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DON ANTONIO FLOIRENDO SR. – Mindanao’s banana magnate dies of pneumonia

By Edith Regalado

DAVAO CITY, Philippines  – Southern Mindanao’s banana magnate Antonio Floirendo Sr. died of pneumonia at the St. Luke’s Medical Center Friday night. He was 96.

Floirendo started the banana export business in the south 50 years ago.

Floirendo, who strongly pushed for the development of Southern Mindanao, was considered among the most influential persons in politics in the region.

His remains will be brought to Davao City tomorrow.

He is survived by his wife Nenita and children, former Davao Norte congressman Antonio Floirendo, Jr., Linda Lagdameo, Maricris Brias, Ricky, Vincent and Marissa.

The Floirendos own the Pearl Farm Beach Resort in Samal Island.

Recently, the Antonio Floirendo Corporation Management Company (Anflocor) entered into a joint venture with the Ayala Group of Companies for the Abreeza shopping mall complex.

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION. Three generations celebrated the 93rd birthday in 1999 of banana magnate Don Antonio Floirendo (seated with great grandson Jacobo Lagdameo on his knees): from left, Rep. Anton Lagdameo, Monica Floirendo,Vincent Floirendo, former Rep. Tonyboy Floirendo, Ricky Floirendo, wife Nenita, Maricris Floirendo, Marissa Floirendo, Margie Moran-Floirendo, and Dawn Zulueta-Lagdameo.

 

MINDANAO MORO AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES in pact for kinship and peace

RE-AFFIRMATION OF KINSHIP BETWEEN MORO AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF MINDANAO – BUKIDNON

Posted on March 21, 2012 by durianburgdavao

The sound of the tambol (drums) greets articipants as they enter the Talaandig Ancestral Domain in Sungku,, Lantapan, Bukidon, Mindanao. The long dirt road is lined with flags, each one indicating the names of the participating tribes, in honor of the guests who have come for the historic Reaffirmation of Kinship Ceremony between the Bangsamoro and Indigenous Peoples of Mindanao.   

“This is an historic event that no historian should miss. We are writing a new chapter in the history of Mindanao.” As a historian and a former Chair of the Government Peace Negotiating Panel with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Professor Rudy Rodil knows, intimately, the significance of this historic event.

For the first time in 492 years, 13 Bangsamoro tribes have come together with 18 indigenous tribes to reaffirm their shared ancestry and commit to the 5 pillars of Kinship established in the traditional peace pact of their ancestors: Co-operation, Mutual Sharing of Information, Mutual Protection of Life, Recognition and Respect, and Mutual Obligation to Help the Needy.  Despite the animosities and conflicts in the past, these tribes have chosen to come together today to not only acknowledge their shared ancestry, but commit themselves to respect and protect one another. 

As the introductions begin, the tribal leaders give impassioned speeches about why they have traveled today – some from the far islands of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi  – to take part in this historical ceremony. “We must set aside our interests and re-emphasize our kinship. We must walk together towards peace in Mindanao. We are answerable to Allah, to one another, to our future generation.” Salic Ibrahim, a Maranao leader calls those present to live out the kinship pact – to pave the way towards peace. The hope for peace in Mindanao is palpable.

 

The Kinship Pact comes at a critical time for the Philippines.  The Aquino administration and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) find themselves on the cusp of a signed peace agreement that recognizes a Bangsamoro Sub-State and autonomy within the region. Similar negotiations have failed in the past due, in part, to the animosity between the Indigenous and the Bangsamoro tribes. As the tribes join together to uphold their historical peace pact, they are preparing the way, not only for a signed agreement between the GPH and the MILF, but also for sustainable peace in Mindanao. “It is very important to reaffirm our kinship, which has not been nurtured in the past. We have seen the cracks in the past between our tribes,” explains Attorney Raissa Jajurie, a consultant to the MILF peace panel, “Today, we want to see equality and mutual respect. It is time to heal the wounds of our past.” 

