GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/28 February) — The town of Glan in Sarangani province will host the joint Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) military exercises involving naval forces of the Philippines and the United States, officials said. Preparations for the two-week joint naval exercises
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/28 February) — The crackdown against illegal mining in Iponan has started. Heavily armed Army soldiers and policemen swooped down on illegal mining sites in Opol town, Misamis Oriental and confiscated a dozen diesel-powered hydraulic pumps
SULTAN KUDARAT, Maguindanao (MindaNews/28 February) – Maguindanao Vice Governor Datu Dustin Mastura, two of his uncles and nine other persons have been cleared by the Department of Justice of alleged involvement in the killing of Barira vice mayor Alexander Tomawis
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/28 February) – Five days after commending them for recovering 16 alleged stolen motor vehicles here, the Philippine National Police Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG) relieved its key personnel in Region 12 over accusations that they had used
WASHINGTON, DC (MindaNews/28 February) — Peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Kuala Lumpur last week featured chocolates on Valentine’s Day. It was a light moment in talks characterized by the Malaysian facilitator as “sincere but tough.” As the next scheduled meeting in March approaches, long-time peace talks observer Carol Arguillas has taken to counting down the days to the end of the first quarter of 2012, which government peace panel chair Marvic Leonen once suggested as a time frame for reaching an agreement. As time marches on, it’s important to take a closer look at how we got here, and what Filipinos actually think about the long-running conflict and the prospect for peace.
