ISTAMBAY SA MINDANAO

When I first heard of the theme of the up and coming Second Mindanao Bloggers Summit I felt it is something worth blogging about.

It is indeed a practical topic in a time when blogging is already considered a force to reckon with.

This is especially true in a time when Mindanao continues to experience unpeace and is misunderstood in many ways.

Mindanawons blogging about Mindanao is but just natural and is right about the perfect energy needed.

There is a need to blog about the voices of peoples rooted in Mindanao.

It might not be enough, however, that there are Mindanao bloggers who discuss on Mindanao from their online platforms. Read the rest of this entry »

The Bukidnon tribe is seeking endorsement from the city government of Malaybalay for its Daraghuyan ancestral domain claim over at least 4,700 hectares inside the Mt. Kitanglad Range and Natural Park. Bae Inatlawan Adelina Tarino, head claimant, said the city government’s endorsement is the last requirement for the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) to process their application.

“We hope you will help us in this requirement, which is the last document we need for the application,” Tarino’s September 23 letter to Mayor Florencio Flores, said. Tarino’s letter was written in Cebuano.

Flores endorsed the request to the city council on the same day. The legislators have calendared it for October 7, Tarino said, adding Councilor Manuel Dinlayan, the council’s committee on indigenous people’s chair, assured here it will be tackled this week.

She noted the tribe’s great difficulty in acquiring an endorsement from the barangay government in Dalwangan village, where the tribe is based.  Read full story here.

I feed on words and the elements of composition. Writing news is my bread and butter. And I go to the field spending my meager resources to get the facts myself in an effort to get it right.

I may not be the best in what I’m doing, but I have always tried to do and give my best in every story I cover.

When I get to file my articles, I draw my motivation in the thought that I have reported about something that is useful to the community.

Sometimes, the effort is not well-rewarded. It can be called labor of love, nah, maybe labor of the stubborn-headed journalist who choose a more complicated job over comfort.

I’m cool with this as this is a life choice.

But it bleeds my heart to find some of my articles appear in other peoples’ sites and publications without attribution. Read the rest of this entry »

A plan in the 1990s to create another municipality for the Matigsalug tribe to be carved out of Kitaotao town is being revived, an official said.

Board member Roelito Gawilan, president of the Bukidnon Federation of the Association of Barangay Captains, confirmed they have started “at the grassroots level” in initiating the process to create a new town for the Matigasalugs.

Gawilan is President of the Federation of Matigsalug-Manobo Tribal Councils (FEMMATRICS) and also the elected barangay captain of Sinuda.

Gawilan said they are now conducting a study on the land area, population, and income of at least 15 of Kitaotao’s 35 barangays. Read full story here.

Waking up to a broadcaster howling against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front one morning, I was tempted to turn the radio off.

The grain of his voice has pestered me in my space in that corner of the house.

“Maayo ng girahon sila kay gusto man diay nila og Independence!” Gusto pa gyod nila iapil ang tibuok Bukidnon aron mohimo sila og regional government!” (It’s good to go to war with them since they wanted independence. They also like to cover the whole Bukidnon in a bid to form a regional government!).

I was really forced to get on my feet even if I only had three hours of sleep yet and dialed the radio station. Read the rest of this entry »

Participants take time to smile and relax for a date with posterity (Photo by Skippy Lumawag courtesy of Mindanews)

The formal sessions of the 4th Mindanao Media Summit just concluded early afternoon today, 09 August 2008.

The theme: “Mindanao 2020: The vision begins with us”, is placed in an imposing tarp at the back draft. It was a reminder to me as a member of the group who took on “drafting” the vision from the participants. “Where are the other members of the styling committee?” I asked myself.

I ate a late breakfast today as I stayed late for my recent attempt to write a narrative report. So when I entered the summit hall, I have to do some catching up on who did what the night before.

I caught up on the secretariat who were busy calling the rest of the group for the picture taking.

Meanwhile, I picked the shiniest plate on the buffet table and proceeded to feast on hotel breakfast. In my peripheral vision and hearing I could hear Jocan talking me to drop the breakfast for a moment and smile it out in the photographic firing squad.