One by one, the leaders of each tribe come forward to retell their history. The descendants of the original peace pact holders call us the tribes to once again unite as kin, to protect one another, and to help build a new Mindanao based on the ancient practices of their ancestors. “I normally see myself as an educator,” LTC Ronald Alcudia , 4^th Army Training Group Commander of the 4^th Infantry Division of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, says, “but today I am a student. I am learning of the history of Mindanao from the true tribal elders – a history I did not know until today.”

Datu (Chief) Victorino Migketay Saway along with leaders from the Bangsamoro tribes begin with the prayers of their people, calling on Allah, the ancestors and Magbabaya to be present in the ceremony. As the prayers come to an end, the tribal elders move forward and prepare to sacrifice a Carabao in honor of the ancestors. The blood of the Carabao is used to cleanse the land of the ancestors – to heal the wounds of the past so that all the tribes, together with their ancestors and their God – may move together towards a future of peace in Mindanao.

Datu Vic calls the descendants of the peace pact forward to sign their names, committing to the 5 pillars of kinship. All of the witnesses are also called to sign the sacred covenant. The Ceremony is not just about a ritual for those present, but about a renewed commitment to one another to uphold peace, protect life and respect one another as kin. The tribes, adorned in their traditional regalia, gather under a new monument that the Talaandig artists carved in honor of this historic event: It is an intricately carved Jar, the vessel that will hold the sacred oil and covenant of kinship. The monument reads, “This monument is a symbol of the historic kinship of the Indigenous Peoples and Moro in Mindanao who existed as First Nations inhabiting their respective ancestral territories duly covered by traditional peace pacts and treaties long before the colonial era.”

The Reaffirmation of Kinship Ceremony began a new chapter in Mindanao’s history as the Moro and the IP’s come together to uphold the ancient kinship of their ancestors and acknowledge the traditional peace pacts made long before the colonial era. The Ceremony marked a new way forward for sustainable peace in Mindanao – a peace built since time immemorial by a common ancestry – a relationship that today, the tribal leaders have embraced once more.

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Jun Aparece, Media/Communications Officer, Email Address: junaparece@mpc.org.ph, Mobile: 0920-276-2676

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This historic ceremony is documented by Mindanao Peoples Caucus, in partnership with the Peacebuilders Community led by Angie Lederach.

Philippine, US naval exercises slated in Mindanao Sea

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 The Philippine Navy and United States Navy, including the local and US Coast Guards, will conduct an annual combined exercise to ¿enhance interoperability and share best practices¿ for a week in Mindanao Sea in July.

The Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training will be held on July 2 to 10 at the Naval Forces Eastern Mindanao area with at-sea activities in the vicinity of Mindanao Sea said Navy spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Omar Tonsay.

The exercise includes in-port training, subject matter expertise exchanges, diving and salvage training at General Santos Bay, Sarangani; and medical, dental, engineering civic action projects and community relations activities in different locations in General Santos City and Glan, Sarangani Province.

The exercise will involve the US Navy and Coast Guard, Philippine Navy and Philippine Coast Guard surface, air, and special operations units in the conduct of shore-based cross training exercises, diving exercise, salvage exercise, air operations exercise, and at-sea fleet training exercises, search and rescue exercise, as well as friendly sports competitions in volleyball and basketball.

The exercise will also test the personnel and naval assets, operational readiness and ultimately, improve the naval defense capability of the Armed Forces of the Philippines by an exchange of doctrinal and tactical best practices, Tonsay added.

Carat will be participated in by Barko ng Republika ng Pilipinas (BRP) Magat Salamat (PS20), BRP Miguel Malvar (PS19), BRP Salvador Abcede (PG114), and BRP Teotimo Figuracion (PG389) for the PN; the USS Vandergrift (FFG48) and USNS Safeguard (T-ARS 50) for the USN; BRP Pampanga (SARV 003) for the PCG; and the USCG WAESCHE (WMSL751) for the USCG.

