NEVER FORGET!

Logo for the commemoration of the 1st anniversary of the Ampatuan massacre

In line with the commemoration of the 1st anniversary of the Ampatuan massacre in Maguindanao, we are sharing this logo/patch.

You may use this instead of your present Facebook profile pix on Nov. 23 as a sign of your solidarity with the families of the victims, the journalists and media workers, and the rest of the world.

It was so far the biggest blow to journalists and journalism in the Philippines. Let this be a symbol of our collective cry for justice and for more protection for journalists, where ever they may be.

Mindanao becoming dumpsite of RP’s “bad cops”

It was a routine surf for news from places where I used to live. The order is always from the latest city, then backwards. So it was from Davao, then Quezon City-Antipolo, Iloilo, and then Cagayan de Oro.

But I was stuck in cyber Iloilo, particularly at Sun Star Iloilo’s website.

The headline reads like this as of 9:55p.m. of September 17: Police prepare transfer of ‘bad’ cops to Mindanao.

Bad cops to Mindanao? Our Mindanao is the country’s dump site?

Released Philippine eagle killed in Mt. Kitanglad

Three-year-old Philippine Eagle “Kagsabua” was killed by a local airgun shooter near the village where
he was released just four months ago inside the Mt. Kitanglad Range Natural Park, an environment official said.

Felix Mirasol, community environment and natural resource officer, confirmed to MindaNews Wednesday that witnesses have identified the culprit described as a young man who failed to attend information
drive on the Philippine Eagle (pithecophaga jefferyi).

Mirasol is the Mt. Kitanglad Protected Area superintendent.

Kagsabua was last sighted on July 7 and was known to be missing between July 8 and 10, Mirasol said. He said a search operation was immediately launched.

Muslim-Christian interfaith dialogue could be a lesson in school

Leaders and educators in Mindanao of the world’s two leading faiths should not stop educating their followers on interfaith understanding “to remove the clutters of misconception” from even among their followers.

“The effort should be vice versa, on both sides,” Aleem Jamal Munib, an official of the Davao City Madrasah Development Program, told MindaNews.

“This is very important. If we don’t talk, misconceptions would prevail, causing distrust on each other,” he said.

Among the key issues splitting mixed communities, Munib said discrimination remained on top. Read the rest of the report on MindaNews.com.

GMA, Esperon, Razon respondents in first writ of amparo petition in Mindanao

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Armed Forces Chief of  Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon and Philippine National Police chief Avelino Razon and three other military officials are respondents in the first petition for writ of amparo in Mindanao.

The petition was filed by Bebelita Bustamante of Paquibato district, whose only son, 21-year old Luicito, disappeared on October 27.

The other respondents are Major General Ernesto Boa of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division based in Davao City; Lt. Col. Alexander Ambal, chief of the division’s 73rd infantry batallion in Sto. Thomas, Davao del Norte, Col. Allan Luga, commander of Task Force Davao, a certain Noli Obat and seven  John Does, or unidentified respondents.

The Karapatan human rights group, who accompanied Ms Bustamante at the Hall of Justice, said her son was reportedly taken by elements of Task Force Davao. Read the rest of the report on MindaNews.com.

Chief Justice says writ of amparo may be filed any time, any day

Any time, any day.

Chief Justice Reynato Puno wants the public to know that any time or any day, relatives of missing persons can petition the judge for a writ of amparo, a measure intended to protect the missing person from becoming a victim of extrajudicial killings or a desaparecido (disappeared or victim of enforced disappearance).

The writ is enforceable anywhere in the country.

“We don’t compromise the life of the aggrieved party just because one feels sleepy,” Puno told members of the local judiciary, prosecutors, lawyers, the military and police officials, human rights groups and representatives from civil society at a forum at the University of Mindanao late Tuesday. Read the rest of the report on MindaNews.com.

