recovery program here.

“Also, the Philippine National Police (PNP) is national in scoop—policemen can be reassigned to anyplace at anytime. That’s something we cannot prevent,” he added.

Maguindanao massacre: How rich are the Ampatuans?

2009-12-21T01:25:00.000-08:00

Datu Unsay mayor Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr., principal suspect in the November 23 Ampatuan Massacre that left at least 58 persons dead, 31 of them media workers, is the richest among the Ampatuans, posting a net worth of P39.3 million as of yearend 2008, his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) says.

The junior’s declared net worth is more than twice the declared net worth of his father, Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr., at P18.5 million as of yearend 2007; and his elder brother, Datu Zaldy, the governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, at P16.41 million as of year-end 2007, certified true copies of their SALN filed with the Office of the De-puty Ombudsman for Mindanao, showed.

Ampatuan Sr.’s net worth based on his SALN as of yearend 2007 is P18.5 million, almost twice his net worth in 2001, his first year as Maguindanao governor.

Datu Zaldy, who has been serving as ARMM governor since 2005, dec-lared a net worth of P13.93 M as of yearend 2005; P14.94 M as of yearend 2006 and P16.41M as of yearend 2007.

Ampatuan, Jr., listed in his SALN his two wives (Reshal Santiago Ampa-tuan and Baibon K. Ampa-tuan) and their nine children -- six with Reshal and three with Baibon -- born between November 1998 and December 2008.

Baibon is a business-woman but the company name is not indicated in the SALN.

Reshal is municipal administrator of Datu Unsay town, where Andal Jr. is the mayor. Andal Jr.’s annual gross salary is P287,687 (P23,973.91 a month) while Reshal’s is P262,269 (P21,855.75 a month).

The annual gross fa-mily income -- referring to “income of declarant, spouse and declarant’s children below 18 years of age living in declarant’s household” -- is P3,100,200, Andal Jr.’s SALN shows. Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews

Maguindanao massacre: 7 police officers facing summary dismissal

2009-12-21T01:22:00.000-08:00

Probers: Cops covered up massacre

Seven Maguindanao police officers are in hot water and could face dismissal for neglect of duty at the height of the massacre of 58 people in Shariff Aguak on November 23.

The PNP high command has recommended the summary dismissal of Superintendent Abusama Mundas Maguid, officer in charge (OIC) of the Maguindanao PPO; Chief Inspector Sukarno Adil Dikay, deputy provincial director; Inspector Armando Sanday Mariga of the 1506th Provincial Mobile Group (PMG); Inspector Saudi Matabalao Mokamad of the 1507th PMG; Inspector Rex Ariel Tabao Diongon of the 1508th PMG; Senior Inspector Abdulgapor Benasing Abad of the 15th Regional Mobile Group; and SPO2 Badawi Piang Bakal of the Ampatuan Municipal Police Station.

In a report on its investigation of what is now known as the Maguindanao Massacre, the PNP said the Maguindanao police provincial office PPO remained clueless of the massacre even as other police agencies were verifying reports on the gruesome mass murder blamed on the Ampatuans and their private army.

The Maguindanao provincial police insisted that “no such incident has transpired in their area of jurisdiction” and called the radio reports “exaggerated,” when the Regional Investigation and Detective Management Division (RIDMD) in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (Armm) tried to verify the incident with the provincial police, said the PNP investigation report.

The PNP report said that with the provincial police clueless, the RIDMD then dispatched their own team to Maguindanao to discover the murder of 57 people, including the wife of Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu and 30 journalists.

The RIDMD’s report on the provincial police has been submitted as vital evidence against the police officers.

In the report, RIDMD said that “other police officers and their men were present along the highway and were situated from 2 kilometers to 5 kilometers from where the actual abduction and eventual murders took place, and yet the subject police officers claimed to have not noticed anything unusual, nor heard bursts of gunfire, emanating from the killing fields.”

“Hence, it strengthens the presumption that they were trying to cover up the crime committed,” the RIDMD report added.

CONG. RUFUS RODRIGUEZ LINKED TO AMERICAN PEDOPHILES

2009-12-20T22:58:00.000-08:00

IS THIS BLACK PROPAGANDA?
fromthemails
BY BRADLEY HUGHES

Congressman Rufus Rodriguez is seeking re-election in his district of CDO, Cagayan de Oro, Philippines and a situation has been brought to our attention that we want to inform him of.

Rufus Rodriguez owns a rental property in CDO that he rents out to a American expatriot of questionable agendas, records and past. I highly doubt Mr. Rodriguez knows of the kind of people his house is harboring so have decided to inform both him and the internet community in hopes of enlightening the situation during this campaigning period.

The American national currently residing in the house is one Gordon Elletson who goes by Gordy and posts on many internet forums using the name TexKano. Gordon Elletson is of a deffective mental state and is a admitted child abuser and basher of the Filipino populace. Please see link below of how Gordy Elletson , using his TexKano nic, admitted to hitting Xavier Madlangbayan with a cane and then proceeding to call the boys grandfather, Dr. Severino Madlangbayan,(who is seeking a city council seat in Iligan City) a banana eating monkey. Is this kind of elitest American truly the sort of expatriot that a elected Congressman wants to be connected to? Well Gordon Elletson seems to think the congressman loves him and will washover any mess he gets himself into. I find it hard to believe a elected congressman will forsake his constituents , who elected him, in a effort to protect a abusive foreign national.

The second expatriot, now deceased, is one Randall Chester Goings who goes by Bubba and posted on net under nic Bubbabobbaker. This fellow had a lengthy criminal record which included multiple drug charges. Randall Goings was brought to the Philippines by Gordon Elletson where he lived , together with Gordy, in the proprty owned by Congressman Rufus Rodriguez of CDO, Cagayan de Oro. This property is located on 69 bong bongon street CDO and even before Randall Goings moved to such property he was allready posting perverted things all over the internet. One example of his perversions took place on a internet dating site where he searched for a 4′ tall bi-sexual and stated in his ad “the smaller you are the more I will love you”. Evan smaller than 4′? Yikes, Was he looking for a dwarf or a underaged girl?

Anyway, I hope this message reaches Congressman Rodriguez and he can see below link for proofs regarding the accutations of the kind of expatriot he is harboring and who states the Congressman is protecting him. I feel the congressman has the right to know the facts in below link.

http://sexpatswallofshame.blogspot.com

Congressman Rufus Rodriguez is seeking re-election in his district of CDO, Cagayan de Oro, Philippines and a situation has been brought to our attention that we want to inform him of.

The second expatriot, now deceased, is one Randall Chester Goings who goes by Bubba and posted on net under nic Bubbabobbaker. This fellow had a lengthy criminal record which included multiple drug charges. Randall Goings was brought to the Philippines by Gordon Elletson where he lived , together with Gordy, in the proprty owned by Congressman Rufus Rodriguez of CDO, Cagayan de Oro. This property is located on 69 bong bongon street CDO and even before Randall Goings moved to such property he was allready posting perverted things all over the internet. One example of his perversions took place on a internet dating site where he searched for a 4' tall bi-sexual and stated in his ad "the smaller you are the more I will love you". Evan smaller than 4'? Yikes, Was he looking for a dwarf or a underaged girl?

Hunt still on for Basilan escapees

2009-12-20T06:58:00.000-08:00

Choppers drop “wanted” leaflets

There was a rain of leaflets in Basilan last week as Huey choppers dumped about 14,000 of them urging people to report remaining escapees sprung by armed men from the Basilan provincial jail on December 13.

Some of the escapees are members of the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) or Abu Sayyaf bandits.

Lt. Gen. Benjamin Mohammad Dolorfino, Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) chief, said the leaflets contained the names of the escapees and cash rewards for their capture. The leaflets also warned communities the escapees are dangerous and should be reported immediately to the military and police.

The most notorious of the escapees is Commander Hadji Dan Laksaw, the deputy commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front's (MILF) 114th Base Command, with a P2 million on his head.

Brigadier General Eugenio Clemen, chief of the Basilan-based First Marine Brigade, said the military resorted to distributing leaflets as there is no radio station in Basilan that could reach remote areas.

Armed men said to be MILF elements stormed the provincial jail in Sumagdang, Isabela City on December 13 and freed 31 inmates including MILF rebels, Abu Sayyaf bandits and common criminals.

MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE: Ampatuans in watchlist

2009-12-20T06:56:00.000-08:00

Maguindanao ‘demons’ in immigration watch list

Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera has ordered the Bureau of Immigration to include on its watch-list 27 people facing a complaint for rebellion in Maguindanao and more than 600 others.

In her memorandum, Devanadera asked the bureau to include on its watchlist the following: Mayor Yacob "Jack" Ampatuan of Rajah Buayan, Maguindanao, Mamasapao Mayor Banarin Ampatuan, Datu Ulo Ampatuan, Datu Ipi Ampatuan, Salibo Vice Mayor Datu Kanor Ampatuan, Sultan sa Barongis Vice Mayor Sukarno Badal, Barira Mayor Alexander "Alex" Tumawis, Datu Undin Mayor Ombra Sinsuat, Parang Mayor Abu Talib, Engr. Nurie Unas.

Sub-leaders Abedin Alamada alias Commander Beri, Akad Macaton, Alex Zaipon, Bong Andal, Butukan Malang, Dainga Ampatuan, Kempar Silongan, Latip Gani, Macton Bilongan, Manny Ampatuan, Muhamad Sangki, Rene Guipal, Sanggutin Musa, Sukor Kamsa, Theng Sali. Thong Guiamani and Zamora Sambulawan.

"Pursuant to the letter of the Philippine National Police and in the interest of the public and so as not to frustrate the ends of justice, you are hereby directed to include in the Bureau's Watchlist the names of the leaders, sub leaders and their 611 followers who are all respondents in a criminal complaint for rebellion," Devanadera said in memorandum.”

The order is valid for 60 days.

Another autopsy urged on Maguindanao massacre victims

2009-12-20T05:27:00.000-08:00

AMPATUAN, Maguindanao – A foreign forensic expert has suggested new examinations on the corpses of victims of the Maguindanao Massacre, saying substandard procedures were used in the first autopsy.

Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Commissioner Jose Manuel Mamauag said the "reverse forensic investigation" has been recommended by the agency's consultant, Peruvian forensic expert Dr. Jose Pablo Baraybar.

Baraybar found the earlier exams done on the corpses as "substandard compared to internationally recognized procedures," said Mamauag.

The exam results would serve as evidence in the multiple murder charges against Datu Unsay town mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. and several others.

Andal Jr. was said to have led more than 100 militiamen in the November mass killing of 57 people including 30 journalists.

Mamauag said Baraybar the "substandard examination" could lessen the case against the suspects and may be used against the prosecution later.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said the poor handling of the remains and contamination of the massacre site could weaken the case against the suspects.

People coming and going in the massacre site and the exhumation effort aided by a backhoe "compromised the site and the remains," said the NUJP.

Mamauag said permission of the families of the victims is required for the exhumation of the bodies and the conduct of the new autopsy.

OPPOSITION TO ALSON COAL PLANT REACHES CRESCENDO

2009-12-20T05:23:00.000-08:00

CONAL RAPPED FOR BRIBERY

By ROGER M. BALANZA

SARANGANI - An official of the Alcantara-led company constructing a 200-megawatt coal plant in Maasim has been accused of bribing opposition to the $450-million project.

Opposition to the project of Conal Holdings, owned by the Philippines’ Alsons Corp. and Thailand’s Electricity Generating Public Co., has intensified lately with the formation of the Maasim People's Coalition on Climate Change (MP3C).

MP3C joins the Santa Cruz Parish Against Pollution and the Socsksargen Climate Action Now (Socsksargen CAN) and the Catholic Church in opposing the project.

Johnny Panerio, a founding member of the MP3C, said Conal project manager Gregorio Gonzales lured him with a P2,000 honorarium as a member of the Multi-partite Monitoring Team (MMT) in exchange for his silence.

The MMT is a multi-sector body tasked by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources/Environment Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) to monitor compliance to provisions of the Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC). Conal was issued the ECC in April.

Gonzales and two companions on June 29 went to my house and asked me to sign a sign a memorandum of agreement that would make me a member of the MMT, said Panerio. “They told me I would get a P2,000 honorarium, but I did not sign.”

Gonzales admitted having invited Panerio to be a member of the MMT but denied the bribery.

The offer to Panerio to be a member of MMT was for his group to be given a chance to check our compliance to the ECC, he said.

Gonzales said he invited Panerio, who was recommended by the Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office of Maasim, to make Conal transparent to those opposing the project.

"The fact that we invited him even if he is a member of the [Socsksargen] CAN, attests to our desire to be transparent and above board in our dealings," he said. Had he signed, Panerio would have become witness to the MOA between Conal Holdings and the Environmental Management Bureau that will create the MMT, he said.

Gonzales said the monetary offer comes with the job as MMT members. As practiced across the country, MMT members are each given honorarium of not more than P2,000, he said.