The PN will also employ one (1) PN Islander (PNI 320) while the USN will provide a P3C Orion and a SH-60B helicopter together with a BO-105CB helicopter from PCG. Likewise, the exercise will involve around 400 personnel from the PN, 350 from the USN, 50 from the PCG, and 150 from the USCG.

Carat, which started in 1995, is a yearly combined exercise conducted at different Naval Forces areas of operations on rotation basis.

Tonsay said the venues have been determined a year in advance and are finalised following confirmation from both navies.

Last year, the exercise was conducted in Sulu Sea area east of Palawan under the Naval Forces West.

Guinness declares 'Lolong' as world's largest crocodile

    The Guinness Book of World Record has declared "Lolong", a 21-foot saltwater crocodile, as the largest captured crocodile in the world, said Bunawan Vice Mayor Sylvia Elorde

    She said the Municipal Government of Bunawan in Agusan del Sur, has recently receiddd the certificate from Guinness just last week.

    The certificate recognizes Lolong as the largest captured crocodile in the world, dethroning former record-holder Cassius, 17-footer saltwater crocodile in Australia.
    Lolong, a 2,365-pounder giant is housed at the newly-built eco-tourism park at Sitio Masapya, Barangay Consuelo, Bunawan where he has become a tourist attraction.

GUN BAN IN ARMM - In effect from July 1 to 23 for voters’ general list-up

The Philippine National Police–Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PNP-ARMM) will enforce a region-wide gun ban from July 1 to 23 in connection with the ARMM general voters' re-registration set on July 9-18. The measure is based on a memorandum issued by PNP Director-General Nicanor Bartolome last June 27.
In a statement sent to various media outlets here, the PNP-ARMM said the ban incorporates the suspension of permits to carry firearms outside residences.
“Only the members of the PNP, AFP and other law enforcement agencies who are performing official duties and in agency-prescribed uniforms will be allowed to carry firearms,” the order stated.
The gun ban will be implemented in the ARMM provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi and Sulu, including the cities of Cotabato and Isabela.
Cotabato, though not part of the ARMM, plays host as the provisional seat of the ARMM government.

Isabela City, for its part, also voted against its inclusion in the ARMM although it is situated in the heart of Basilan. (PNA)

SAM PINTO IS PHILIPPINES' SEXIEST

Sam Pinto lays claim to the title of the country’s sexiest as she tops FHM Philippines’ Sexiest Woman of the World this year. According to an article published on the men’s magazine’s website, the Kapuso star got 1,249,189 votes out of the total 17 million (which were garnered through text, print, and online ballots).

Coming in second place is Angel Locsin, who received 1,131,505 votes.
Sam is only the third to receive the FHM Philippines Sexiest Woman of the World title more than once, following Katrina Halili and Angel Locsin. She is also the second woman to top the poll two years consecutively.
In an interview with Yahoo! Philippines OMG! prior to the announcement, Sam said she is not expecting to top the FHM Philippines Sexiest Woman polls this year. Nonetheless, she’d be happy to receive the title again.
“Not really expecting (to win), kasi ang daming lumalaban talaga this year, grabe. Of course, it’d be better if I would number one this year.”
Sam added she’s also slated to be part of the “Si Agimat at Si Enteng Kabisote” sequel in this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival.

NINA GOES TOPLESS in Playboy June 2012 issue

Posted on May 31, 2012 by durianburgdavao

Soul Siren Nina going topless is truly a rare image to see. And yet, in the June 2012 cover of the popular men’s magazine Playboy Philippines, the singer showed how she could regale your senses in more ways than one. 

The cover photo was first released in the Playboy Philippines Facebook Page, gaining several reactions from people. Nina went topless in the Burlesque-inspired cover, surprising her fans and even mere readers and followers of the said Facebook page. Although she did not exactly had a conservative image, it is still unexpected of her to pose in a men’s magazine, let alone, a very daring pose.

The Playboy Philippines June 2012 issue is now out and available in your favorite magazine stands nationwide.

