Tausug performers, GeneBoyd’s works featured in Mindanao Week of Peace
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/25 November) — Musical plays on the Battle of Bud
Dahu by young Tausug performers from Jolo, Sulu and a peace concert will be
among the highlights of this year’s celebration of the Mindanao Week of
Peace.
The Initiatives for International Dialogue, the organizer, said the concert
will feature Popong Landero and other Davao artists who will render songs
and poetry as MindaNews opens “Beyond Sunset,” a weeklong photo exhibit in
memory of slain MindaNews photo editor GeneBoyd Lumawag.
Both events open today at the Matina Town Square park.
Dubbed “A Peace Tribute for Gene Boyd Lumawag”, the tribute will have two
parts, the “Sundown Rituals” (4:30 p.m.) and the world premier of the Tausug
performers’ “Antigong Agong” musical theater presentation (6:30 p.m.). Read full story here.
MILF chief negotiator: New proposal “good for the eye to see”
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / November 24) – The Moro Islamic Liberation
Front (MILF) has described the government’s new proposal on the issue
of territory in their peace negotiations as “good for the eye to see”.
The MILF Internet website quoted the Front’s chief negotiator,
Mohagher Iqbal, as saying that the “right to self-determination” was
the “main sweetener” in the latest proposal.
Iqbal said this was a turnaround from the government’s objection to
the using the phrase in the course of their negotiations that started
in 1997. The MILF has always negotiated using the “right to self
determination” framework but he said the government refused.
He said the MILF proposed to use the words “freedom” and “right to
self-determination” in the negotiations for the Tripoli Agreement of
2001, “but the government agreed only on the first”.
Iqbal stressed that the MILF was “forward-looking” in negotiating
solutions to the “Moro problem” and “Mindanao conflict”.
He said that the new proposal has to be “examined meticulously” and
said that MILF peace panel held a “crucial” meeting Thursday at the
panel’s office in Darapanan, Sultan Kudarat town, which now belongs to
the newly-created province of Sharif Kabungsuan. Read full story here.
No clearance yet for controversial cement import
DAVAO CITY – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has not issued
any clearance for the sale of imported cement Horse brand in the local
market even after the government Bureau of Product Standards indicated
the cement passed the criteria, a trade official said.
Robert Barlis, chief of the Department of Trade and Industry’s field
service division in Southeastern Mindanao, told MindaNews Thursday
that the importer has to comply first with the standard markings for
the cement’s packaging before it could issue any clearance to allow
the impounded cement to be released from the warehouse.
Barlis said the importer would not be given an imported commodity
clearance yet for non-compliance to standard marking procedure saying
the product label and other information should be printed directly in
the cement pack, not in a sticker.
Barlis said the importer would have to go to court to drop the case
DTI filed against them for selling the product without the clearance. Read full story here.
SPDA gets only a fifth of proposed budget
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/23 November) — The government is appropriating only P200 million for
the reactivated Southern Philippines Development Authority (SPDA), just a fifth of its proposed
budget for 2007, an SPDA official said.
The SPDA’s reactivation, announced by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita on September 2, at the
10th anniversary of the signing of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement between government and the
Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), was intended to serve as “catch up plan” for the
unimplemented socio-economic benefits from the peace pact.
Engr. Zamzamin Ampatuan, SPDA administrator and chief executive officer, told reporters Thursday
the “subsidy” for SPDA will not be enough to run the proposed projects next year.
But Ampatuan said they will “start with what we have.”
He said they will seek funding assistance from the Organization of the Islamic Conference and other
groups abroad.
Ampatuan said they plan to raise P800 million from various sources. Read full story here.
Talks impasse bad for children
(DAVAO CITY) — The impasse in the negotiations between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is likely to take its toll among children in Mindanao’s conflict-affected areas, a Philippine official of the United Nations Fund for Children (UNICEF), said.
Leon Dominador Fajardo, coordinator of the UNICEF’s project on the protection of children in conflict affected areas, told MindaNews it is a more difficult situation to wait in uncertainty.
He said the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) should be commended for holding on to the ceasefire agreement amid the stalled negotiations.
“But they have to break the stalemate to dispel any further psychosocial impact to people created by the uncertainty, especially to children,” he said.
Fajardo cited the tension and stress created as the uncertainty extends longer and the pockets of incidents of armed encounters in conflict-affected areas. Read full story here.
Davao’s SP session hall now a wi-fi hotspot
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/21 Nov) — Who says wireless internet could only
be accessed in coffee shops, bars and restaurants?
Well, the session hall of the Sangguniang Panlungsod here is now a
wi-fi hotspot. Soon, the entire legislative building will have
wireless internet for “sound and accurate legislation.”
Councilor Rene Elias Lopez, who chairs the council’s committee on
information technology, said the move is a brand new addition to the
city council’s effort to improve legislation – by connecting to the
internet for fast access to information. “It’s helping us do research
in aid of legislation,” he told MindaNews.