P2-billion railway system in the pipeline

2009-12-20T05:20:00.000-08:00

P2-billion railway system in the pipeline

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said the feasibility study on the P2 billion Mindanao Railway System (MRS) project is almost completed.

In a briefing this week DOTC Undersecretary for Rails Guiling Mamondiong said the study on the Cagayan de Oro-Iligan-Corridor (CIC) component of the MRS would have to be approved by the Regional Development Council (RDC) before it will be submitted to the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) in Manila.”

Cagayan de Oro City 2nd District Representative Rufus Rodriguez, Mayor Constantino Jaraula and some municipal mayors whose areas will be covered by the railway system attended the briefing on the much-awaited project.

MRS is the government ambitious plan to connect by rail all key areas in Mindanao.

Rodriguez and Jaraula has vowed to find ways hastenrail system that would also link the city to Laguindingan, Misamis Oriental, which has a newly-completed international standard airport.

Rodriguez authored House Bill 1855 in 2008 which created the Mindanao Railways Corporation.

“We already have P10-Million budget for the office of the MRS,” Rodriguez said, with P51 million about to be released to start construction.

Jaraula said the Mindanao Railway System project is expected to spur economic development in the region saying the project will pave way for an efficient, cheap and reliable railway network.

Rizal remembered in Dapitan

2009-12-20T05:18:00.000-08:00

Rizal landmark to rise in Dapitan

DAPITAN CITY - A memorial would be rising on the spot in Dapitan City where Dr. Jose Rizal first touched ground when he was exiled by Spaniards over a hundred years ago.

The Punto de Desembarco de Rizal (Rizal’s Landing Site) memorial would be unveiled by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on December 28 as one or the highlights of the fourth Handuraw Festival commemorating Rizal’s exile in Dapitan from 1892 to 1896.

The P30 million bronze sculpture at the coastal barangay of Sta. Cruz was constructed by the public works department with funds from the office of Congresswoman Cely Jalosjos-Carreon.

During the unveiling, fishermen would reenact Rizal’s arrival in a fluvial parade.

The Rizal landmark is the second big tourism project here after the Gloria de Dapitan, a local theme park named after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

President Arroyo will be joined by Dapitan City Mayor Dominador Jalosjos, Jr., City Vice Mayor Patrick Chan and other city officials as well as former Tourism Secretary Ace Durano, the Spanish Ambassador to the Philippines, Zamboanga del Norte Governor Rolando Yebes, former Congressman Romeo Jalosjos, Congresswoman Cely Carreon, and Congressman Cesar Jalosjos.

FEAR FACTOR ROILS CHRISTIAN MASSES IN MAGUINDANAO

2009-12-19T04:08:00.000-08:00

MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE A BLOODY REMINDER

By ROGER M. BALANZA

DATU PIANG, Maguindanao – Christmas is a celebration of peace but in this Muslim-dominated municipality, the Simbang Gabi---the Philippine Christians’ 9-day tradition of welcoming Christmas Day with dawn masses---has become a terrifying experience.

Maguindanao province remains volatile: On November 23, Datu Unsay municipality Andal Ampatuan Jr. led more than 100 militiamen in the mass murder of 57 people in Shariff Aguak town. The victims included women and 30 local journalists in the most gruesome murder of the century linked to the 2010 elections.

The victims were in a convoy to file the certificate of candidacy of Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadato, who is running for governor of Maguindanao in May against an Ampatuan, the Mangundadatus’ rival for political supremacy in the province. Among the dead were his wife and two sisters and women followers.

The Ampatuans, including former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. and several other clan members, are now in government custody charged with multiple murder and rebellion.

Fear is what envelopes the small Christian community of Sta. Teresita parish in this town, when they go to church for the Simbang Gabi which starts at 4:30 AM.

Most of the militiamen, loyal to the Ampatuans, who butchered the 57 in what is now known as the Maguindanao Massacre, are on the loose and hunted by police and military.

There could be firefight anytime, said parish priest Eduardo Vasquez.

The fear factor has diminished attendance to the dawn masses since it started on December 16, but Fr. Vasquez has a mission to continue the religious tradition.

But for now, he has his ears on the ground for a looming clash between government troopers and the Ampatuan fugitive henchmen.

If my parishioners’ lives are in danger, we can make the dawn mass a daylight mass if we get information about a crisis situation, he said. "If I sense danger, I would transfer the masses in the afternoon."

"So far, we have been up to the traditional schedule. But I told the people we would be very flexible," Fr. Vasquez said.

KONTRA PAPUTOK IN CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY

2009-12-19T04:04:00.000-08:00

ZERO CRACKERS INJURY IN CAGAYAN DE ORO

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Health authorities here have launched a massive campaign to save people from losing a finger, an arm or an eye as this city celebrates Christmas Day and New Year with fireworks.

The government hospital Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC) aims for zero-injury holidays but is preparing its emergency facilities for firecracker victims, if the campaign fall on deaf ears of some people pushed to celebrate the days with the traditional big bang.

We are ready for any eventuality, said Dr. Enrique Saab, coordinator of NMMC's health management staff.

But Dr. Saab is hoping the campaign on safe handling of pyrotechnics could cut the number of casualties.

We are campaigning that as much as possible there would be zero-injury. But we have already prepared our emergency department for any eventualities. Our staff is all ready. We have been doing this for the past years," said Dr. Saab.

NMMC figures show that in 2007 there were 13 persons treated with firecracker injuries, which rose to 17 in 2008.

He jokes that the victims were those who had no chance to appreciate his hospital’s campaign about the danger of handling firecrackers: More than half of the victims were heavy with alcohol.

For disregarding safety nets, the victims suffered burn injuries in the eye, hand and other parts of the body, said Dr. Saab, who makes the hospital his home on Christmas and New year just to be able to attend to the victims.

Northern Mindanao, with Cagayan de Oro City contributing a fatal statistic, was in the top ten regions in the country with the most number of injuries in 2008, accounting for 46 people injured.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III as declared under its Kontra Putok campaign a red alert for all government hospital on December 24, 25 and 31, 2009 and January 1, 2010 to ensure government response to victims.

CAGdeORO Comelec: Smooth sailing in Monday registration

2009-12-19T04:00:00.000-08:00

"NO ROWDY MOBS"

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – No rowdy throng of registrants fighting for space to get in line.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said they are bracing up for long queues on Monday when it opens for a special five-day voters registration for those who failed to make it to the October 1 deadline.

We are ready for an orderly registration with the mob, said lawyer Carlito Ravelo, Comelec provincial election supervisor in a joke aimed at procrastinators who missed the deadline.

Ravelo may have his basis for a speedy and orderly registration: Comelec has added two more biometric machines to make the process of registration faster.

He sees a different scenario on Monday that would not be like previous registration days when registrants spent long hours in the long lines because Comelec then had only two biometric machines.

A total of 249,755 people have been listed up in the Comelec roll in Cagayan de Oro City when registration closed Oct. 31, about 26,400 of them new voters.

The new round of voters’ registration comes as the Supreme Court granted the petition for extension of registration until January 9 to accommodate first time voters, to start on Monday.

PRES. ARROYO SHIES AWAY FROM AERIAL SPRAY BAN

2009-12-19T00:36:00.000-08:00

Idis, Maas run berserk
By ROGER M. BALANZA

First they forged the signature of Davao Archbishop Fernando Capalla in an alleged church issuance supporting aerial spraying. Then they insulted Court of Appeals justices in Cagayan de Oro by gifting them with rotten bananas for thrashing the Davao City ordinance banning aerial spraying. Running amok after shaming the justices, they chained themselves at the gates of the justice building, which was followed by a die-in at a Cagayan de Oro City main avenue where they disrupted traffic and were arrested.

Inspired by a tsunami of donations from abroad, they held a vigil at the Supreme Court---where the Davao City ordinance is facing as dull a fate as it did in the appeals court in Cagayan de Oro City---believing that noises and lies could influence the high court against aerial spraying.

They have been peddling the lie that there are toxic showers from aerial spraying---a claim persistently denied by government agencies---with a nationwide campaign of toxic lies against the banana industry.

The pseudo-environmentalists just could not satisfy their hunger for publicity to sell the tall tale that aerial spraying is bad for the health.

Now, IDIS (Interface Development Interventions) and MAAS (Mamamayang Ayaw sa Aerial Spraying) are pushing their comical stunts farther, this time aiming their bazookas at Malacanang.

Hey, Philippines! These NGOs from Davao City---where NGO, because of IDIS and MAAS, now means No Good Organization---are nothing but a pack of paid hustlers using the aerial spraying issue to lure foreign donors for their cause that no one believes in the banana-growing Davao Region.

Malacanang on Thursday cancelled an executive meeting with government line agencies---that would have provided inputs on the fate of aerial spraying. At the center of discussion would have been a Department of Health order yet to be signed by Secretary Arthur Yap that would ban aerial spraying.

A motley group of IDIS and MAAS elements led a protest outside Malacañang Gate 5 over the cancellation of the executive meeting, with shaved heads, angry and frustrated. Some students from the Ateneo de Manila---who could not have seen a banana tree---joined the ruckus that hardly attracted attention.

The banana industry concentrated in the Davao Region and neighboring provinces is one of the biggest industries in the country employing more than 200,000 directly-hired workers and earning $400 million in exports annually.

Fungicide used in aerial spraying against the deadly black sigatoka is non-toxic, according to the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA) which said that no one has died from exposure to aerial spraying in the forty years that it had been used in banana plantations in Davao. The claim by IDIS and MAAS that people have been dying in communities near the plantations, that they suffer from skin and respiratory diseases, also have been disputed by the Department of Health and the Regional Interagency Committee on Environment and Health in Region Eleven, and by a Special Investigating Team organized by Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte composed of the City Planning and Development Office, the City Legal Office and the City Health Office.

Methink, Secretary Yap is misled by the tsunami of lies peddled by IDIS and MAAS. Methink, GMA, no matter her low regard for anything that pleases us, is smart enough not to believe liars, her self having much experience in the field of lying. Methink, GMA knows that aerial spraying is bad for the health of the banana industry and the hundreds of thousands of workers and their families depending on the industry; and good only for IDIS’ and MAAS’ clever agenda to get loads of dollars from foreign donor agencies.

That is the reason why GMA aborted the Thursday meeting with the Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Health (DOH), and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

GMA has no time to discuss Secretary Yap’s pending order banning aerial spraying or IDIS’ and MAAS’ lies against aerial spraying. GMA has made her mind: banana and aerial spraying are here to stay and that IDIS’ and MAAS’ arguments against the industry are as rotten as rotten bananas.

If GMA is running for president in 2010, I would campaign and vote for her for saving the banana industry. Unfortunately, she could not.

NOW IDIS AND MAAS ARE ANGRY.

"This wasn't the only reason that angered us but also Malacañang's corresponding order to create a task force to study on aerial spraying,” said Lia Esquillo, IDIS chairman, in an interview with Sunstar Davao. The study, according to her, is a win-win situation for the banana industry: the study could turn in favor of export Cavendish bananas’ battle against sigatoka---a fast spreading leaf disease that could cripple the dollar earning industry---or could be used by banana farmers to continue aerial spraying until after the completion of the study.

Malacanang is siding with the banana plantations, Esquillo said.

"What we've kept on saying was that all three departments, DA, DOH, DENR, have already given their reactions that aerial spraying is harmful then why do we still have to conduct more study? These are all executive bodies. Why question their observations?" Esquillo said.

Oooops! Methink, Ms. Lia is lying again.

DA, DOH, DENR merely adopted a study commissioned two years ago conducted by a team from the University of the Philippines in Camocaan, Hagonoy, Davao Del Sur, indicating threat to health from aerial spraying. Ms. Lia should tell her public that that study had been declared “inconclusive” and has been subjected to peer review to validate its findings. If there are rotten bananas, there are also studies that are shot full of rotten data.

When it comes to lying, MAAS and IDIS are good at mobilizing loudspeakers to reecho the lies to the border of truth.

"The government of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo missed the opportunity to correct gross injustice that has been happening for over 30 years by playing into the hands of corporate interest," said National Task Force Against Aerial Spraying (NTFAAS) coordinator Rene Pineda, said the report in Sunstar, NTFAAS is an offspring of IDIS led by Esquillo and MAAS founded by Dags Magaway. When two liars cohabitate, they sire nothing else but a liar.

"Malacañang's inaction manifests its lack of concern to the plight and health of ordinary people. It also failed to make decisive action despite recommendation from it very own Health Department," said Manny Calonzo, president of the EcoWaste Coalition. DOH, FPA and Davao City Hall have said no one has died nor has contracted disease from exposure to aerial spraying and Calonzo would know this if he visits Davao City Council records of proceedings on the aerials spray ban ordinance and the banana plantations in Davao City where banana farmers and growers have declared Esquillo and Magaway as persona non grata for lying against industry that fed them for decades.