BIAF front commander reiterates full support to peace process

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6TH VITAL WITNESS IN DEADLY MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE KILLED

Like sitting ducks, vital witnesses are being killed one-by-one in the gruesome 2009 Maguindanao Massacre in southern Philippines where 57 people including 34 journalists perished in a politically-related violence.

A Philippine police official has confirmed that a potential witness in the Maguindanao (south Philippines) massacre had been killed, a private prosecutor said yesterday.

In all, six people, three witnesses and three relatives of other witnesses, have been killed in connection with the trial of the politically influential Ampatuan family accused in the Nov. 23, 2009 murders of 57 people, including the wife of the current Maguindanao governor, Esmael Mangudadatu.

Nena Santos, a counsel of the Mangudadatus, said Senior Superintendent Marcelo Pintac, the police director of Maguindanao, had reported that Alijol Ampatuan was shot in Shariff Aguak, the provincial capital, in February, and that he later died.

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Mining company eyeing gold, copper in Davao City – The Durian Post No. 113 – Front Page

15,600-hectare concession awaiting okay of City Hall, NCIP

BY ROGER M. BALANZA, 

A mining company has applied to explore gold and copper in about 15,660 hectares in Marilog District in Davao City.
The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) in Region Eleven, in its website,  said the application of Mambusao Mining Corporation has already been endorsed to the Davao City government and the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) for their recommendation and comment.
The Mambusao Mining application is numbered EXPA 000116-XI as recorded in the list of applications with the MGB XI.
The application, covering 15,660 hectares was filed in 2005 and published in the newspaper in 2008
MGB’s last posting on Mambusao indicated it has been endorsed to the local government and NCIP in 2010.
But the Mambusao project may not push through with both Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte and her father Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte warning that the local government would not allow mining in the city.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and MGB are aware of the local government’s posiition on mining that it will never be allowed here, said city planning officer Roberto Alabado when asked to comment on the application.
Alabado also said a pending bill in the House of Representatives authored by Davao City Third District Congressman Isidro Ungab would serve as another stumbling block to the Mambusao application.
The Ungab bill would declare Davao City as a “No Mining Zone.”
The Dutertes’ position on mining and the Ungab proposed bill are not the only mountains that Mambusao must subdue to secure a nod from government.
The communist New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the leftist National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDPF), the umbrella of all leftist organizations, had made public statements against mining in Davao City.
The NPA has a heavy presence in Marilog and nearby Paquibato, where the NPA Pulang Bagani Command under Kumander Leoncio “Parago” Pitao is based.
Vice Mayor Duterte said earlier said that the Davao City Council, where he is the presiding officer, would shoot down any request for mining projects in the city.
He said mineral resources in the city should be treated as a”piggy bank” for future Dabawenyos. He adds that mining may be allowed in the city in future when perfected technologies that would prevent accidents and threats to ennvironment and people are already available.
For her part, Mayor Duterte said mining could not bring economic benefits to ordinary people. She also noted shaky peacee and order situations in areas with mining operations. She said mining poses grave threats to the environment.
The Dutertes bared their position on mining amid a flood of foreign  investments pouring into the city.
Accordingly, some of the investors signified intentions to explore and mine minerals in Marilog and Paquibato, located upland of the city.
The Mambusao mining application has surfaced as sitio Ladian in Marilog was hit by a landslide that killed a 10-year old girl and prompted the local government to order the relocation of residents, mostly inndigenous people of the Matigsalog tribe,
The NDFP assailed the relocation order of Mayor Duterte, and tied the government action to alleged landgrabbing of ancestral domain in Marilog and to the Mambusao mining application, despite the publicly announced position against  mining of the Dutertes.
In a press statement emailed to the Durian Post, Rubi del Mundo,
NDFP-Southern Mindanao spokesman, said the “relocation of Matigsalog Lumad victims and declaration of hazardous areas in the wake of the landslides in sitio Ladian, Brgy. Marilog will be more beneficial to landgrabbing CADT holders and big mining corporations.”
A contagious area of over 120,000 hectares in Davao City, Bukidnon and
North Cotabato had been declared as ancestral domain by NCIP and awarded to the Kitaotao, Bukidnon-based Federation of Manobo-Matigsalog
Tribal Councils (FEMMATRICS) under Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) No. R-10-KIT 0703-0011. More than  half of the area covered by the title is located in Davao City.
Del Mundo said the relocation was aimed to clear the way for the Mabusao operation.
“Areas declared by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau as geo-hazardous are also areas opened by its head office, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, to mining corporations such as the Mambusao Mining Corporation. The areas of sitio Mabuhay, Salumay, Namnam and East Marahan in Brgy. Marilog are being eyed by the same firm for its gold and copper mining operations covering 15,660 hectares, ” said del Mundo.
The communist spokesman also said “opportunist” tribal leaders have been selling ancestral domain lands under CADT No. R-10-KIT 0703-0011 to big business.
Wholesale landgrabbing of ancestral lands for private ownership by  (tribal leaders) are facilitated by the National Commission in Indigenous Peoples and paramilitary (indigenous people), said del Mundo.
“By all means, the masses should be protected from the natural calamities. But for them to be displaced from supposed perilous sites and to find their lands exploited by mining operations and landgrabbing Lumad clans, is indeed, the height of deceit, opportunism and oppression, said the rebel spokesman.

