Day: July 5, 2006

 (DAVAO CITY) –  Residents in four villages in Kibawe, Bukidnon have been asked  to vacate their houses after environment officials declared their area across the Pulangi River risky and prone to landslide, the municipal public information officer said. A total of 74 families or 346 persons from Puroks 1, 2, 3 and Sitio Lumbayan in Brgy. Magsaysay were advised to vacate the area by the Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Northern Mindanao, Baldomero E. Baldomero, municipal PIO told MindaNews in a telephone interview Tuesday.

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/04 August) — Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimente has asked an Australian diplomat to substantiate claims the Indonesian-based Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) is using rebel sanctuaries in Mindanao to train recruits. In a press statement, Pimentel said he was reacting to a statement of Les Luck, Australian ambassador for counter-terrorism, that although government forces have destroyed major clandestine training camps in Mindanao, the JI reportedly continues to conduct training in Mindanao. The Associated Press quoted Luck as saying that it is “less clear how much is still going on.”  They have been put under pressure, and there have been some dislocations,” the AP report said. Luck was in Manila last week for a conference between Philippine and Australian officials on counter-terrorism.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/04 July) – Safety measures notwithstanding, two workers of Sagittarius Mines, Inc. (SMI) were rushed to a hospital in South Cotabato late Monday afternoon for treatment of injuries.Rolando Doria, SMI project coordinator, said the workers, belonging to a commissioned firm, were working on a drilling project to determine a water table study the mining firm is presently pursuing. “We are still investigating the incident. However, I’d like to assure you that there was no explosion and that it was just accidental,” he said. The incident took place in remote Bongmal, a hamlet of Barangay Kimlawis in Kiblawan, Davao del Sur. It was the first time in three years that a work-related accident happened at the firm, Doria said.