"Natiis naming tumira dito sa Maynila ng limang buwan at matulog sa tabi ng kalsada tapos ito ang pamasko ni Presidente Gloria? Wala talaga siyang awa sa aming mga mahihirap," said Loloy Languitan, a farmer from Maragusan, Compostela Valley. My advice to Loloy is that he ask in what five-star hotel Esquillo and her gang checked in while he slept in the sidewalks.

"We will go back to Davao to tell people that GMA (Arroyo) has blood in her hands. She is condoning the silent massacre of thousands of helpless rural poor living in banana plantations," said Tom Villarin of the Siad Initiatives in Mindanao Convergence for Asset Reform and Rural Development (Simcarrd), an NGO promoting sustainable agriculture and member of NTFAAS. Would the Dabawenyos believe you, Mr. Villarin?

LABOR DEPARTMENT: Aerial spray ban to cause massive unemployment

2009-12-19T00:18:00.000-08:00

By ROGER M. BALANZA

400,000 farmers.

This is the troubling figure that should be considered if aerial spraying in banana plantations is banned.

Aerial spraying of fungicide---a non-toxic chemical according to the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority---is the fastest, most cost-effective and safest method of fighting the deadly leaf disease black sigatoka.

The Philippine government agonizing over whether or not to ban aerial spraying that has been practiced in banana plantations for over 40 years should seriously weigh its options before making a final decision.

Without aerial spraying, Philippine export Cavendish bananas could drop in volume and quality to affect its standing in the world market.

Without aerial spraying, the Philippine labor department predicts trouble in terms of livelihood and employment and the economy of the Davao Region and neighboring provinces.

An order banning aerial spray would be a huge blow to Philippine bananas, affecting an estimated 400,000 banana plantation farmers in Davao Region alone, said the labor department.

Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) Davao Region Director Jalilo dela Torre knew whereof he speaks. He is based in the Davao Region, where growing of export Cavendish bananas is the major industry.

Banana exporting is one of the region's strongest economic drivers, he said, to emphasize how the ban would impact on the local economy.

But he said, putting a damper on the banana industry like the ban on aerial spraying could also have a reeling effect on the Mindanao and national economy.

"The banana industry contributes a lot to Mindanao's economy and the country's foreign exchange, Dela Torre adds.

With about 200,000 full time employees and another 200,000 indirect employees hired in banana plantations, we can indeed see trouble if aerial spraying is banned," dela Torre told media in Davao City.

"I would really encourage those responsible for formulating the (ban on aerial spraying), whether DA (Department of Agriculture) or DOH (Department of Health), to really consider the employment side on this matter," dela Torre.

"If the banana plantations will be forced to abandon the method of aerial spraying, especially multinational corporations, they might decide to relocate. This will pose a tremendous negative impact on the employment scenario in Region 11. I understand they've already taken steps to relocate to other countries," dela Torre said, adding the multinational corporations could simply transfer to other countries if they are pushed to the wall by the ban. He said he knew of several companies now taking the option of scouting for banana farms in India, Indonesia or India.

Foreigners out to kill Philippine banana industry

2009-12-18T23:37:00.000-08:00

WHERE DID IDIS AND MAAS GET THE FUNDS FOR A ONE-PAGE AD?

If they are mere farmers, where did MAAS and IDIS members get the funds to pay for the P200,000 one-page ad in a national daily newspaper that blasphemed the banana industry?

From foreign banana companies out to kill the Philippine banana industry?

Or from their environmentalist donors in Europe?

No matter where the huge moolah came, Davao banana farmers and growers has warned President Arroyo not to believe the lies in the ad against aerial spraying.

Arroyo must not be deceived by lies and half-truths on aerial spraying, Reynante F. Bangoy, chair of the 911-Save Our Sagingan Movement said.

The ad is one of pressure tactics by critics of aerial spraying to pressure the government to ban aerial spraying in banana plantations, said Bangoy.

But Bangoy said the banana industry has been following government regulations and has not violated any government regulations on health and environment.

"Those opposing the aerial spraying are the ones who have shamefully and blatantly disregarded the right of the people, particularly the farmers," he said.

He said these groups are the ones threatening the livelihood of the 500,000 individuals who are relying on the banana industry in the Davao Region, by using "a tainted study to suit their campaign."

On the Department of Health recommendation, Bangoy said even the Inter-Agency Committee on Environmental Health junked its earlier recommendation to stop aerial spraying.

"I wonder why (Secretary Francisco T. Duque III) came up with a recommendation on his own without convening the committee. Does he have a motive of his own?" he said in a report in Davao City local dailies.

He said the 2006 study on Camocaan, Hagonoy, Davao del Sur that the department commissioned has been "proven to be rigged not only by experts of the banana industry but also by independent organizations like the University of the Philippines-Manila and the World Health Organization."

He was referring to the peer reviews of the organizations, which concluded that the study was inconclusive and could not be made as basis for a "harsh recommendation."

He appealed to Arroyo to also "listen to us because the industry has not done anything that violated Philippine regulations, unlike those groups that have claimed to have protected the rights of the people when all that they wanted was to obtain funding from international donors."

"We appeal to you Mrs. President to heed our call. Stop these people who have been harassing us," he added as he said his group and other allies will continue their mass actions until their demands are granted.

Commentary:The Duterte rigodon

2009-12-18T01:28:00.000-08:00

It’s post-May 2010 election...

Davao City Vice Mayor Sara Duterte captures City Hall. Mayor Rodrigo Duterte wins as vice mayor. Sara Duterte gets tired of politics and resigns to focus her life on hubby Mans. By the principle of succession, Rodrigo Duterte returns to City Hall as the successor mayor.

While this scenario is subject of much speculation as the May polls draw near, city councilors seeking reelection and wannabes leading the race for council seats are eyeing with moist eyes the possibility of bagging the vice mayorship without a sweat.

But the short route---without need of an election--- to the city’s Number Two post requires figures that come with results of the May elections.

Under the rule of succession in case the vice mayorship becomes vacant, the next in line would be the winning councilor---in any of the city’s three districts-- with the highest vote percentage.
The tempting scenario is now adding color---and effort---to candidates for seats in the 24-member city council. The target is not just making it to the winning circle---8 seats per district---but being number one.

The Duterte rigodon, lapped up by pundits as an agenda of the last-termer Mayor Duterte, however could only happen if both thrash their opponents.

Vice Mayor Sara, on her second crack at an elective post, is facing a formidable opponent in Speaker Prospero Nograles. Mayor Duterte, however, appears already to be a sure winner in the vice mayoral race: he is facing off former Mayor Benjamin de Guzman, whom he beat twice in the mayoral races of 2001 and 2004.

Observers said Mayor Duterte would move heaven and earth to defeat Nograles---who also lost in the mayoral race to Mayor Duterte in 1992 and to then Duterte protégé de Guzman in 1998---to install Vice Mayor Sara at City Hall.

And then if she indeed wins, the younger daughter would give way for Mayor Duterte to reclaim his post through succession.

If candidates for seats in the council are putting more energy in the campaign for the coming May polls, they are inspired not only by desire to land in the magic circle but also by the prospect of Vice Mayor Sara resigning as mayor, and Mayor Duterte, as the vice mayor, succeeding her to leave vacant the mayoral seat for the winning councilor with the highest vote percentage. APOnews&views

Double surnames in Davao City race for city council seats

2009-12-18T01:12:00.000-08:00

2 Aportaderas in SP after May 2010?

With bets with same surnames running for seats at the Davao City Council, would we see two Aportaderas at the legislative body after May 2010?

Or would there also be two Alterados, 2 Orcullos or 2 Dolors in the local chamber?

In the Second District, where three pairs with same surnames are running for council seats, Angelo Aportadera has a company in another candidate from the same old Davao City clan, his cousin Mikey.

Angelo, former Ateneo de Davao teacher and a businessman, brings with him in the race a political credential being the son of former assistant Ombudsman Billy Aportadera, who run twice but lost in the congressional race in the same district. Angelo is running under Speaker Prospero Nograles’ Lakas/Kampi/CMD. While Mikey---a talent at the ABS/CBN television network---has pitched camp with the Hugpong bloc of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

Also in the district, two sons of educator former councilor Senforiano Alterado are in the running: Ernie and Senforiano, Jr., barangay captain of Barangay Duterte in Agdao district.
Two come-backing councilors with the same surnames are also eyeing council seats in the same district: Nenita Orcullo and brother-in-law lawyer Beethoven Orcullo.

Two Dolors, both former city councilors, are eyeing a comeback: Shane Dolor in the First District and Dr. Allan Dolor in the Third District.

About 100 candidates for the 24-member city council, 8 seats for each district, are evenly spread at about 30 candidates for each district.

The Aportaderas and the Alterados, if the alphabet plays magic in voters choice in May, have the edge to make history of bets of same surnames making it to the magic circle.

In the Comelec alphabetically-listed roster, the Alterados are listed at Nos. 3 and 4, while the Aportaderas hug Nos. 5 and 6.

If the Aportaderas and the rest make it in May, they would be the second winning bets with same surnames to land at the council, a feat held once by brothers, Freddie and Tony Vergara, who sat side by side at the legislative body after winning the race in two separate districts in the early 90s. APOnews&views

100 to attend workshop on Davao watershed protection

2009-12-18T01:08:00.000-08:00

Stakeholders linking arms to protect the Davao City watershed areas would converge here in a workshop on Saturday.

To be held at the Davao City Council, about 100 participants from the academe, environmental non-governmental organizations, and local and national government agency officials would be attending.

The one-day workshop is the second big gathering here of pro-nature groups after the successful holding last month of the forum Davao City Watershed: Resolving Conflicting Issues at the Marco Polo Hotel last month that was attended by foreign experts on watershed and water resource management.

In focus in the workshop would be the landmark legislation Davao City Watershed Protection, Conservation and Management Ordinance also known as the Watershed Code. The code laid down regulations to protect the city watershed areas of about 36,000 hectares, primarily located at the slopes of Mt. Apo.

The workshop is organized by Hydrology for the Environment, Life and Policy (HELP) Network Davao, the local branch of the international HELP organization, a body on watershed and water resource protection, management and conservation organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco).

Davao City Councilor Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling, HELP Network Davao chairman, said the Saturday workshop is a follow-through activity for the Marco Polo workshop attended by Paris-based Unesco water expert Dr. Shahbaz Khan, Chinese university professor Demin Zhou, environmental expert Declan Hearne of CRS-Philippines, and Dr. Rahman Elfitre of Malaysia.
Cabling, author of the Watershed Code, said output in the workshop would help strengthen implementation of the code that carved out the watershed areas into conservation, non-tillage and prime agricultural areas.HELP Network Davao

MAN'S PENIS, HALF OF BALLS EATEN BY BOAT PROPELLER

2008-12-21T18:36:00.001-08:00

By ROGER M. BALANZA

A month after a tragic shoreline incident, Birgilio Castillo (not his real name) is spending Christmas without a penis and half his balls.

Castillo of General Santos City in Southern Philippines has been object of neighborhood pity—and naughty jokes—after landing in the headlines of local papers in November when he lost his treasured possessions to his own motorized canoe’s propeller.

Castillo, a fisherman, had just arrived at their village with a nephew after an overnight fishing trip, and was pushing the boat–with engine running— to shore in waist deep water when the propeller tangled with his shortpant.

The propeller swallowed part of the pant together with Castillo’s penis and half his balls.

Neighbors who witnessed the early morning decapitation brought the bloodied Castillo to the hospital where doctors were forced to cut off the badly-mangled tools.

Castillo’s father mourned the loss but was grateful the propellers left the boy one of his balls. Doctors told me my son could have died if it was a total demolition, he told local media without explaining why losing both penis and balls in one sweep could lead to instant death.

The unmarried Castillo has recovered but has holed up in their seaside house since the accident that continues to be widely talked in his fishing village.

The father has advised the young man to stay home as naughty jokes about his manliness is always at the center of lively discussions when neighbors gather.

WELCOME YEAR 2009

2008-12-20T19:41:00.000-08:00

merry christmas and a happy new year to all

SLEEPING THE SLEEP OF THE DEAD.

2008-10-28T21:53:00.000-07:00

HELLO DURIAN POST! YOU STILL ALIVE?

DAVAO CITY OKAYS P3BILLION AYALA CENTER OF DAVAO MEGA-PROJECT

2008-07-12T20:15:00.000-07:00

BY ROGER M. BALANZA

The Davao City Council is set to give tomorrow the thumbs up for the P3 billion Ayala Center Davao business park and mall project, the biggest single investment in decades in this premier city of Southern Mindanao.

A joint project of Ayala Land, Inc. and Anflocor Investment and Development Company, Inc. and its sister companies under the umbrella of the Anflocor group of companies, the Ayala Center Davao would stand on a 9-property owned by the Floirendos along business district Bajada in J. P. Laurel Avenue.