Lopez said connecting the whole building to the internet will cost the
city council around P422,000.
He said that the wireless internet the councilors are enjoying now is
still a “demo connection” so they will appreciate the technology. (to be updated)
Davao SP OKs P2.6B budget
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/21 Nov) — The City Council here approved a
P2.59-billion general fund annual budget for next year, 14 percent
higher than the 2006 budget of P2.27 billion.
The budget, submitted by the executive department on Oct. 13, was
unanimously approved on second reading without revisions after going
through six committee hearings.
The executive department labeled the proposed appropriations as “A
budget for peace and progress in Davao City”.
About 72 percent of the budget will go to appropriations for offices
and departments at P1.85 billion. (To be updated)
Donors want to go beyond economic aid
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/20 Nov) — Various donor agencies in Mindanao have agreed to go more than just giving economic aid to the island, and will now instead focus on “human security” as a framework in their campaigns for the peace and development efforts.
At a meeting of the Mindanao Working Group (MWG) held at the Mindanao Economic Development Council (MEDCo), the donors have identified Maguindanao as the pilot for their converged intervention under a human security framework, the province being most affected by armed conflict.
Human security, for the donors, means addressing and securing the economic, food, health, environmental, personal, community, and political needs of people and communities, particularly in conflict-affected areas. They also aim to address human development dimensions, which if secured, would address ideology-based armed conflicts that mar development efforts in Mindanao.Read full story here.
Questionable cement import to be tested abroad
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/20 Nov) – To settle if the imported cement bags from China now padlocked by the Department of Trade and Industry here conform with standards, the business chamber here is urging that these be tested in a laboratory in Singapore.
A total of 118,000 bags of the Horse brand cement have reportedly been imported to Davao, but a fourth of the volume have already been sold in local outlets.
Salvador Valbuena, who heads the construction and real estate committee of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (DCCCII), said in a press conference today called by the Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (CeMAP) that it is necessary to submit the process to an independent analysis to protect the interest and safety of the buying public.
The move came in the wake of reports that the same laboratory commissioned by the Bureau of Product Standards (BPS) to test the Horse brand cement last July now allegedly declared the cement to be not substandard.
“How can a laboratory find the cement to have conformed to standards today what it found to be substandard in the past?” Valbuena asked.
He said they need a move “beyond reproach” to put an end to the problem. Read full story here.
Arroyo wants US to play greater role in Mindanao peace process
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/19 November) — President Arroyo on Saturday called for “deeper and broader” American participation in the Mindanao peace process and development, two days after Paul Jones, Deputy Chief of Mission of the United States Embassy in Manila, led a team of American envoys who met with Moro Islamic Liberation Front officials in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao.
At the same time, Arroyo told American President George Bush “her administration is pursuing a broad agenda of self-determination for Mindanao,” the government website http://www.ops.com. ph said Saturday.
Arroyo met Bush Saturday morning at the sidelines of the 14th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ meeting at the National Convention Centre in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Arroyo said the broad agenda will be done “through interfaith dialogues and development” as she pointed out it “will provide a second wind for US involvement in Southeast Asia for advancing freedom and prosperity,” the website added.
The President cited the alliance among the Asean member-countries in addressing cross-border crossings of suspected terrorists belonging to the Indonesian-based Jemaah Islamiyah and the Abu Sayyaf.
She said the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia have an existing border patrol agreement to interdict terrorists moving through Sulawesi and the Sulu Sea to any of the three countries.
The MILF website http://www.luwaran. com meanwhile reported that chief peace negotiator Mohagher Iqbal and deputy chairman for political affairs Ghazali Jaafar led MILF officials who met with Jones’ group to discuss the peace talks, status of the ceasefire agreement and American government projects in Mindanao. Read fully story here.
Davao malls, other business establishments cash in on Pacquiao-Morales
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/18 November) — Sino ang tatapos? (Who will finish) asks a plug for a television network’s special on the Grand Finale Sunday between Filipino boxing champion Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao and Mexican legend Erik “El Terible” Morales.
As in previous boxing trilogies that thrilled boxing fans all over the world, sports aficionados here are going to find out no matter the cost.
Malls, hotels, bars and restaurants have put up their own marketing stunts to perk up sales and capture the market based on the turnout in past fights. Even the poor around Bangkerohan public market can see the fight live, thanks to local officials’ initiative.
Shopping malls will replace the screenings of Hollywood and local films with a live telecast of the much awaited bout in Las Vegas’ Thomas and Mach Center where the two boxers will hold the concluding fight of their own trilogy.
At Gaisano “G-mall”, tickets are available at P400 per head at Cinema 1 where the James Bond movie Casino Royale has been shown since Wednesday. The mall has reserved at least 1,000 seats for the show. During the Pacquiao–Larios match in July, they opened the mall’s Bingo hall.Read full story here.
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