IMT pull out due to stalled talks – official

Malaysia’s decision to cease sending a peace monitoring team to Mindanao when the current team’s mandate ends in September, is due to non-progress in peace talks between the Philippines Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said this as quoted by Bernama.com.

He said in order for a resolution of the conflict, both sides must show goodwill. Read full Bernama report here.

The pull is not in  the Malaysian side even if the recent announcement is five months ahead  of their commitment to stay put, in September.

It is sort of a kind of pressure to both parties of the peace process, the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to show progress in the talks.

MindaNews reported about the pull out here and the drag it might cause to the peace process here.

Peace groups in Mindanao are asking the monitors to stay.

Excavations of hollowed words

“I’m bored. I don’t really know what exactly I wanted to do, but I know I wanted to do something, right now.

If only there is internet, I would probably be surfing and reading something.” I finally decided to do something worthwhile.

I scoured an old and dirty collection of books in the office library.

Honestly, it was one of the most revealing boring nights I’ve had this decade.

An exaggeration, it could be.

Would you think of monotony if you find a combination of books from Franklin W. Dixon, Ricardo Manapat, Donald Abel, Angela Stuart Santiago, and a Time Magazine 1941 Capsule.

Yes, Dixon wrote the syndicated series The Hardy Boys and Manapat is no other than the author of “Some are smarter than others. The History of Marcos Crony Capitalism.” — From an undated and unfinished entry entitled “Walter is bored” in a desk top file I recovered recently.

Remembering and forgetting are relatives, and as relatives they are opposites. A relationship one cannot mistake because if one is The One, then the other is not The one. When you remember, you don’t forget and vice versa.

There is mystery of course on the gray line between when do we start remembering and forgetting just as we could never be certain, which is which between reality and the imagination.

And before getting lost myself in my own textual misadventures, my little crux of the matter is that if we lose grip of the context (or the North Star?) we lose sense, momentarily first and then, forever.

Living in a Mindanao suburb

“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.

What?

I can’t delay this. Perhaps there is no other time.

I have due respect for the competent people at Reuters, but I have to raise this one.

Reading the news below have disturbed me as a resident in Mindanao and as a citizen relating to many decent Muslims everyday.

There is clearly bias here and stereotype —working to anticipate a public notion.

If its the hideout that is suspected to be of the terrorists, where is the connection to “Islamic militants?” as presented in the first paragraph? Is terrorism = Islamic militants? Are we sure the government has learned to distinguish between an Islamic militant and a law-abiding citizen?

No rice shortage in Bukidnon?

Measuring my rice has been the tease at home — something that has caused me ‘hunger’. When you are carrying heavier load than you should, you know what I mean.

I did try to eat less of it every time I remember; most of the time I failed.

So when the rice shortage news was carried in broadsheets the tease hit me even more. There was a friend who said I was to be blamed. I was also blamed for the protests in Tibet.