City councilors would tackle in regular session tomorrow an application by Anflocor senior vice president Ricardo Floirendo to reclassify into major commercial zone portions of the property declared as residential zone in the 1996 Zoning Code. Councilor Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling, chair of the housing committee, has recommended approval of the application, on strength of recommendations by the City Planning and Development Office and the City Zoning division.

Setting the trend for positive action by the city council, floor leader Danilo Dayanghirang said Thursday he would take the lead in “lobbying for the approval of the application.” He set the application into the agenda of tomorrow’s session saying the project submitted all requirements. “This is the kind of business that we should fully support,” said Dayanghirang.

Both Cabling and Dayanghirang agree Ayala Center Davao is the strongest expression by business of their full trust and confidence in the viability of Davao City as an investment haven under the leadership of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. Mayor Duterte gave his all-out support for the project, the biggest investment that would cap his last term as city mayor that would end in 2010, during the launch of the joint venture attended by Anflocor and Ayala Malls Group officials during the recent anniversary celebration of Anflocor in Davao City.

The multi-billion peso business park and mall complex project is to start construction this year, with its first component the IT/BPO building set to be operational next year. The centerpiece of the mega-project, the Ayala Center Davao, the 11^th by the Makati-based Ayala Land throughout the country, would be completed before end of 2010.

Hedcor, DCWD continue battle over Tamugan River hydropower dam

2008-07-12T20:09:00.000-07:00

City government to probe project

By ROGER M. BALANZA

The Davao City Council would conduct an ocular inspection on Wednesday of the site in Tamugan, Marilog district where Hedcor plans to build mini-hydro power dams.

The inspection by three council committees comes as Hedcor seeks an endorsement from the city council for the hydro projects aiming to backstop Davao Light with power. The Aboitiz-owned Davao Light is a sister company of Hedcor.

The project is being opposed by Davao City Water District (DCWD) which also plans to build a dam on the same site as part of its surface water development program.

Both Hedcor and DCWD would be tapping the Tamugan and Panigan River in their respective projects.

The ocular inspection would be conducted by the committees on transportation, energy and communication chaired by Pilar Braga, the committee on environment chaired by Leonardo Avila, and the committee on rules chaired by Danilo Dayanghirang.

Hedcor is still to secure a Water Permit from the National Water Regulatory Board (NWRB). DCWD, granted by the agency a permit in 1997, said the Hedcor project would derail the surface water project.

The Hedcor project is not only facing opposition from DCWD but would also violate the Davao City Watershed Code authored by councilor Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling.

The code has declared Tamugan as a Conservation Area where any form of commercial activity is banned.

Yesterday, City Planning and Development Coordinator Mario Luis Jacinto said Hedcor could not undertake its project unless the Watershed Code is amended.

Aftermath of Princess of the Stars: No vessels in Davao City

2008-07-12T20:00:00.000-07:00

GHOST PORT. The government-owned Sasa Wharf, Southern Mindanao’s major port, lays idle without a cargo vessel following suspension of operations of Sulpicio Lines in wake of the Princess of the Stars sinking. Southern Mindanao businessmen warned lack of bottoms could trigger an economic crisis as Mindanao goods remain unmoved following the suspension of operations of one of the country’s shipping lines. RENE ARIAS

Princess of the Stars sinking aftermath: Mindanao factories closing down for lack of vessels to load products

2008-07-12T19:57:00.000-07:00

Vessel lack slowing down plant production

By ROGER M. BALANZA

For lack of enough ships to ferry their products to Cebu or Manila, about ten Davao City factories are slowing down production to avoid a large inventory that could not be shipped out.

Shippers and traders in Davao City and the rest of Central and Southern Mindanao are facing an economic crisis for lack of bottoms following the suspension of operations of Sulpicio Lines vessels in wake of the sinking of the Princess of the Stars three weeks ago.

Davao City, the main shipping port, is now being serviced only by three cargo vessels of Sulpicio and Lorenzo shipping, resulting to a large backlog in cargo movement.

Badly affected are rice and corn shipments, bananas and lumber and plywood, the region’s main produce shipped out to Cebu and Manila.

Businessmen here plan to appeal to President Arroyo to lift the suspension that has led to large stockpiles in traders warehouses and shipping yards.

“There are about ten manufacturing plants here who are adopting a slow-done in production because we cannot move the products for lack of vessels, “ said a businessman engaged in lumber and plywood manufacturing.

He said several plants and factories here have cut down manpower, in a serious blow to workers, as stocks pile up.

If this situation continues, closures could follow the slowdowns, said another businessman.

Aftermath of Princess of Stars sinking: Sulpicio Lines suspension wreaking havoc on Mindanao economy

2008-07-12T19:44:00.003-07:00

Unmoved Mindanao products in Davao City seaports rotting for lack of cargo vessels

By ROGER M. BALANZA

Mindanao is facing a serious economic crisis in wake of the tragedy of the Princess of the Stars sinking, as tons and tons of its products for shipment to key Philippine cities rot in warehouses for lack of vessels to load them out.

Following the tragedy, the government has ordered all Sulpicio passenger vessels grounded, as marine authorities probe the disaster. Unfortunately, the passenger vessels, of 13 gross tonnage, double up as cargo vessels, serving as key transporters for Mindanao goods.

In Davao City ports, stacks of containers with finished agri-products lay in painful wait for vessels in container yards. In traders’ warehouses, bags of corn are piled up to the roof unmoved with corn-eating Cebu and other Visayan cities, depending on supplies of the cereal from Mindanao, facing hunger.

Economic disaster

A plywood manufacturer in Bunawan, a major supplier to the Visayan construction industry, has closed down because it cannot ship out the goods. Central Mindanao traders have stopped buying products for local exports, as Davao City shipping companies refuse to take cargo, for lack of bottoms.

The government-owned Sasa wharf in Davao City, the major shipping point for agri-products from Southern and Central Mindanao, has become a virtual ghost port for lack of vessels, a painful departure from its old fame as one of the busiest posts in Mindanao.

With the suspension of operation of Sulpicio Lines vessels in wake of the sinking of Princess of the Stars, produce in Central and Southern Mindanao are either rotting or sold cheap for lack of vessels to ferry them to Cebu or Manila.

Domino effect

Failure of Mindanao products to reach consumers in the Visayas has prompted the Cebu City Chamber of Commerce and Industry to pass a resolution urging Malacanang to lift the suspension on the Sulpicio vessels, as prices of basic commodities and construction materials supplied by Mindanao producers drastically went up in wake of the suspension.

In Iloilo City, the construction industry which relies on Mindanao-produced materials, is facing a crisis with wood and plywood price shooting up for lack of supply.

“Cebuanos would go hungry if corn shipment from Mindanao comes rare,” said an official of the Cebu City business chamber.

In Digos City in Davao del Sur, a corn trader supplying Cebu said lack of vessels to bring his goods to the Visayan premier city, forced him not to buy from farmers.

We have the supply, but I could not buy, because I could not ship them out, he said. The corn farmers, he said, are suffering a crisis more worse than the sinking tragedy, adding the crisis involves thousands of corn farmers.

An appeal to GMA

Traders and producers are appealing to President Gloria Arroyo to lift the suspension of Sulpicio lines passenger ferries, as basic commodities like rice and corn pile up in warehouses for lack of bottoms. With the lack of vessels, traders have stopped buying agricultural produce, dealing a serious blow to farmers.

Three weeks ago, the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) ordered the suspension as an investigation is ongoing on the sinking of the ferry carrying more than 800 passengers, off Sibuyan Island at the height of typhoon Frank.

In Davao City, a single Sulpicio container ship is operating, leaving tons of cereals and other agricultural products unmoved in warehouses. The company, with only one vessel running, also has started refusing to accept cargoes including bananas, a perishable major export, for shipment to Cebu and Manila.

SOS

As this developed, traders from Central Mindanao and Southern Mindanao using Davao ports to ship out products, are planning to seek intervention of their local government officials to ask President Arroyo to lift the order.

In Davao City, traders said they would bring up the crisis to the 8^th Davao Business Conference to be held today at the Davao Conventions Center.

The conference would tackle an 11-point resolution of the Davao City Business Chamber of Commerce that contains suggestions on how the Davao City government could further improve the city’s business climate.

“The lack of vessels to ferry our produce is another catastrophe that could wreak havoc on our economy,” said a Davao City businessman, engaged in trading and exporting of agricultural produce to Cebu and Manila, who is gathering traders to bring up the crisis at today’s business conference.

Not enough

Shipping industry sources here said only three cargo vessels, two from Lorenzo Shipping and one from Sulpicio, are currently operating. A source said the vessels of smaller tonnage come to ports only every twelve days, and would leave cargo backlogs that could become an economic nightmare.

Another source said Manila may not be aware about the economic crisis now hounding Mindanao products destined to Cebu and Manila, which relies on Mindanao for most of its needs including rice, corn and other basic commodities.

Lift the suspension

The Davao City trader suggested the suspension may be lifted and allow the Sulpicio passenger vessels to operate as a cargo vessel, to stave off an economic disaster in Central and Southern Mindanao that use Davao City ports for their shipment of agricultural and finished products to other cities in the Visayas and Luzon.

“We are facing a disaster that could affect hundreds of thousands of Mindanaoans with the suspension of the Sulpicio vessels,” he said.

A Sulpicio source said it is committed to serve the public and the Princess of the Stars tragedy, an unforeseen event, should not be taken as an argument to deny the shipping company its obligation to pursue its corporate mission to the country.

Win-win solution

If there is to be an investigation, we are suggesting as it is in progress, that as a key player in the development of Mindanao, that we be allowed to run our vessels as cargo carriers so as not to cause more damage to the economy, said the official, who is based in Davao City, the company’s main headquarters for its Southern and Central Mindanao operations.

DMC-UPDI housing developer to sue oppositors

2008-07-09T03:42:00.001-07:00

Consunji company mulls civil, criminal actions

By ROGER M. BALANZA

A housing developer proposing a high-end project in Matina Hills in Davao City has threatened to sue officers of a group for “grossly irresponsible statements” leveled against the company.”

David M. Consunji-Urban Planning Development, Inc. (DMC-UPDI) is filing civil and criminal actions against these irresponsible persons, said DMC-UPDI manager Victoria Joy Adriano of officers of the Federation of Maa Homeowners Association.

The federation has blamed the developer---planning to build a 15-hectare project at the east side of the 300-meter Matina Hill---for allegedly causing floods in downhill housing subdivisions in Maa. They also feared landslides that could swallow their houses, claiming the area has been identified by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) as land-slide prone.

Adriano was referring to statements made by Lothar Tricher, a Canadian national and officer of the federation, during a recent committee hearing conducted by the Davao City Council committee on housing chaired by councilor Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling.

Tischer, Norma Javellana and another foreigner, Stacey Breid, are the most vocal members of the federation who lock words with DMC-UPDI administrators in the Cabling committee hearings.

Floods and landslides

Other than raising the issue of flooding and potential landslides, the group has also accused the developer of starting development---denied by DMC-UPDI---even as it still has to secure permits from the local government and the national agencies.

The Cabling committee is hearing the developer’s application for Preliminary Approval of Locational Clearance (PALC), an initial requirement before issuance of Development Permit (DP).

Adriano dished out the threat of legal action in a position paper she submitted to the Cabling committee. She said the group, Tischer in particular, imputed on her company “unfounded, baseless, grossly maliciously and irresponsible statements” during a committee hearing held on June 25.

Irresponsible persons

These are “grave assaults to the company’s reputation which are bases for filing of civil and criminal actions against these irresponsible persons,” said Adriano.

She said the accusations are serious because they were not only peddled by the group before city councilors and Vice Mayor Sara Duterte, but also publicized in media through press releases issued by the federation.

"Company of pirates"

Quoting from minutes of the hearing, Adriano said Tischer described DMC-UPDI as a developer violating laws “with a pirate’s attitude for profit rather than human life.”

Tischer, she said, also said the company committed “flagrant, obvious violations” and should not be “rewarded (a permit)” and not be “trusted to keep future commitments to do things properly.” Tischer was also quoted as saying the violations of DMC-UPDI have already “injured many and are putting more people at risk.”

Safety a top premium

In her position paper, Adriano said the Spine Road (access road) and drainage system---claimed by the federation officers as development work to the housing project---built on the site had permits from the City Engineering Office and the Department of Public Work and Highways.

She denied the company is now developing the site, saying it has yet to get a Development Permit, which grants the company the go-signal to start development. Adriano said what the company is seeking now is the PALC, which only approves locational clearance.

We assure that when development starts after grant of the Development Permit, we shall be monitored by the local government unit, Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board and the national agencies, said Adriano who adds that the company would give premium to the safety and welfare of its clients, residents, partners and other stakeholders. Adriano, in an earlier committee hearing, had told Tischer’s group that the issues they raised are better heard when the company applies for approval of Development Permit, and not during the hearing on its application for PALC.

Hedcor hydropower project in Davao City opposed

2008-07-09T03:26:00.000-07:00

Project violates Watershed Code.