Police trainer nabbed for large-scale illegal recruitment

A police trainer was nabbed for alleged large-scale illegal recruitment during an entrapment operation by the National Bureau of Investigation last Sunday. The suspect, identified by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) as Jay B. Zambrano, 31, allegedly collected a total of at least P1.3 million from the victims, lawyer Arcelito Albao, NBI agent, said. 

Albao said Zambrano is a lecturer on fingerprinting, among other subjects, at the Philippine National Police Regional Training Center and also teaches criminology at the University of Mindanao. 

Three women accused Zambrano of large scale illegal recruitment after he allegedly failed to deliver his promise to help them process and facilitate their immigrant visa applications. 

Zambrano allegedlly hired and recruited the victims, identified as Grace Cardenas, Letecia Sierra and Judith Paccial to work and become United States citizens. Read the rest of the report on MindaNews.com.

Mindanao bloggers urged to promote peace and understanding

Online journal writers or bloggers from Mindanao were urged to go beyond writing about personal matters and instead use their internet platform to help promote peace and understanding in Mindanao.

Speaking to at least 60 bloggers at the opening ceremonies of the 1st Mindanao Bloggers’ Summit, organizers and resource speakers took turns in urging bloggers to publish entries that contribute to understanding

Oliver Robillo, head of the organizers said blogging, if done collectively, could help influence society.

“As bloggers, we are in possession of a potentially influential medium, and it is that ability that we can harness in order to impress upon the world that Mindanao is in fact a beautiful place. We know that ourselves. We know that we are of diverse, and yet somehow harmonious, cultures. We have in our midst different but fascinating traditions,” he said.

Robillo said bloggers could tell the rest of the world the real situation in Mindanao. Read the full report on MindaNews.com. Also this one by Carolyn O. Arguillas.

Painting the school blue

The bright young eyes of eleven year old Rasmia Kasim is looking at the playground of J. Marquez Elementary School.

 

From her classroom in suburban Cotabato City, she could see children her age busy playing in the sunny afternoon.

 

After a gleeful good bye song for classmates and their teacher,

she quickly joined the sea of pupils playing in the grassy school grounds.

More village dialogues pushed in Mindanao

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / August 10) – Mindanao bishops and Muslim scholars and the top brass of the military and the police have suggested wider dialogues in the localities to help find solutions to the triggers of violent conflict in Mindanao.

This was one of the consensus points reached in a closed-door meeting Thursday between the conveners and other leaders of the Bishops-Ulama Conference and the top brass of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP). The leaders agreed to pursue dialogue down to the parishes, towns and units as the BUC and the Defense establishment agreed to set up a quarterly forum together to continue their “Dialogue on Peace.”

The dialogue at the localities was contained in a joint statement read by Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo in a late night press conference held at the Waterfront Insular Hotel in Davao. Read the rest of the report on MindaNews.

Festivities can’t hide sorry state of Mindanao Lumads

DAVAO CITY (Mindanews/9 Aug) – The real face of Mindanao’s indigenous peoples is  not joyous as featured in festivals like the Kadayawan, an official of a group supporting indigenous peoples in Mindanao said.

The Solidarity Action Group for Indigenous Peoples (SAGIP), which is doing technical and organizational support to Lumad (indigenous peoples) communities in Southern Mindanao, said land has remained their biggest problem.

The group sounded off the concern announcing the holding of protest actions in time for the Kadayawan Festival 2007 to “strike a difference” in showing the Lumads’ real situation.

Read the rest of the report on MindaNews.com.

Traders score red tape along Mindanao’s highways

The government has to cut red tape along Mindanao’s highways as it is making cost of doing business more expensive, officials of the group organizing the Mindanao Trade Exposition 2007 said.
Anthony Soriano, MTE executive vice president, said some of their exhibitors, especially those who need to transport raw materials from other parts of Mindanao to their factories or work shops, have complained against bad practice of red tape along the highway via “checkpoints.” 

He said the problem has caused cost of doing business higher by at most 30 percent for food and other perishable commodities and at least 10 percent for furniture.
Read the rest of the report on MindaNews.com.