SOUTH COTABATO ENVIRONMENTAL CODE GETS PRESIDENTIAL THRASHING

President Aquino says “NATIONAL LAWS OVERRIDE ORDINANCES”

BY ROGER M. BALANZA

The South Cotabato Provincial Government’s Environmental Code has found a nemesis in no less than President Benigno Aquino.
The Environmental Code bans use of the open-pit method in mining in the province even as the method is allowed by the Philippine Mining Act of 1995.
A major casualty of the Ennvironmental Code is the Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI) US$5.9 million Tampakan Gold-Copper Project in Tampakan, South Cotabato. The Tampakan project is set to start commercial operation in 2016.
The biggest single direct investment in the Philipines today, SMI, backed by world copper producer Xstrata, has been denied an Environmental Certificate of Clearance (ECC) by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on the basis of the existence of the South Cotabato Environmental Code.

Apart from the Environmental Code approved by the Provincial Board and supported  by Governor Arthur Pingoy, the Tampakan Project is also facing opposition from environmentalist groups and the Catholic Church led by Archbishop Dinualdo Gutierrez. Mark Williams, SMI vice president,  assured the project would be implemented under highest international standards with strict adherence to international and local environmental laws.
President Aquino has cleared the air on the country’s new mining policy ahead of an upcoming Executive Order that could save mining companies like SMI hobbled by local ordinances like the South Cotabato Enviromental Code.
President Aquino says “NATIONAL LAWS OVERRIDE ORDINANCES.”

LA TRINIDAD—President Benigno Aquino III said Monday the coming executive order on the country’s mining policy will uphold the primacy of national laws over local ordinances despite the threats from 40 governors who have said they will challenge the order before the Supreme Court once it is signed.

Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, a member of Mr. Aquino’s Liberal Party, said last week he would oppose the order because it would allow the national government to override the policies of local executives, but the President said he could not believe the governor would take such a position.

“I would like to talk to him [Salceda] but I think the premise of your question is wrong,” Mr. Aquino said.

“Where did that happen? I don’t think Joey Salceda would come up with a statement that says that a municipal order or provincial ordinance takes precedence over our national law.

“The Constitution is very, very clear on that. First, the ordinance-making powers of local governments are limited. Second, they have limited territorial scope. But more than all of these, there is a clause that says local ordinances should be consistent with our national laws.”

Mr. Aquino said that as long as the Philippines was not a federated government, the national laws would always take precedence over local laws. And it was premature to criticize the executive order because he had not signed it yet.

“There is still some language I am not comfortable with,” Mr. Aquino said.

“But if they feel that their rights are being trampled upon, by all means they can go to the appropriate courts. But I am very confident that he [Salceda] did not say that [local] ordinances … will supplant national laws.”