By ROGER M. BALANZA

The P1.9 billion hydro-power project that Hedcor Inc. plans to build in Tamugan, Marilog District in Davao City is facing its biggest challenge in the recently-approved Davao City ordinance aiming to protect the city’s watershed areas.

The Davao City Watershed Protection, Conservation and Management Ordinance has declared Tamugan as a Conservation Area that outlawed developments like the hydroelectric dams proposed to be built by the Aboitiz-owned company.

The ordinance is seen as a bold attempt to protect the city’s watershed areas, now being threatened by large-scale agri-business ventures. It’s approval came in wake of a call by Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to protect the watershed areas and conserve the city’s water resources for the future generation.

The Davao City Water District (DCWD), which draws out water from the city’s underground water reservoir in Talomo district, said the Hedcor project would threaten the city’s water supply. But the aquifer has a lifespan, forcing the water utility firm to tap surface water to conserve supply from the underground reservoir that reportedly could last only for 50 years if not supported by alternative sources.

Opposition

The project has already been opposed by the DCWD and is contesting Hedcor’s application for Water Permit from the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) in Manila. DCWD said the Hedcor project would seriously threaten its own project tapping Tamugan River as alternate source.

DCWD secured in 1997 a Water Permit from NWRB for its Tamugan Surface Water Development (TSWD), which would tap Tamugan River as alternate source for water supply, over the growing demand that exerts tremendous pressure on the aquifer, the utility firm’s sole source.

Cabling Code

Also known as the Watershed Code, the ordinance authored by councilor Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling, has identified more than 9,000 hectares of the Tamugan-Panigan Watershed Areas, where Hedcor plans to build three dams, as Conservation Areas.

The code has spelled out twelve prohibited acts in the Conservation Areas including “constructing or maintaining any kind of structure, fence or enclosure and conducuting any business enterprises.”

Hedcor’s Tamugan Hydropower Project---consisting of three mini-hydroelectric dams in Tamugan, Panigan and Suwawan rivers---is expected to cost some P6 billion and would generate about 34 megawatts.

In a position paper, DCWD said the Hedcor project would jeopardize its plan to tap Tamugan River for its surface water development project, and threaten long-term water supply for Davao City.

Dried up rivers

Hedcor, which would divert water from Tamugan and Panigan rivers, would build the dam upstream of the DCWD project, which could dry up the rivers and render the project useless.

Hedcor presented in April its project at the Davao City Council, which approved the Watershed Code in last year. The code was signed into law by Mayor Duterte in December. A technical working group has already finalized its Implementing Rules and Regulations.

No DENR permit

Although it had applied for Water Permit with the NWRB, which has set a second hearing on July 9, Hedcor is yet to get an Environmental Certificate of Clearance from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

A University of the Philippines meanwhile had warned the Hedcor project could adversely affect the environment and public health.

Toxicologist Dr. Romeo Quijano said the “change in the ecosystem would upset the balance of insects which in turn could stimulate malaria. The excavation of the lands could release arsenic from the ground.”

In a position paper submitted to the Davao City Council, DCWD general manager Rodora Gamboa said explained the water firm’s opposition to the Hedcor project.

“ The proposed hydropower plant of Hedcor will be located upstream of our filtration gallery at the upper reaches of Tamugan and Panigan rivers. This set=up would dry up vital portions of these rivers, which would lead to both immediate and long-term effect on our TSWD project,” said Gamboa.

MABEL ACOSTA

2008-07-06T00:56:00.000-07:00

DAVAO CITY COUNCILOR MABEL ACOSTA, sitting as acting City Mayor, in a friendly handshake with militant students from the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) in a rally at the Centennial Park demanding lower school fees. Acosta is chair of the Davao City Council Committee on Education and sits at the Davao City School Board. JIM TAN NUEVO

THE MAJESTIC MT. APO IN DAVAO CITY

2008-07-06T00:44:00.000-07:00

Ceasefire not cure-all to Mindanao conflict

2008-07-05T23:06:00.000-07:00

A ceasefire may clear the path to peace talks between the Philippine government and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), but the political aspects of the conflict for peace to reign in troubled Mindanao.

Without these political aspects resolved, there will be no end to the fighting, said Muhammad Ameen, chairperson of the MILF Secretariat, in a report posted at the MILF website luwaran.com.

“Ceasefire today, fighting tomorrow, again ceasefire the next day after, and then fighting. There is going to be an endless cycle of fighting, temporary truce, suffering, peace-making, ” said Ameen.

This developed as the multi-sectoral Mindanao Coalition for Peace issued a manifesto in Marawi City last month, urging the government and MILF to halt the fighting that has displaced thousands of Mindanawons.

Ameen acknowledged the manifesto of the coalition of Muslims, Christians and Lumads may contribute to peace, Ameen appealed to members of the non-government organizations (NGOs), civil society groups, people’s organizations, and religious groups in the Philippines especially those based and operating in Mindanao to give greater attention and efforts to help address the political aspect of the so-called Moro Problem rather than by giving greater emphasis on issues related to the ceasefire.

"The ceasefire is just a support mechanism to allow the peace talks to move forward undisturbed and succeed, but it is not an end by itself, although it is a very important aspect of peace-making in this region,” he explained, adding that it saves lives and properties and gives the two Parties, government and MILF, the needed space, respite, serenity, and concentration in the negotiating table.

However, he said that while the MILF welcomes the efforts of these groups to help maintain the ceasefire between the Philippine government and the MILF, the failure to settle the political aspect of the problem through a “negotiated political solution” would result in unending fighting, displacement, and loss of properties and precious lives in Mindanao.

He urged them not only to help maintain the ceasefire but more importantly to exert efforts to identify which of the Parties, government or MILF, is not serious in the talks and not complying with decisions arrived by the Parties and find ways and means to make them comply.

He said the MILF wants a principled and real problem-solving negotiation with the Philippine government, not the one that is anchored on counter-insurgency approach.

He cited the case of the GRP-MNLF Final Peace Agreement in 1996, which was not carried faithfully by the government when it undertook the necessary changes in the organic charter of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Even after more than years of signing, the MNLF is still complaining about the non-implementation of the peace pact by the government.

In one forum in Davao City last year, one speaker who is directly involved in the peace process was overheard to have said: “Iba ang pipirmahan, iba ang isasa-batas, at iba ang i-implement” (one set of document is signed, another version will be passed into law, and another form to be implemented on the ground).

Murad Ebrahim: MILF chief

2008-07-03T23:40:00.000-07:00

Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, chairman of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighting for an independed Bangsamoro homeland in Southern Philippines, with MILF rebels in Maguindanao province in Central Mindanao at the rebel base in Buliok Complex.

Muslim rebels to boycott ARMM polls

2008-07-03T23:32:00.000-07:00

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is keeping its hands off the coming elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The Philippines’ largest Islamic separatist rebel group has ordered its forces to stay out of the elections. The campaign period has started for next month’s polls in the Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao in Southern Philippines.

More than one million Muslims are set to vote on August 11 a new set of officials for the ARMM’s six provinces. The MILF is more than keeping the elections free: the separatist group does not recognize the Philippine Constitution and in the past did not participate in any elections.

The MILF order for rebels to shun the elections came ahead of a press statement from MILF chairman Ebrahim Murad urging Malacanang to reset the ARMM elections. Murad said ARMM has not responded to needs of the Bangsamoro people and and frowned at the coming elections a stumbling block to the ongoing peace talks between the MILF and the government.

“ARMM did not and cannot cater to the basic needs of the Bangsamoro people and instead has worsened their already depressed condition and added confusion to the populace,” Murad said.

The statement, jointly signed by former MNLF leader Muslimin Sema urged President Gloria Arroyo to postpone or scrap the polls.

The polls are a grave obstacle to the ongoing peace negotiations between Manila and the MILF, including the MNLF tripartite talks, said Murad and Sema in the statement. The ARMM was established after the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) then headed by Nur Misuari signed a peace agreement with the Philippine government in 1992 after a 30-year battle for independence for Muslim Mindanao.

An MILF spokesman however said the press statement was fake.

“We have not issued any statement urging the Philippine government to scrap or postpone the ARMM elections. The MILF has ordered all its members and supporters to refrain from participating in the ARMM polls and other Philippine elections,” Eid Kabalu told media in another statement.

Unresolved issues on ancestral domain have stalled peace talks between the government and the MILF, as both sides seek an end to more than three decades of Muslim rebellion in the Southern Philippines.

Gov. Manny Pinol: Govt to blame for stronger MILF

2008-07-03T22:51:00.000-07:00

Govt mishandled fall of Buliok Complex

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) would have been nothing but history after the fall of Buliok Complex in 2003, according to North Cotabato Vice Governor Manny Pinol.

But the Philippine Government allowed the MILF to regroup and rebuild its forces, by allowing their return to their biggest base in Western Mindanao, said Pinol. former governor who now chairs the North Cotabato Provincial Board.

The government waged an all-out war against the MILF in 2003, and captured the secessionist group's main camp Buliok Complex in Luguasan Marsh, part of which is located in Pinol's province, after nearly a month of fighting.

Pinol said the government's peace efforts, after the fall of Buliok, allowed the MILF to rebuild its forces. After it had been reduced to an insignificant force in the 2003 all-out war, the government also committed a big error in turning over captured Buliok Complex to the MILF as part of confidence-building efforts and the peace talks, he said.

Pinol said that while he is not against peace negotiations with MILF, the government should have used its strength as a tactical advantage. "My position is that in every negotiation, one must show his superiority in terms of strength," he said.

Sadly, Pinol said, instead of taking advantage of the fall of Buliok Complex, the government allowed MILF fighters to return to the MILF base, the biggest in Mindanao.

With Buliok in MILF hands again, the secessionist was able to regroup and rebuild its forces, said the vice governor.

I thought back in 2003 after the fall of Buliok that never again will I hear guns firing to kill Filipinos. But it did not happen that way. The MILF rebels again are wrecking havoc in our province, said Pinol.

MILF-GRP agreement on ancestral domain in offing

2008-07-03T22:27:00.000-07:00

Hermogenes Esperon, presidential adviser on the peace process and former Armed Forces chief, expressed optimism that a memorandum of agreement on the issue of ancestral domain will be signed by September between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Esperon made the pronouncement in a briefing with Mindanao stakeholders, including the media, Thursday at the Mindanao Economic Development Council (MEDCo) office here.

Esperon banked his optimism on the recent movements of the stalled peace process between the two warring parties where the government has presented to the MILF through the Malaysian peace process facilitators, its draft of the counter proposal on the ancestral domain agreement last June 23.

The first proposal was rejected by the MILF, which disagreed with the government's classification of areas that should be part of the MILF's ancestral domain.

The MILF a week after June 23 submitted its reply to the government's draft of the proposed ancestral domain agreement.

"It is possible we could sign something in September. It depends on how fast we are moving," Esperon said.

The issues on freedom, jurisdiction and control over resources, and on institution and organizational structure of the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity are the three contentious issues of the ancestral domain agreement, which were raised in the draft presented by the government to the MILF.

Esperon said the MILF, in its reply, has well received the proposed agreement on jurisdiction and control over resources.

However the contentious issue on governance, which is the institution and organizational structure of the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity, remains, Esperon said.

A provision in the said proposed draft of government on the issue of governance states that both parties will agree on the "principle of consultation free of any imposition and open new formula to respond to the aspiration of Bangsa Moro for freedom".

The MILF in its reply to the proposed draft however wants to change the word "freedom" to self-determination, Esperon said.

He further clarified that all the contentious issues will be tackled under the legal framework such as a constitutional process.

"These proposed agreements will be subjected to a discussion with our legal group and later for approval of the president," Esperon said.

The MILF in its reply also accepted the proposal to subject the upcoming ancestral domain agreement to a constitutional process, Esperon said.

With these developments, Esperon said "there are things we need to prepare next week and give some pronouncements if we can get the approval of the president," he added.

Although the stalled peace talks has seemingly moved on through back channelling, Esperon did not categorically say when a formal peace talk can resume and more particularly when the two parties arrive on a final general peace agreement.

He however said that the latest development signals that the peace talks will formally resume in the coming days. Although negotiation through back channelling is effective and fast, Esperon is amenable that a formal talk should be applied to minimize the hostilities apparently born out of the MILF's restiveness following the stalled peace talks.

Esperon downplayed the ongoing hostilities on the ground between government troops and MILF troops with the back channelling efforts that are happening between both parties.

He said the government is following certain guidelines to arrest the hostilities while efforts to go back to the negotiating table are ongoing.

Similar guidelines and mechanisms were followed by government, while it worked for a peace pact with the Moro National Liberation Front, Esperon said.

Meanwhile, Esperon said the International Monitoring Team (IMT) will expire on August 31, this year.

Esperon said the GRP-MILF peace process could continue without the IMT.

Although he said that it would be difficult without the IMT, however there is the joint committee on ceasefire of hostilities (CCH) who is also capable of looking into the violations of ceasefire agreement between the two parties.

