GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/12 July) — Australian Ambassador Tony Hely will grace the launching of the annex building of the South Cotabato Provincial Hospital on July 18, the province’s 40th or Ruby foundation anniversary.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/11 July) — With an annual per capita vegetable consumption of only 40 kilograms as of 2003, Filipinos are among the lowest consumers of vegetables in Asia, according to an official of the National Nutrition Council (NNC). Consumption rate has reportedly been going down since 1978. Maria Lourdes A. Vega, chief of the NNC's nutrition information and education division, told MindaNews Tuesday the declining vegetable consumption has pushed them to create a national strategic plan to increase vegetable consumption to at least 50 percent in 2010 as domestic production of vegetable also went down.
KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/11 July) — Region 12 or Southwestern Mindanao wants to push the area as a tourism destination in the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysian, Philippines-East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA), especially with the upcoming tourism meeting here to be participated in by member countries that will coincide with the province’s T’nalak Festival. Cesar Sulit, acting provincial tourism officer, said the 3rd BIMP-EAGA cluster meeting on joint tourism development from July 16 to 18 was timed for the T’nalak Festival so the foreign visitors will witness “our rich cultural heritage.”
KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/11 July) — Some 17,000 dogs were given free anti-rabies vaccines during the first and second quarter implementation of the mass rabies vaccination in the 16 towns of North Cotabato. Dr. Enrico Garzon, provincial veterinarian, said the all-out support of various local officials in the barangay and town levels helped in the success of the anti-rabies campaign. The provincial government has earmarked P800,000 for the purchase of anti-rabies vaccines during the first two quarters.
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/11 July) — A three-year-old daughter of a policeman and hardware owner abducted by female store helpers in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat Monday was rescued by authorities just a few hours later. Police said the suspects took the girl to avenge verbal abuses they suffered from the victim’s grandmother. Chief Insp. Samsom Obatay, spokesperson of the Cotabato City police station, identified the victim as Gabriela Victoria Cabico. She is the daughter of Chief Insp. Reynante Cabico, chief of police of Carmen in North Cotabato, and a doctor. The couple owns a hardware shop in Barangay Upper Dansuli, Isulan.
COTABATO CITY (MindaNews/10 July) — Tons and tons of cheap imported cement are being dumped in the Mindanao market with the arrival of 125,000 bags at the Polloc Port in Parang, Maguindanao last week, a Department of Trade and Industry official said. Lawyer Ishak Mastura, DTI secretary for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said the cement, aboard a 5,000-metric ton vessel, came from Conch Cement, the largest cement manufacturer in China. “Conch is known for its high standards,” he added. Vicente Tilao, owner of Maharlika Agro Ventures, imported the cement for distribution in the ARMM at P10 to P15 cheaper than the prevailing price. Locally produced cement are being sold in the region between P182 to P185 per bag, Mastura said.
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/10 July) — The provincial government of South Cotabato is readying criminal charges against the parents of three minors who were earlier caught working at an illegal sluice mining site, referred to locally as “banlas,” in the gold-rich village of Kematu in T’boli town. South Cotabato Gov. Daisy Avance-Fuentes said she has directed the Provincial Legal Office to press charges against the parents of the minors as they should be held responsible for the illegal activity and for allowing their children to work in such hazardous situation. “We’ve given them so much favor just to convince them to stop their illegal activities and leave the area. But they abused our kindness and now they’ve gone too far,” she said.
KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/10 July) — The provincial government of South Cotabato is set to pour in additional investments for the development of the province’s agricultural sector through the upcoming implementation of the second phase of the World Bank-assisted Mindanao Rural Development Program (MRDP). South Cotabato Gov. Daisy Avance-Fuentes said the provincial government has agreed put up a counterpart fund for the MRDP, which would be implemented by the Department of Agriculture (DA) through a loan grant from the World Bank. During its regular session on Tuesday last week, the provincial board formally endorsed the province’s participation to the program and authorized the allocation of the local government’s funds for its implementation.
KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/09 July) — The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) has established a desk at the provincial capitol of North Cotabato following the signing on Wednesday of a Memorandum of Agreement between Vice Gov. Jesus Sacdalan and OWWA deputy director Adam Musa.
KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/09 July) — President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo led
the distribution of rice and checks worth some P1 million to around 2,000 residents of former conflict areas in North Cotabato in her visit to Cotabato City on Saturday.
COTABATO CITY (MindaNews/09 July) – Elementary students in poor and conflict-affected areas in Mindanao will benefit from the $27 million (around P1.4 billion) United Nations World Food Program that aims to improve their academic performance.
KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/08 July) – Joint operatives of the Philippine Army and Philippine National Police in Sultan Kudarat arrested on Wednesday two of the “most wanted” persons in Region 12 (Southwestern Mindanao).
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/08 July) – Want to be an “Iskolar ng Bayan?”
Graduating high school students have until July 15 to file their application to take the University of the Philippines College Admission Test (UPCAT) on August 5 and 6 at the UP Mindanao campus in Mintal.
MARAWI CITY (MindaNews/08 July) — Despite speculations of a NO-EL (no elections) scenario in 2007, and 10 months before the scheduled polls, a citizens group here has started preparations to transform Lanao’s image as a lair of cheaters to a place where clean and honest elections are possible.
KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews /07 July) — Administrators and teachers of the biggest public school in this city agree teaching sex education to high school students “would help them understand various sex-related issues.”
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews /07 July) – What can your P150 buy? Lunch for two at a fastfood chain or watch a movie with a friend? With P150 you can also attend a training on cinnamon and ensaymada-baking, and maybe start your own business.
KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews /07 July) – A Hong Kong-based group that monitors and lobbies human rights cases across Asia has urged the new Philippine police chief to "exhaust all possible means" to stop the “relentless killings of human rights defenders and social activists” in the country.
KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews /07 July) – A soldier and a militia were killed in an ambush Wednesday allegedly by the New Peoples’ Army (NPA) guerrillas in remote Arakan town in North Cotabato.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews /07 July) – The amount for bribery in the country has been estimated to be as high as 20 percent of the project contract in public offices and the dirty game appears to go unabated as many of those in the know prefer to keep silent.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/6 July) — The Drug Stores Association of the Philippines (DSAP) is strict with its members against selling of counterfeit drugs, the head of the local chapter here said. Carolyn U. Carreon, president of the DSAP Davao chapter, said they have a policy against selling fake drugs and violators would be penalized by expulsion from the association. But Carreon admitted that only 40 percent, or 100 of the 250 drugstores identified by the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) operating in Davao City, are members of the association. Carreon said they can only extend reach to their members, who benefit from membership privileges like training, advocacy and other forms of support. Members pay a minimal annual due.
KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/6 July) — The provincial government of South Cotabato plans to invest an additional P50 million over the next two years for the continuing upgrading and expansion of the provincial hospital here and for various public health services. Dr. Edgardo Sandig, provincial health officer, said the fresh funds would primarily be used to purchase modern medical equipment and the hiring of new personnel for the hospital’s new annex building, which is now almost complete. “The provincial government has committed to prioritize these investments, which are very essential in ensuring the delivery of proper public health services to our residents, especially the poor,” he said.
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/6 July) — The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is planning to establish various production zones in the seven municipalities of Sarangani province in a bid to fast track the development of the province’s seven flagship products under the “One Town, One Product” or OTOP program. Nenita Barroso, DTI-Sarangani provincial director, said they are set to forge a memorandum of agreement with the seven local governments of Sarangani for the implementation of OTOP and the development of key production areas in the area through the local micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
MARAWI CITY (MindaNews/6 July) — Muslim Filipinos may have stayed tuned to the Larios-Pacquaio battle, but another contest was going on in their areas. The best of the country's qari, or Qur'an readers, Filipinos being recognized in international competitions, converged at the home of the defending champion of the 31st National Qur'an Reading Competition (NQRC) in Lanao del Sur as the province also celebrated its week-long 47th founding anniversary at the colorfully decorated provincial capitol. Two new reigning champions, Rahma Bangon and Cairoden Mangotara of Northern Mindanao, were awarded Monday night by the keynote speaker, Ambassador Jalal Kalantari of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/5 July) — Despite strong opposition from other Moro leaders, a Maguindanaon who belongs to one of the most influential political clans in Maguindanao said he is backing the global campaign against terrorism. Maguindanao Vice Gov. Datu Bimbo Sinsuat said he wants to nip terrorism in the bud. He stressed he wants to project to the whole country and the world that most Maguindanaons support the global war on terror. This as 16 of Maguindanao’s 28 mayors have joined in the extensive hunt for two commanders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) believed to be the masterminds of the June 28 roadside bombing in Shariff Aguak town in Maguindanao that killed seven and injured many others. The bomb exploded as the convoy of Gov. Datu Andal Ampatuan was passing by.
KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/5 July) — A group of Moro leaders in Mindanao has joined other groups and individuals in filing impeachment complaints against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The Moro leaders, according to former human rights commissioner Nasser Marohomsalic, will use as basis the number of human rights violations the state has committed against Moro civilians in Southern Philippines. In a press statement, Marohomsalic, also head convener of the Union of Muslims for Morality and Truth (UMMAT), said that “war-related human rights violations against the Moro are grounds for President Arroyo’s impeachment.” “These unjust all-out wars have victimized thousands of civilians, majority were Moro people,” said Marohomsalic.
KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/5 July) — Health authorities here are bracing anew for a possible upsurge of dengue and malaria cases in this city and in the 10 towns of South Cotabato due to the continuous flooding of several parts of the province over the last three weeks. Dr. Edgardo Sandig, provincial health officer, said they are closely monitoring this city and four other towns, where an epidemic of the said diseases was recorded during the rainy season last year. “Our main concerns are the continuous flooding and the impounding of water near the communities where malaria and dengue are endemic as it may cause these diseases to spread rapidly,” he said. He cited the case of Tupi town where several malaria cases were monitored over the last three weeks.
KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/5 July) — The family of a fraternity hazing victim here has decried the failure of local police authorities to file criminal charges against at least 15 suspects who have remained scot-free two weeks after the fatal incident. Lydia Doctora, grandmother of hazing fatality Mark John Doctora, said only one of the 15 Tau Gamma Phi Fraternity members who were tagged in the June 23 killing has so far surfaced while the 14 others have reportedly gone into hiding. "The suspects are still free since not one of them has been formally charged or ordered arrested by any court," she lamented.
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/5 July) — The British Council of the Philippines has announced the availability of three grants worth P100,000 each for student and out-of-school youth organizations in Mindanao. Gil Westaway, British Council director, said the projects should deal with peace, development and tolerance among the youth in Mindanao. The British Council of the Philippines is a non-government organization tasked by the British Embassy in Manila to promote bilateral relations with the Philippines and the United Kingdom. Westaway said that under their Hatag-Kalinaw program, the three grants will be made available to promote capability building among youth organizations as partners for peace.
(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.
KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/03 July)– The challenge posed by an Army official in North Cotabato to the New People's Army to show proof that the military was behind the recent killings of two development workers here was a mere 'alibi' and a 'diversionary tactic,' the rebel group's Magtanggol Roque Command Front-51 said.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/02 July) — Personnel from local government units (LGUs) topped the list of government workers facing the most number of cases before the Deputy Ombudsman for Mindanao, senior graft investigator Gay Maggie Violan told some 30 mayors who attended the 1st Conference on Integrity and Good Governance.
KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/02 July) — The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) here said Mount Apo, the country’s highest peak, is a “potentially active” volcano but assured the public there is no cause for worry.
KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/02 July) — Operatives of the North Cotabato police raided the house of a suspected manufacturer of illegal firearms in Matalam, North Cotabato on Friday.
Chief Insp. Leo Ajero, chief of the intelligence division, identified the suspected gun manufacturer as Winsip Dalmacio, 38, resident of Santo Cano, Barangay Linao, Matalam.
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/02 July) – Armed clashes in at least seven of 28 towns in Maguindanao following the June 23 ambush on Governor Andal Ampatuan in Shariff Aguak town are driving more investors away.
Ma. Lourdes Lim, director of the National Economic and Development Authority in Region 12 (Southwestern Mindanao), has called on government and MILF forces to cease fighting and observe the ceasefire agreement once again.
TILL DEATH. Killed together, buried together. Relatives and friends chant "Hustisya para kay George," and "Hustisya para kay Macel" on Saturday, July 1 at the Cotabato Memorial Park in Kidapawan City. MindaNews photo by Carolyn O. Arguillas
KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/01 July) –Kidapawan Bishop Romulo Valles urged the killers of development workers George and Maricel Vigo to “be afraid now” and “repent” because “God has finished His investigation and punishment is ready.”
“We may not see it right away, but certainly, surely, the justice of the Lord will be done, be assured of that,” Valles said during the homily of the funeral mass for the Vigos Saturday morning at the Cathedral.
MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/01 July) — The new impeachment case filed against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will only prosper if the people will get actively involved in it, even to the point of "boycotting the establishments that support the administration and perhaps consider slowing down in the payment of their taxes as an expression of their disgust with the corruption and abuses of the administration," Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr. today said in a statement.
KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/01 July) – An outpouring of grief, admiration and sense of loss marked Friday night's vigil for couple George and Maricel Vigo, at the Our Lady Mediatrix of All Grace Cathedral here.
MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/01 July) – The first phase of the construction of the Mount Kitanglad Cultural Heritage Center will start this month as the World Bank has released the full amount of the grant that it had approved early this year, according to the Kitanglad Integrated NGOs (KIN).
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/19 June) – At least 300 farmers, their wives and children were forced to evacuate last weekend after government gunships pounded a communist rebel camp in the mountains northeast of Malaybalay City, Bukidnon.