Earlier, Mr. Aquino said the executive order would impose more stringent regulations on small-scale mining operations.

He said the order would also impose a mining ban on 78 eco-tourism sites.

Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. said the order would establish a Mining Council that will resolve the revenue-sharing issues.

The taxes and royalties that the government now collects from mining operations amount to only 10 percent of the total revenues of mining firms.

The President on Monday assured communities that they would enjoy the benefits of mining in their areas of jurisdiction, and that the government would respect local ordinances in line with national laws.

Meanwhile, Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo, an administration ally, has  filed a resolution seeking an investigation of the billions of  pesos that the national government supposedly loses as a result of the small-scale mining being operated by syndicates.

His House resolution 2326 asks the House committee on natural resources to look into the mining operations being controlled by dishonest people including Chinese businessmen who are not paying taxes.

Castelo says the Environment Department, the Environment Department, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau and the Bureau of Internal Revenue must submit to Congress a comprehensive report on the extent of small-scale mining in the country to determine  those  who are making a killing but not paying taxes.

“The legitimate large-scale mining industry provides two million jobs to the Filipino people and, correspondingly, the taxes on large-scale mining accrue to the government under a closely monitored or regulated arrangement,” Castelo says in his resolution.

By contrast, he says, small-scale miners deprive the government of much-needed revenues.

RETURN BOUT IN NORTH COTABATO FIGHT FOR GOVERNOR IN 2013

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Manny Piñol or Lala Taliño-Mendoza for Governor ( North Cotabato)

Bukidnon LMP to patch up Zubiri-Calingasan rift

Members of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) Bukidnon Chapter are gunning for political peace, a year ahead of the 2013 elections.
During its meeting here on May 18, municipal mayors intensively discussed the internal political conflict between Vice Governor Jose Ma. Zubiri and Gov. Alex Calingasan and offered help in mediating in the rift.

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  Bukidnon LMP to patch up Zubiri-Calingasan rift ...

 

BUKIDNON MAYORS – (sitting): Godofredo I. Balansag (Lantapan), Nenita M. Suyao (Kalilangan), Alice P. Resus (Maramag). Standing-right: Manolito G. Garces (Pangantucan), Rogelio C. Castillanes (Cabanglasan), Rodito B. Rafisura (Kitaotao), Aida dela Rosa (Malitbog), Laurencia S. Edma (San Fernando), Rey B. Baula (Sumilao), Joelito J. Talaid (Kadingilan), Nestor B. Macapayag (Talakag), Romeo P. Tiongco (Damulog), Edilberto F. Ayuban (Dangcagan). Photo by MELVELEZ

 

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte apologizes to punched sheriff

DAVAO CITY Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio has apologized to Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 16 sheriff Abe Andres who got at least four punches from her last year.
The lady... 

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Davao mayor apologizes to punched sheriff

 

UPHOLD AND PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF FILIPINO CHILDREN