He said the CCH has a very strong mechanism and can settle the hostilities from further escalation.

Although the government is currently making some interventions to keep the IMT after some of the countries like Malaysia threatened not to extend its services, government can count on the strength of the CCH, Esperon said.

Rexall Kaalim, team leader of the Mindanao People's Caucus –Bantay Ceasefire for his part said the resumption of formal peace talks aside from the back channeling efforts is important as the panels could readily impose sanctions on any of the two parties which is in violation of the ceasefire agreement.

Kaalim said that based on their observation, most of the provocative hostilities, which means armed movements of assaults are initiated by the MILF.

He however said the MILF has admitted of violating the ceasefire agreement out of their restiveness on the stalled peace process.

He said the people particularly the MILF want the talks to formally resume eliminating the feeling of impatience particularly on the part of the secessionist group.

Kaalim, on the other hand, joined Esperon in saying that peace talks could resume without the IMT for its function can be very well addressed by the CCH.

"Although there is some kind of difficulty in the absence of the IMT since a ceasefire is very important for the talks to continue, I cannot also discount the capabilities of the joint CCH," Kaalim said.

Kaalim further said that he believes the absence of the IMT will further dilly dally the peace process.

MILF TO MEMBERS: Prepare for long struggle

2008-07-03T19:55:00.000-07:00

The central leadership of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has called on its members throughout Mindanao and Sulu to prepare for a long struggle for freedom and right of self determination of the Bangsamoro people.

Speaking for the MILF, Sheikh Muhammad Muntassir, chairperson of the Front’s Da’wah (Islamic call) Committee, told a gathering of both political and military leaders of the MILF recently that a negotiated political settlement of the Bangsamoro Problem and the present conflict in Mindanao are very difficult.

Muntassir, a graduate of a Mecca university on Islamic diploma and now in his late 40s, urged his audience to be patient and steadfast in confronting this centuries-old problem that started during the Spanish regime, carried on to the American colonial days, to the Japanese regime and the Filipino regime.

“They are deep-rooted and very complex that require patience, persistence, and commitment to overcome forms of obstacles along the way. Look at the Palestinian problem and the Oslo Agreement facilitated by no less the United States, the only true superpower now, and see how it drags on for decades,” he told his audience.

If we are not equal to the task of peace-building, he continued, we would all be frustrated by the delaying tactics of the Arroyo government.

“Look to the future,” he exhorted his audience, “and do not be distracted by the spoilers of the peace process,” without giving names.

Scores of Islamic-educated persons are serving the MILF-led struggle in various capacities, in committees or even in the military wing of the Front. Some were martyred in the course of the long drawn-out struggle. The late MILF Chairman Salamat Hashim died of cardiac arrest at the jungle vastness of Butig, Lanao del Sur on July 13, 2003.

In his book, “Guidelines to Bangsamoro Mujahid”, the late Salamat Hashim described the MILF as an Islamic revolutionary movement. The book remains to this day the ideological guide of the MILF and its members. luwaran.com

MILF TO GRP: We need reply fast

2008-07-03T19:42:00.000-07:00

It took barely less than three days for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to make its counter-proposal to the Philippine government’s three-point issues related to strand governance of the ancestral domain, which it, after three months and 23 days of legal study, submitted to the Malaysian government for trandsmittal to the MILF.

The MILF peace panel officially received the copy of the government counter-proposal last June 25 and immediately the MILF immediately set to work and came out with its counter-proposal, which it submitted to the Malaysian government last June 28.

“We want to show that we want the peace talks to move forward,” Muhammad Ammen said, in contrast to the government’s dilly-dallying and too much dribbling.

“We are afraid that if the talks continue to drag, intervening serious events would overcome and spoil the peace efforts,” he warned.

For the past weeks, fighting has resumed in many parts of Mindanao, which MILF admitted is mainly the handiwork of those opposed to the peace talks especially the delays after delays by the government.

A three-man delegation led by Mohagher Iqbal, MILF chief peace negotiator, travelled to Kuala Lumpur to hand over the official response to the Malaysia’s chief facilitator, Datuk Othman bin Abdulrazak.

Atty. Datu Michael Mastura and Maulana Bobby Alonto accompanied Iqbal on the trip to Kuala Lumpur.

According to Jun Mantawil, chairperson of the MILF peace panel secretariat, all the issues related to ancestral domain are settled by the Parties, except three issues related to governance, which the government tried to object.

He said the most contentious term is the word “freedom”, which the government tried to dilute the meaning by way of redefining it to mean “sets of rights” reflective of the Wilsonian discourse.

“Why is the government reneging on this after it had signed documents to this effect?” he asked.

To recall with, the word “freedom” has been consistently appearing in GRP-MILF documents since1998 namely:

1. In Article IV of the General Framework of Agreement of Intent Between the GRP and the MILF on August 27, 1998, it states: “The Parties recognize that there will be lasting peace in Mindanao when there is mutual trust, justice, freedom, and tolerance for the identity, culture, way of life and aspirations of all peoples in Mindanao;”

2. In the Security Aspect of the Tripoli Agreement of 2001, No. 2, it states “The negotiation and peaceful resolution of the conflict must involve consultations with the Bangsamoro people free of any imposition in order to provide chances of success and open new formulas that permanently responsd to the aspirations of the Bangsamoro people for freedom;” and

3. This formulation was adopted by the Parties, as one of the consensus points on strand governance of ancestral domain.
In the MILF proposal, it did not only make one formulation but three choices for the government to choose from.

“It is a multiple choice,” Mantawil described the latest MILF proposal.

He said if the government really wants to sign the memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain, it can do it now, but it cannot choose one, then the government is not really interested in peace-making. (luwaran.com)

Davao tribe wins battle over ancestral domain rights

2008-07-03T19:38:00.000-07:00

Matigsalogs forms council
to manage ancestral domain

By ROGER M. BALANZA

The Matigsalog tribe of Marilog District in Davao City has formed a tribal council of elders to manage a 72,000-hectare ancestral domain recently carved out of a title issued to indigenous people of Kitaotao, Bukidnon.

Tribal leader Datu Ernisto Salumay said his tribe has formed the Matigsalog Council of Elders that would coordinate with government in managing the ancestral domain.

The council of elders would is composed of 20 tribal leaders of the Matigsalog tribe. The National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) had issued a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) covering 102,000 hectares to the Matigsalog-Manobo tribe of Kitaotao, but included large part of ancestral domain in Davao City and North Cotabato.

Last March however, NICP commissioners in an en banc resolution ordered that the Davao City ancestral domain be placed under management of the Matigsalog tribe.

Salumay said however they have sought the intervention of NCIP before finalization of a management agreement between his tribe and the government, to exclude from the Matigsalog ancestral domain portions that are covered by claims of the Ubo tribe.

Ubo tribal leader Datu Luis Lambac has asked Datu Salumay, the chairman of the Matigsalog Council of Elders, that the Ubo domain be placed under the management of his tribe.

The award of the Matigsalog tribal domain to Davao City indigenous people followed efforts by Davao City councilor Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling to separate the domain from the Bukidnon CADT. As then chair of the committee on environment, Cabling steered approval of a council resolution asking President Arroyo and NCIP to exclude the Davao City portion, fearing social and tribal conflict.

While the Bukidnon CADT would not be amended, NCIP said it would set up a management agreement with the group of Datu Salumay to manage the Davao City portion of the ancestral domain.

RED ALERT HOISTED IN REGION ELEVEN

2008-07-03T19:31:00.000-07:00

NPAs intensify attacks
By ROGER M. BALANZA

The military and police yesterday hoisted a red alert over Region Eleven as three people were killed and 13 others were wounded in a new wave of attacks by the communist New People’s Army rebels in the region in a span of less than 12 hours.
Shortly after midnight of Wednesday, communist rebels lobbed a grenade on a bakery in Compostela Valley, following it up with a raid on a police station in Davao Oriental.
Three people---two students and a motorcycle driver---were killed, while twelve were wounded, in the grenade blast in Nabunturan, while a policeman was injured as communist rebels rained heavy fire on the Banaybanay town hall in Davao Oriental around 8:30 am yesterday. The rebels took off after the brief raid with six M16 rifles, two 9mm pistols and one caliber .22 revolver.

Police regional chief Andres Caro he has ordered a red alert all over the region to stave off more attacks by the NPA. Eastern Mindanao Command (EastMinCom) commander Major General Armando Cunanan said more field troops and helicopter gun ships have been flown down to Davao Oriental to hunt down the rebels.
In the Banaybanay raid, rebels pulled down the Philippine flag and hoisted in its stead the communist flag as some 50 rebels cleaned the police armory of three assault rifles and two handguns. They arrived aboard two dump trucks and a van, and pretended to be militant protesters seeking permit for a rally.
Compostela Valley Governor Arturo Uy condemned the attack and offered P200,000 for information on the identity of the attackers. Uy visited the injured victims at the Davao Regional Hospital in nearby Tagum City. Whoever carried out this terrorism should answer for it, said Uy.
“This is the handiwork of the New People’s Army rebels,” said Captain Michael Aquino, of the 10th Infantry Division. The attack in Nabunturan, he said, apparently targeted a group of for-hire motorcycle drivers suspected as military spy. “We have reports saying that the attack targeted the ‘habal-habal’ drivers in the area because the NPA suspected them as government spies,” Aquino said. The bakery is a 24-hour eatery and was teeming with people when attacked.

Major Armand Rico, 10th Infantry Division spokesman, said two men and a woman on a motorcycle lobbed the grenade into the bakery in Nabunturan town. “We believed the grenade attack was a punitive action for the failure of the business establishment to pay revolutionary taxes to the rebels,” he said, adding local businessmen have been receiving extortion letters from the insurgents.
In the mining barangay of Mt. Diwalwal, Monkayo also in Compostela Valley, NPA rebels on Wednesday morning also raided the compound of JB Mining and Asares Mining, after the mining companies reportedly refused to pay revolutionary tax.
Last week, the rebels raided two town halls in Surigao del Norte province, stealing weapons and communications equipment, but soldiers caught up with the guerrillas, killing 15 of them and capturing a dozen others.
The Philippines has been battling communist rebels in 69 of 81 provinces across the country in a protracted conflict that has killed 40,000 people and stunted economic growth in one of Southeast Asia’s poorest states.

The Philippine Army's 1001st Brigade said the raiders belonged to the Pulang Bagani Command 3 under Ka Lando and Ka Noli.

Police personnel in the said town reportedly put up a fight against the rebels that lasted for 30 minutes. Forces from the police and military immediately responded to the area but the rebels already left the area when they arrived.

A Satement by the Asian Human Rights Commission

2008-07-03T19:01:00.000-07:00

PHILIPPINES: Keeping of records regarding 'vigilante' killings has stopped but the killings go on

Slaughter of Innocents
http://noprotection.blog.humanrights.asia/

While this Statement is being written, more and more persons, including minors, have been targeted for murder on the pretext of ‘vigilante’ killings in cities of General Santos, Davao, Cagayan de Oro and Cebu. This is an insidious phenomenon that has since deprived the victims and their relatives of equal protection before the law; and the guarantee of the right to life, which non-transferable responsibility lies with the authorities.

In these places, not only there is an implied acquiescence amongst the locals, but also a deliberate coaching by local chief executives as to who deserves to die. These killings are nothing short of murder and are justified as being necessary in order to get rid of undesirables. Those undesirables, as commonly described, are persons who have criminal records, involved in crime or gangs, former detainees, but what is worse is that some are killed on mere suspicion that they may be involved in criminal activities. They are pre-judged by those in authority before they were extra judicially executed. These murders are invariably perpetrated by gunmen riding on motorcycles and have been taking place since the late 90s.

But what is extremely disturbing is that, the inability, or unwillingness of the authorities, particularly the police, to prevent, solve and effectively prosecute any one of these cases. It is as if they see these killings as an expedient and alternative means of the administration of justice. These murders are themselves a convenient excuse not only for the police, but for heads of localities from being held to account for their continuing failure to protect the lives of their constituents.

Today, anyone or any group that intends to get involved in campaigning or assisting the relatives of victims would find themselves, not only in difficulty, but being subjected to routine hate speeches and threats. For instance, when this phenomenon began in Davao City, an alliance of groups campaigning against vigilante killings, the Coalition against Summary Execution (CASE) was formed; however, some of the coalition members have already been killed in drive by shootings and many others endure constant threats.

Yet another group has prevented themselves from openly distributing their report on vigilante killings in Davao which they published many years ago. Some of the relatives of those interviewed in their report have themselves, subsequently fallen victims or suffered the loss of their siblings. In these places no value is placed on human lives and the notion of equal protection before the law hardly exists. What is most disturbing is that there have been instances in which the law enforcement officers who routinely prematurely announce any murders on pretence of ‘vigilante killings’.