Virginia Flores, Malaybalay City social welfare officer, said 77 families or 335 persons living in the mountain village of Busdi, some 50 kilometers northeast from Malaybalay City, were displaced by the fighting. Many of the displaced villagers are children, she said.
“They fled on foot. Sometimes they hid in the forest to avoid being caught in the middle of the fighting,” Flores told MindaNews by phone this morning.Fr
M19news (DAVAO CITY) – Of five ARMM provinces, only Maguindanao has remained in the country’s “top 10” poorest as of 2003 while three other ARMM provinces – Sulu, Lanao del Sur and Tawi-tawi – are now out of the list, records from the National Statisitcal Coordination Board (NSCB) showed.
Maguindanao ranked second among the country’s poorest in terms of poverty incidence among families, but the increase in its poverty incidence among families was only 1.1%, from 59.3% in 2000 to 60.4% in 2003, compared with Zamboanga del Norte’s 17.5%, from 47.0% in 2000 to 64.6% in 2003. Zamboanga ranked first of the “poorest” nationwide.
KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/19 June) — Two motorcycle-riding men shot dead a couple actively involved in NGO work at around 5:15 p.m. today along Barangay Singao.
Killed were George Vigo, 33, project officer of the Mindanao Youth Leadership Program of the Community and Family Services, International (CFSI), a Cotabato City-based NGO dealing with rehabilitation of internally displaced persons, and his wife, Maricel, 36, part-time media relations officer of Rep. Lala Talino of North Cotabato’s first district and since early this year was area coordinator of an NGO delivering solar services to villagers in remote areas.
MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/18 June) – Malacañang’s P1-billion budget for an escalated war against the New People’s Army will mean more extra-judicial killings, forced “disappearances” of government critics and dislocation of farmers in remote areas, the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan – Southern Mindanao today said in a statement. Bayan spokesperson Ariel Casilao said President Arroyo “is pointedly ignoring calls to increase the social services budget and to stop the political killings and intensified military operations in the countryside” and “her latest move to augment the counter-insurgency fund by a billion shows proof of the vindictive and even more fascist bent her regime is taking.” Casilao said more than 600 leaders and members of militant groups have been killed since Arroyo assumed power in 2001.
COTABATO CITY (MindaNews/18 June) – What’s in a name? Certainly a lot, especially since regions compete with each other in enticing investors. Region 12, however, has been suffering from an identity crisis. It is the only region out of six in Mindanao that is known by at least six names: Region 12, Central Mindanao, the tongue-twisting Soccsksargen, South-Central Mindanao, Cotabato region and Southwestern Mindanao. The confusion has affected everybody, including media. In fact, the title of the summit where Hadja Sittie Marian Lim, regional director of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), was asked late Saturday afternoon to clarify how the region should be referred to, is “Central Mindanao Media Summit.” Lim, however, refers to the region simply as “Region XII.”
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/04 June) – Mindanao’s Bayan Muna Rep. Joel Virador has called for the “immediate scrapping of all confidential and intelligence expenditures of the Arroyo administration as an initial step to curb the continuing killings of political activists, journalists, lawyers, youths and church people.”
In a press statement, Virador said the scrapping of these “Confidential and Intelligence (COIN) Funds” must be done “immediately” as it is “very plausible that these government funds are being used by the Macapagal-Arroyo administration to fund operations of death squads to murder Bayan Muna members, leaders and supporters nationwide.”
COLUMBIO, Sultan Kudarat (MindaNews/03 June) – Relatives of a B'laan who was killed in an alleged indiscriminate firing perpetrated by government soldiers in a remote village here want justice for his death.
Relatives of Rogelio Lagaro, 35, also demanded that the Army's 25th Infantry Battalion assigned in this town indemnify the victim.
Lagaro, a hunter, died when soldiers reportedly fired shots towards him and five of his friends on June 1 while they were hunting wild animals in Sitio Gosmolo, Barangay Datal Blao.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/02 June) – When the church and churchgoers scrimp on candles, times must really be hard.
Candles lit on the candelarias of churches have steadily become fewer and vendors blame this on the economy.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/02 June) – The country’s first index survey on living standard, a set of baseline economic and social indicators, would have to delay its awaited presentation and early use in the city’s budget allocation and delivery of social policies.
Dr. Samuel Cruz, administrative officer of the City Health Office (CHO), said the living standard index (LSI) survey already finished the major requirement of field survey and data have been inputted into the main computer system.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/02 June) – Distributors of various lines of large format inkjet printers, and marketing officers of advertising agencies outside the national capital, have found a comfortable and profitable niche in the country’s rich advertising industry.
Despite competition, money poured into advertising has been tremendous and has kept them going, a widespread perception of a general letdown in the economy notwithstanding.
