DAVAO CITY (Pasaka/5 February) — Tagabawa Lumads under the Sin_b-badan ka mga Lumad Bagobo Mekatanod (SiLuBaMe) are not giving up the fight against the Tudaya Hydro-Powerplant, a multi-million project of the Hydroelectric Power Plant (Hedcor) in Sitio Tudaya, Brgy. Sibulan, Sta. Cruz Davao del Sur.
TAGUM CITY (PGO-ID/05 February) — No less than President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will grace the Local Peace and Security Assembly (LPSA) in the Davao region, which will be held on February 8 at the Bulwagan ng Lalawigan, here.
BALINDOG, Kidapawan City (MindaNews/04 February) – Carrying a candle lit at the prayer service in the chapel of the Bishop’s House to welcome “among utod Nonoy” (our brother Nonoy), Norberto Manero, Jr., who now wants to be called “Nonoy,” walked towards the grave of the Italian priest he and his group of paramilitary elements killed on April 11, 1985, knelt to put the candle on the left side of the marble tomb marker, made a sign of the cross then bowed to let his forehead touch the stone at 12:19 noon.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/05 February) – Majority Floorleader Prospero Castillo Nograles, 60, third-termer representative of the first district of Davao City, is the new Speaker of the House of Representatives, the first Mindanawon elected to that post.
BALINDOG, Kidapawan City (MindaNews/04 February) – Freed January 25 after serving his sentence at the national penitentiary, Norberto Manero, Jr., met today with representatives of the Kidapawan Diocese and the witnesses to the 1985 murder of Fr. Tulio Favali and vowed to honor the commitment he made with the Diocese on February 3, 2005, to become "an instrument for the attainment of lasting peace and conciliation" by not allowing himself to be used by politicians and the military, among others.
MAITUM, Sarangani (MindaNews/04 Feb) – A $350-million coal-fired power plant of the Alcantara group is expected to be set up here but the local government has raised concerns on the project’s impact on the environment.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/04 Feb) – “Public schools are not allowed to collect graduation fees of any kind or contribution for graduation rites.”
This is a provision in Regional Memrandum 15 series of 2008 by the Department of Education (DepEd), to remind heads of public elementary and secondary schools of the policy against collecting graduation fees.
IPIL, Zamboanga Sibugay (MindaNews/04 Feb) — A senior official of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Army brigade commander here have both vowed to uphold the primacy of the peace process.