In the Visayas, the increasing number of unsolved vigilante deaths had forced some local human rights groups to stop their tally of deaths of persons targeted by vigilantes, without even documenting individual cases. Since the time they started the tally in December 2004, they had recorded 121 deaths by September 2006. This record is apart from undocumented cases and those not reported by local media. The extent of arbitrariness in depriving lives, the distrust of the survivors and relatives of the victims, and the acquiescence by local officials, shows the very little value that is placed on human life.

Since the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) began documenting individual cases in May of this year, dozens of persons, including minors, have already been murdered on the pretext of vigilante killings. But what is extremely disturbing, is that even in ordinary criminal investigations the victims who can be proven to not be involved in any criminal activities are identified by the authorities as criminal suspects; and their deaths justified as having been perpetrated by vigilantes.

The policemen, instead of being held to account for their failure, have already routinely used this vigilante pretext in justifying murders in the process of their investigation. The implied tolerance, not only by the public officials, on the rhetoric of the necessity of murdering undesirables, supposedly to restore public order and safety, has in fact given the policemen blanket immunity from their negligence and ineptitude.

Perhaps what is most disturbing is the public's tolerance and acquiescence of these murders by not demanding that the police and public officials ensure that any crimes in their locality, particularly robberies and theft, are effectively investigated and prosecuted. The people have been forced, regardless of their feelings, to accept that the value of human life has lost any meaning.

Davao City councilors oppose P42M cut in IRA share

2008-06-19T02:44:00.000-07:00

Seeks study on DBM payment mode

By ROGER M. BALANZA

Davao City councilors yesterday deferred action on a government offer of lump sum payment of unpaid Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) for 2001 and 2004 due the city government, that would have a bank advancing the money pocketing nearly a third of the P142 million local share from collections of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

The Monetization of IRA Collectibles for Local Empowerment (MIRACLE) Program would release the unpaid IRA through either the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) or the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), but the government banks would withhold 29 percent of the collectibles as servicing fee under a loan grant for seven years starting May 2009, with the IRA as collateral.

The Miracle Program is the vehicle for the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to pay local governments their IRA share for 2001 and 2004 under a staggered basis through a government bank.

The League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) said the total IRA for 2001 and 2004 which were not remitted to Local Government Units (LGU), amounts to P12.4 billion. It may be recalled that in 2001, the IRA of LGUs was reduced by P10 billion owing to the failure of Congress to pass the GAA for that year. In 2004, another P2.4 billion was cut from the LGU IRA due to the same circumstances.

Davao City has unpaid IRA of P142 million but P42 million would go to the servicing bank if the city government agrees to get its hands on the money through the Miracle Program.

A councilor, who asked not to be named, told that the national government owes LGUs some P12.4 billion in un-remitted IRA salivated at how much the servicing government bank involved in the Miracle Program. At 29% service fee, the government banks stand to earn a hefty P4.7 billion if all the LGUs avail of the program.

The city council yesterday held a special session to tackle a City Hall a request to grant Mayor Rodrigo Duterte authority to enter into a loan agreement with a government bank to advance the fund.

Councilors however frowned at the large cut and asked for further study.

Councilors Bonifacio Militar and Diosdado Mahipus said the city government itself could use the unpaid IRA to secure loan of the same amount from a bank and get lower interest.

Militar wondered why the Miracle Program has resurfaced at the city council when it had been placed in the backburner when proposed three years ago. He also said that Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who had asked for authority from the city council to enter into a loan agreement with a bank with IRA as collateral, had back off after learning a large part of the IRA share would be eaten up by interest by the servicing bank.

Councilor NiloAbellera said the large interest for the servicing bank is money going down the drain, which the city could otherwise utilize.

At the session, DBP branch manager Catalina Marquez and LBP branch manager Jossie Nicart said the Miracle Program would be handled by either the banks, but said a newly released option by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) allows local government units to secure loans with the IRA as collateral.

Councilors would be discussing the Miracle Program and the banks’ loan offers with the IRA as collateral in a joint executive-legislative meeting before the council would act on the City Hall request granting authority to Mayor Duterte to avail of the Miracle Program.

Dureza: Media should face risk in Sulu

2008-06-14T22:47:00.000-07:00

By ROGER M. BALANZA

Media know the risk of covering troubled Sulu and could set their own guidelines without the government imposing its own to the point of curtailing freedom of the press.

This is the position taken by incoming Press Secretary Jesus Dureza as television journalist Ces Oreña-Drilon and her crew remain in the hands of kidnappers believed to belong to the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group.

Dureza, who is leaving his post as a former presidential adviser on peace process to take on his new assignment, said government need not set guidelines for journalists covering Sulu and other conflict areas in Mindanao. Dureza, a former editor of a Davao City daily, said the press would not be happy with government keeping a nose on journalists, even if they go to areas posing threats of kidnapping of newsmen.

"Mediamen will have to do their jobs, and we cannot curtail that," Dureza said. Several journalists have already been seized in Mindanao, all of them released, while covering conflict areas in Sulu and the Zamboanga Peninsula.

According to Dureza, media organizations themselves could set the guidelines as government announced it was planning to lay down rules for media to follow to avert another kidnapping incident.

"The guidelines should not come from the government. The media could police themselves by creating guidelines for its members" Dureza said.

MAYOR RODRIGO DUTERTE ASKS COMMUNIST REBELS TO RELEASE SEIZED TROOPER

2008-06-14T22:15:00.001-07:00

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has appealed to the New People’s Army (NPA) to release a former soldier seized last month by the communist rebels in a banana farm in Calinan in Davao City.

The whereabouts of retired MSgt. Jose Manero remains unknown since his abduction by a rebel band led by Leonardo Pitao aka Kumander Parago, the head of the NPA Pulang Bagani Command.

Duterte said Manero was merely making a living as security officer of a banana owner and was not involved in a military operation.

Manero, brother of Norberto Manero Jr. who was convicted of killing Fr. Tulio Favali in Tulonan, North Cotabato in 1985, was serving as security officer of Rafael Lorenzo, a top official of the Lapanday Group of Companies engaged in banana growing.

Pitao’s band swooped down on a Lapanday farm in Calinan last month, emptied its armory and seized Manero. Lorenzo, and three other far managers, were also taken by the rebels but were released later.

The brother of the trooper, who was recently released on a presidential pardon for the murder of Fr. Favali, came to Davao City shortly after the abduction to appeal for the release of the retired soldier.

Duterte said Manero could not be tried by rebels for his record while in active service saying he had a task to perform as a government soldier.

Lorenzo, after his release, told police that Parago brought Manero to answer for the killing of NPA leader Kumander Rambo. Kumander Rambo was reportedly killed during a clash with government troopers in Mandug in the late 80s.

2008-06-13T22:31:00.000-07:00

A Davao City councilor has proposed “riceless day” in what is seen as a testament to government's inability to provide the cereal to the public and control its skyrocketing price. From a low of P22 per kilo three months ago, price of commercial rice has ballooned to as high as P52, variously blamed on hoarding by rice cartels and high farm inputs.

City Councilor Leo Avila III said he is tapping non-government organizations to mobilize a "riceless day" in Davao City, that could lead to 2,000 bags less a day in total consumption by Dabawenyos. He also said the ploy could influence the market and force retailers to drag down prices.

But the Avila proposal clearly bears down on a present reality: rice as a basic staple has become no longer affordable to the poor, who are forced to line up for rationed subsidized rice from the National Food Authority. NFA rice is pegged at P18.25 for the low variety; and P25 and P35 for fancy varieties.

"With the increasing cost of rice eating without rice in a day will do no harm to people. In fact this would be good for our health, Avila said.

He said the 9,000 bags daily consumption of rice in Davao City, once people will be used to eating less rice, would definitely be reduced.

As President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assured the Filipino people of government's aggressive effort that every Filipinos will have food on the table as part of her Independence Day message on June 12, the Davao City leaders called on rice dealers not to engage in huge profit for the sake of the fellowmen.

Avila urged rice dealers to also look at their fellowmen especially the poor who cannot afford to buy the staple at a high cost.

While it is true that this is a global issue he said the higher the cost of rice will deprive our poor people of the staple food.

The government, President Arroyo said will see to it that there will be sufficient supply of rice and run after hoarders.

President Arroyo said the high cost of oil and food is a global issue and this should be a challenge for us even as she asked every Filipinos to unite for the sake of our country, for our family, and for the coming generation.

National Food Authority (NFA) administrator Jessop Navarro said that they piloted in Davao City the auction for rice among traders here and this will be replicated in other parts of Mindanao.

On June 5 the bidding for the auction program was conducted under the market-based auction program to balance the supply and cost of rice.

NFA provincial director for Davao City Lorenzo Camayang earlier said that the auction involved about 5,000 bags of NFA commercial special grade rice to the licensed retailers with outlets in four markets of the city namely Agdao, Calinan, Bankerohan and Toril.

Part of the agreement he said is to re-bag the rice. However the re-bagging got negative reactions and even resulted to the raid of one of the warehouses where the re-bagging was being done.

But NFA-Davao assistant manager Felimon Cangrejo in an earlier report said re-bagging is intended to avoid conflict since the accredited outlets are mandated by NFA to exclusively sell NFA rice and are not allowed to sell commercial rice.

Philippine university offering Petroleum Engineering

2008-06-13T22:04:00.000-07:00

A university in the Southern Philippines is offering a Petroleum Engineering course. The only one in the country, the course responds to the growing needs of workers and professionals for oil exploration.

The Palawan State University (PSU) in Barangay Tiniguiban, however has limited slots for the Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering (BSPE) course that is recognized by the International Society of Petroleum Engineers.

Palawan however could be home to the graduates looking for jobs, with the province seen by government as potentially rich in oil deposits. Around 120 students are enrolled in the course, president Dr. Teresita Salva said.

In nearby Sulu Sea, US oil giant Exxon Mobil plans to conduct explorations, said the company.

ExxonMobil vice president Stephen Greenlee told Philippine media his company is evaluating seismic data taken from the Sulu Sea, after meeting with President Gloria Arroyo and Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes in Malacanang on Friday.

Salva said the program had been sponsored by multinational oil companies since the late 90s and has drawn students from various parts of the country. She admitted however few of the graduates found jobs in big oil companies, citing low demand for professionals by the industry.

But Salva said the petroleum industry is booming again and there are even oil companies that are expanding their investments in Palawan.

There is also a high demand at present for petroleum workers in the Middle East, therefore those who take the Petroleum Engineering program find it easy gaining employment, she said.

Some Petroleum Engineering graduates of PSU are now successful internationally and bring in millions of dollars to the country, Salva stated.

PSU was established in March 1972, as a teacher-training institution known as the Palawan Teachers College by virtue of Republic Act 4303 with Dr. Walfrido R. Ponce de Leon as its first president.

In November 1994, PSC was renamed as the PSU through Republic Act 7818, appointing a Board of Regents as its governing body.

DENGUE OUTBREAK IN SOUTH COTABATO

2008-06-13T21:52:00.000-07:00

Several cases of dengue attacks have been monitored in South Cotabato, prompting health authorities to raise the red flag at the onset of the rainy season.

Provincial health officer Dr. Edgar Sandig said he monitored rising cases of dengue in the province ten towns during the past weeks as breeding places of the dengue-carrying aedes mosquito multiply with the rainy season.

While there has been no death yet, Sandig urged the public to take precautionary measures like maintaining sanitation and destroying breeding places of the mosquitoes.

It is not yet in the alarming stage but we are monitoring the situation, said Sandig who noted fatalities from the deadly tropical disease in recent years.

ABDUCTED TROOPERS FREED

2008-06-13T21:31:00.000-07:00

Two Philippine Marines troopers abducted by guerrillas of the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Mindanao were freed Thursday, said the military.

Corporals Jessie Duatin and Bernie Alcabasa were seized on Tuesday in Basilan, where the military has an ongoing campaign against the terrorist group Abu Sayyaff, the Philippine cell of the Indonesian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah.

The troopers were released unharmed by their captors led by MILF commander Malat Sulaiman alias Kumander Long Masud, said Lt. Col. Leonard Vincent Teodoro, commanding officer of the 7th Marine Battalion Landing Team (MBLT).

The troopers were seized in Al Barkah town after being tricked to come to an MILF camp by Sulaiman to discuss the surrender of some MILF elements. Inside the camp, Sulaiman held them hostage and would freedom only if his nephew Salih Dungcal Alih is released. Alih is in military custody in connection with the beheading of ten Marine troopers in Basilan in July last year.

The troopers were released unharmed at noon in the village of Makalang near Al Barkah to negotiator Hada Raiza Masud, a sister of Sulaiman.

Sulaiman's demand for the release of Alih was not met, with the military steadfast on giving no concession.

Hadja reportedly convinced her brother to release the troopers and let the courts decide on the fate of Alih.