I managed some sips of brewed coffee and few scoops of the one-serving steamed rice and the hard-boiled egg and beef curry sud-an. I have to or I couldn’t move a muscle to say “cheese”. Oh, I went there seconds later as I have to squeeze in my summit shirt. I went there to see if the pool was really tempting enough for some laps of swimming, to regret I didn’t plunge when I could last night.

The last day of the three-day gathering of Mindanao media’s “decision-makers” started with quaint picture taking by the poolside of the Waterfront Insular Hotel in Lanang, Davao City.

It was supposed to capture for the future the faces of the news professionals who participated in the summit in a step to improve capacity as stakeholder to peace and development in Mindanao. Read the rest of this entry »

This is another attempt to return to up-to-date blogging.

First and foremost, thanks to those who are behind the Top 100 Mindanao Blogs of 2007.

Nakatunga nalang ang 2008, ayha pa ko naka comment ani. I’m trying to convince myself that it’s “Better late than never!”

I am glad that Istambay sa Mindanao was included in the list, despite being stagnant most of the time.

Blogging has good prospects but my new work terrain here in Bukidnon required realigning priorities.

After publishing 32 issues of our weekly local newspaper Central Mindanao Newswatch, I have mixed reactions. Read the rest of this entry »

“Suburbs are commonly defined as residential areas on the outskirts of a city or large town. Most modern suburbs are commuter towns with many single-family homes. Many suburbs have some degree of political autonomy and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods.”

I enjoyed attending a village social gathering last Saturday. It was a fellowship party for a new organization, one that sought to gather the professionals in our suburban village called Kalasungay.

Ours, now a village of at least 1,000 households, is home to Bukidnon’s earliest recorded native settlements. Majority of the residents belong to either the Bukidnon or Higaonon tribes.

There is much pride in me to settle in this village, where I could trace history by recalling the family names of our neighbors. Read the rest of this entry »

Those who are familiar with peace negotiations could understand the nature of talks being held there. Important but confidential, these are only two of the important considerations.

Any point being brought up or agreed upon bears impact to people —the respective constituencies of each negotiating party.

In the case of the government negotiating peace with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, each peace panel was entrusted with their stands on major talking points.

But major stands on the talking points may have to be brought open for consensus, if not compromise in the negotiating table — a market place of options. A major stand have to stand some modifications, which require consultations with their constituencies or what they call in the GRP-MILF peace panels as their “principals.”

All these come in the limelight now as both panels signal optimism for an upcoming return to formal talks early next year—well, after breaking from more than a year of impasse on ancestral domain issues. Read the rest of this entry »

The courageous former Bombo Radyo Cauayan anchor, polio survivor and now turned Isabela governor swept an international conference of women leaders on conflict transformation and good governance in Davao City with a typhoon-level inspirational message.Wanted: More women in governance is a story about the conference.

Here’s here piece: Reclaiming and asserting the transformative female leadership.
Read the rest of this entry »

Compostela Valley board member Neri Barte is now facing charges of serious physical injuries, grave coercion, grave threats, serious misconduct and grave abuse of authority for allegedly attacking a Radyo Natin broadcaster right inside the announcer’s booth as the latter was on air.

Natin broadcaster Roel Sembrano filed the complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman in Mindanao in the presence of his colleagues from the tri-media.

Sembrano recounted to reporters his encounter with Barte on Oct. 24 at the announcer’s booth.

He said he was on his daily morning program, Haring Lungsod Ikaw and Nasayod, when Barte, with his wife and daughter, barged into the announcer’s booth and mauled him, even drawing out a gun and pointed it towards him. Read the rest of the report on MindaNews.com.

The Department of Public Works and Highways has a new regional director, who is coming in amidst delays in the construction of the replacement of the Bangkerohan Bridge located right in the middle of the city.

Jenny Juezan, DPWH 11 public information officer, announced the appointment Wednesday of former DPWH Central Visayas regional director Jerome dela Rosa.

Juezan said Dela Rosa still could not comment on the status of the bridge as he still has to warm up his seat for now.

But Juezan said funding for the bridge, which was earlier reported to be among the causes of the delay, is not a problem. Read the rest of the report on MindaNews.com.