Sulaiman

FIRE: JIM TAN NUEVO

2008-06-13T21:23:00.000-07:00

BEDLAM. As fire hit a neighborhood in Exodus Street in Davao City last week, two girls haul a television set salvaged from their house, among a dozen wooden structures burned down in the early evening blaze. JIM TAN NUEVO

Mindanao tribal people launch anti-communist campaign

2008-06-13T20:37:00.000-07:00

The indigenous peoples in Mindanao declared this week a full-blown war against the communist New People's Army (NPA), in a ceremony in Davao City organized by the Armed Forces of the Philippines Eastern Mindanao Command (AFP-EastMinCom).

Led by Datu Joel Onad, chair of the Mindanao Indigenous Peoples Conference for Peace and Development (MIPCPD), tribal leaders from 18 indigenous tribes in Mindanao, also appealed to President Gloria Arroyo to probe the forced conscription of tribal natives by the NPA into the rebel movement.

The tribal leaders vowed to support the military all-out campaign against rebels they accused of stirring trouble in ancestral domains, before EastMinCom commander Major General Armando Cunanan.

The NPAs are stripping us of our right to own and possess our ancestral domain by establishing guerilla fronts in our homeland, said Onad, also former head of the Davao City Supreme Tribal Council for Peace and Development (SPCPD), which has been assisting military campaigns against the NPA in the hinterlands of Davao City.

Onad created a stir last month when he organized tribal natives in Compostela Valley province into anti-communist vigilante groups. Rey Navarro, mayor of Laak town, has filed a complaint with the provincial government and the military following reports that Onad also had been encouraging the natives to drive away Christian farmers settling in ancestral domains.

The tribal leader said economic opportunities among indigenous peoples are being denied by rebels who block "our inherent rights to self-governance and self-determination" and violate our customs and traditions.

Philippine tribal natives have been access to ancestral domains through the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA). A government body, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) has been issuing certificates of ancestral domain titles to tribal communities, who are mandated to protect and develop the ancestral lands.

The tribal leaders also accused the NPA of murder and harassment through its Kangaroo Court (Peoples Court) which supplanted the indigenous people social justice system that led to summary killings of the tribal people.

Philippine rebel leader wounded

2008-06-13T20:12:00.000-07:00

Parago hurt, 3 others killed

The top leader of communist movement in Southern Mindanao has been wounded in a clash with military, according to a military official.

Leonardo Pitao alias Parago, head of the Pulang Bagani Command of the New Peoples Army Southern Mindanao Regional Committee (NPA-SMRC), as military troopers engaged his band in a firefight in Paquibato district on Wednesday.

Major Armand Rico, spokesman of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Eastern Mindanao Command (EastMinCom), said three other rebels were killed in the operation carried out by troopers from the 10th AFP Infantry Division.

The military has launched massive operations against Parago, who snatched retired MSgt. Jose Manero in Calinan district in Davao City during a raid in a banana farm of the Lapanday group of companies last month.

The retired trooper, a security aide of Lapanday official Raffy Lorenzo, is the brother of Norberto Manero Jr., who was recently freed on an executive pardon before completing his term for the murder of Fr. Tulio Favali in Tulonan, North Cotabato in 1985.

Parago, with a P1 million bounty on his head, is the most celebrated rebel leader in the Davao Region and operates at the boundaries with Davao City, Davao del Norte and Bukidnon.

Residents of Paquibato, a farflung village in Davao City, told us Parago was wounded while three of his comrades have been buried, said Major Rico.

BLANK WALL IN CELSO POJAS SLAY

2008-06-11T19:20:00.000-07:00

NO CLUE. A month after he was shot dead by a lone gunman, police in Davao City have yet to find a suspect in the cold-blooded murder of peasant leader Celso Fojas, spokesman of the militant Davao City Farmers Associaiton. Progressive groups here say Fojas was killed for his criticism of government's handling of agrarian reform issues and for organizing anti-government protest actions by indigenous peoples displaced by military-rebel clashes in Compostela Valley.

DAVAO CITY COUNCILOR SCORES LACK OF FACILITY AT AIRPORT

2008-06-11T18:32:00.000-07:00

Wants airport ‘Greeters Lounge’ opened

By ROGER M. BALANZA

A member of the Davao City Council wants to have the Greeters Lounge at the Davao International Airport opened for public use, as people welcoming or sending off relatives or friends make do with inadequate waiting sheds without seats outside of the new airport terminal building.

Councilor Edgar Ibuyan said he would present to the Inter-Agency Committee on Airport Security his request to allow use of the Greeters Lounge in a forthcoming meeting. He described the lack of this simple facilities an “injustice” to Dabawenyos.

Air Transport Office (ATO) assistant manager Michael Aldea last week told a council committee hearing that the terminal has provisions for people sending off or welcoming friends or relatives. But Aldea said the Greeters Lounge has been closed off to the public for security reasons.

Ibuyan, who had initially batted for bigger canopies and seats at the waiting sheds that failed to protect people from rain and sun, said he is now pushing for the opening of the Greeters Lounge when informed by Aldea that the facility exists, during a committee hearing by the committee on tourism chaired by councilor Susabel Reta. The Reta committee is handling Ibuyan’s request to ATO for improvements in the waiting sheds.

Aldea told the committee airport authorities are still traumatized by the bombing of the waiting shed at the old airport terminal in 2003, that killed 25 people and wounded 135. The bomb that ripped through the waiting shed was placed under one of the seats. He said the waiting sheds outside the new terminal are without seats to allow security personnel better monitoring. Ibuyan, however, said the airport is a secured area and picking up as a reason the 2003 bombing in denying seats for people at the waiting sheds does not hold water.

Aldea said Ibuyan and Reta, who are invited to the security meeting, could present the request for better-equipped waiting sheds --- or ask that the Greeters Lounge be opened for public use.

Ibuyan had urged the improvement after personally witnessing how people welcoming or sending off relatives or friends were exposed to rain and sun due to the lack of adequate canopies or had to sit on the concrete pavement or the landscaped gardens for lack of seats at the sheds.

HOG FARMS THREATENING DAVAO CITY TOP TOURISM INVESTMENT SPOT

2008-06-11T18:22:00.000-07:00

Sirawan hog farms serious threat to city inland resorts

A study by a team from the University of the Philippines in Mindanao (UPMin) has raised fear hog farms in Sirawan, Toril in Davao City could spoil inland tourism ventures now in place in three neighboring barangays being developed by the city government as the centerpiece of its tourism program.

Uraya Land Development has presented the study as a position paper to the Davao City Council hearing an application by DIAF Integrated Farmers Association to convert a 200-ha area in upper Sirawan from residential to agricultural zone.

DIAF composed of small and large farm operators mostly into swine and poultry ventures is seeking the conversion to allow expansion, since stopped after the area was declared a residential zone by the 1996 Zoning Code.

Unfair to investors

Uraya, which is developing an 80-ha high-end housing subdivision near the DIAF area, is opposing the conversion. Uraya said the conversion would be unfair to investors lured by the city government into housing projects in Sirawan, who would have hog and poultry farms as neighbors. With real estate becoming scarce at the outskirts of downtown, the city’s booming housing industry is expanding outwards gobbling up large tracts of lands for housing projects.

In the study commissioned by Uraya, the UPMin team said the Sirawan hog and poultry farms would be out of synch with the city government’s plan to develop Eden, Tagurano and Catigan as a world-class tourism estate. At 3,000 feet above sea level with a commanding view of the Davao Gulf in the east and the towering Mt. Apo in the west, the tourism estate has attracted investors like the famous Eden Nature’s Park owned by industrialist Jose V. Ayala. Large housing developers also have carved out part of Eden for high-end subdivisions featuring expensive vacation houses.

The three barangays form part of the Three Ridges Integrated Area Development (TRIAD), and are now home to the city’s world-class inland and mountain resorts and high-end farm lot housing projects. TRIAD is the eco-tourism component of the city’s tourism program proposed by the Davao Integrated Development Program (DIDP).

Pollution

In the study, the UPMin team also raised fear of pollution citing health statistics on air- and water-borne diseases in communities around the DIAF area and water quality tests in rivers and creeks in the Sirawan area.

The Subdivision and Housing Development Association (SHDA) has supported Uraya against the DIAF proposal, saying the conversion would be unfair to housing developers who have already invested in Sirawan.

In their application, the DIAF farmers---in the area for more than 40 years---said they were not consulted when their former agricultural area was reclassified as residential zone by the 1996 zoning code. The swine and poultry farms also are now adopting modern bio-digesters to controls pollution, said DIAF.

The DIAF application is being heard by the council Committee on Housing, Rural and Urban Development chaired by councilor Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling.

Probe set on encroachment in Mt. Apo Natural Park

2008-06-11T18:18:00.000-07:00

Religious group members harass tribal village

An entire village inside the Mt. Apo Natural Park has been invaded by members of a religious group, after driving away village residents.

This was gathered yesterday by Davao City councilors conducting a legislative inquiry into the strafing death of Datu Dominador Diarog in Kahusayan, Manuel Guinga in Tugbok district. The tribal leader was killed reportedly for refusing to sell his 2-ha farmland to a village official with links to a religious group. Datu Diarog’s wife and two children were injured when gunmen armed with M14s peppered their wooden house on the night of April 29.

Sitio Diolo at the foot of Mt. Apo was a peaceful farming community of indigenous people until the squatters came and drove them away, Manuel Guianga barangay captain Antipas Batingal told an earlier committee hearing by the Davao City Council looking into the death of the tribal leader. The encroachment was also confirmed by Datu Cesar Calumpitan Betil in the same committee hearing, as illegal intrusion into the natural park was discussed.

In yesterday’s ocular inspection in Kahusayan by three council committees, city councilors learned about the invasion from Kahusayan residents interviewed by them. The committee on housing chaired by Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling, the committee on peace and order headed by Nilo Abellera and the committee on political, civil and human rights of Kaloy Belo are not only looking into the killing of Datu Diarog but also the peace and order situation and land conflict in Manuel Guianga and Tamayong.

The fact-finding mission was joined by Task Force Davao commander Col. Rainier Cruz and representatives of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Villagers told the committees about the encroachment in Diolo and the plight of the lumad settlers and has sought a probe. City councilors said they would also investigate the encroachment by about 50 families belonging to the religious group which was not named who settled inside the natural park.

Relatives of Datu Diarog have accused Tamayong barangay captain Greg Canada as behind the killing, after the tribal leader refused to sell his farmland to the village official. Canada is a leading member of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ The Name Above Every Name headed by televangelist Pastor Apollo Quiboloy. The religious group maintains a prayer mountain in Tamayong and reportedly owns a 100-hectare farm land in Manuel Guianga. The New People’s Army said militiamen detailed with Pastor Quiboloy were behind the Diarog killing and has accused the religious leader of gobbling up ancestral domain lands in Manuel Guianga.

Military wants human rights group declared 'persona non grata'

2008-06-11T18:12:00.000-07:00

AFP: Karapatan is communist legal front

A military spokesman in Southern Mindanao said Dabawenyos could learn a lesson from what village officials in a town in Negros Occidental who banned militant groups from entering their village.

“We should learn from what the barangay officials and residents of Linantuyan, Guiholngan in Negros Occidental did to the self-proclaimed human rights group Karapatan,” said Major Medel Aguilar, Group Commander of the Civil Relations Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Davao City yesterday.

Aguilar said with the support of residents, the barangay officials passed a resolution banning members of Karapatan from entering their village.

The officials reportedly resented a false report issued by Karapatan-Negros against the military. Dabawenyos, according to Aguilar, should adopt the same approach against Karapatan, which the military tagged as a legal front of the communist movement.

Earlier, the military said Karapatan and other militant groups like Bayan, Bayan Muna and Gabriela and tribal groups were behind the mass evacuation of indigenous peoples from Compostela Valley. The military has launched massive operations in the province against the New People’s Army. Some of the evacuees have landed in Davao City and are now housed in a public gym in Bankerohan.

Aguilar said Karapatan and the other lefist-leaning organizations deceived the tribal people into leaving their farms with tales about military planning to bomb their villages.

“They are only used for propaganda by the militant organizations purposely to pressure the government to stop the on-going military operation against the New People’s Army in Compostela Valley province,” said Aguilar.

Slain man comes back from dead

2008-06-11T17:51:00.000-07:00

As body is set for burial

For a few brief seconds, a dead man being prepared for burial moved his body and hands sending grieving relatives and friends into a shock in Jose Abad Santos City, Davao del Sur in Southern Philippines, on Wednesday morning.

Relatives of Kerker Panay, 19, laid in wake in his family's house, were in the thick of preparation for the dead man's last trip---to the local cemetery---when the body moved.
The family of Panay, whose body was found dumped in Caburan river after being shot dead by robbers, has postpone the burial for a day.

"He wants revenge," said an elder village adviser asked to interpret the incident.
The mayor of the town, Alexander Wangkay, confirmed the incident, which has drawn more people to the wake of the slain man.

Panay was hauling farm produce when waylaid by unidentified robbers, who shot him dead before dumping his body into the river.

the durian post launching

2008-06-09T02:31:00.000-07:00

the DURIAN POST

M I N D A N A O N E W S B L O G

official launching is today

JUNE 11, 2008