STATEMENT

29 June 2012

The NDFP-Mindanao fully affirms the NDFP Declaration and Program of Action for the Rights, Protection and Welfare of Children. We reiterate our commitment to defend and promote the rights, interests and welfare of Filipino children, which are fully integrated into the social program of the people’s democratic revolution with a socialist perspective.  Ensuring the future of our children is one fundamental reason why we are waging a people’s war.  We want to create a society where all children can be provided the basic necessities like education, food, clothing, a home, and all the opportunities needed to make a happy, balanced childhood.
But in Mindanao, being part of the Philippine semi-feudal, semi-colonial system, children’s rights are systematically violated, and they carry the heaviest burden of social exploitation and oppression. Millions of them are unschooled and found in dreadful working conditions in both rural and urban areas in the island. They can be seen in the vast rice and cornfields, in large-scale plantations, such as in Dolefil, Del Monte and the sugar-cane fields of Bukidnon, in hundreds of tunnels, panning and other mining areas, and in logging concessions as low-waged or unpaid laborers. School-aged children are also heavily exploited in the landing areas and piers as porters, small vendors, and scavengers in the urban centers.  In 2009, the GPH conservatively estimated the number of working children in Mindanao, ages 5 to 17, at 543,000 individuals.
Prevalent in Mindanao and the entire country, children suffer from the most exploitative and degrading conditions, pushed to become thugs, drug peddlers and users, and mendicants. Hired or trafficked by criminal syndicates, they are helplessly forced into prostitution and in many cases, slaughtered for their organs to be traded abroad.  Minors are not even spared from the numerous extra-judicial killings committed with impunity by state-sponsored motor-riding death squads such as in the cities of Davao, Digos, Tagum, Cagayan de Oro, Butuan, Bayugan and in other urban areas in Mindanao. Calamity-related tragedies also victimize children, such as the hundreds killed during the typhoon Sendong.
Noynoy Aquinos’ Oplan Bayanihan and all preceding anti-insurgency campaigns of the GPH have created a more horrendous and more miserable life for the children. During the first half of 2012, military operations have caused massive evacuations in areas where multinational mining and plantations operate in the five regions of Mindanao as well as in several Moro communities, displacing thousands of families, close to half of them are children. In the AFP’s vicious and systematic attack on schools, especially those in remote areas, teachers and pupils are harassed, intimidated and vilified; school buildings and school premises are occupied or used for military purposes as barracks or detachments.
Children’s rights violations are repeatedly committed by the AFP, PNP and by private goons.  Most affected are Lumad and peasant children who are often traumatized by the AFP’s indiscriminate bombing and Howitzer shelling, strafing, direct threats and intimidation, such as in the provinces of Caraga, Bukidnon, Davao, North Cotabato, the Zamboanga peninsula, and in the island provinces of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.  Consequently, they experience the most difficult and unhealthy situations; many of them get sick, some even die.  During AFP civic and combat operations, minors have become easy target for corruption, seduction and rape, drug addiction, illegal arrest, torture and even extra-judicial killing.
There are also cases of children conscripted into the AFP’s war machine as CAFGUs, CVOs, BDS guards, guides and advance guards during military operations.  A fresh case of AFP recruitment of four minors was unmasked during the NPA raid in Brgy. Binicalan, San Luis, Agusan del Sur on May 30, 2012, where one 15-year-old CAFGU was wounded.   Cases of minors being tortured by the AFP and presented as “NPA child soldiers” were documented in Davao del Sur, Davao City, Cagayan de Oro, San Fernando, Bukidnon and other parts of Mindanao. There is the case of the Villa girl from Davao City who was courted by a military man, taken to the military camp and presented to the media as a child soldier. Where there is a prolonged AFP civic-military operation, girls are duped, seduced and later abandoned into pregnancy, as was the case in 2011 of four female minors in Marihatag, Surigao del Sur.
Moro children are also subjected to a host of other oppressions and injustices, such as chauvinism and other forms of discrimination. Millions of Moro children together with their families were forced to evacuate their homes and ancestral lands during Estrada’s brutal counter-insurgency campaign in 2000-01 in Central Mindanao. During the Arroyo regime in 2008, half a million Moro people, mostly women and children, were displaced due to the state’s counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency campaigns. Moro children also suffer as their families become internal refugees as a result of inter-clan wars.
Continuing US intervention in the country, especially with the ever increasing presence of US troops, has greatly contributed to the further oppression and exploitation of children in the Philippines.  Between 2008-2009, there was the case of girls who were brought to the Tropicana Beach Resort in General Santos City as prostituted women to cater to US soldiers. US armed personnel are also directly involved in combat operations in Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Basilan and Zamboanga del Sur, which have displaced, and even killed, Moro civilians, including children.
Thus, the NDFP’s national and democratic program and its socialist perspective for Filipino children are at the forefront of our revolutionary struggle. The rights of children to free education, food, health care, clothing and shelter and many others must be protected and upheld. They must be provided with nationalist, scientific and mass-based cultural programs. Socialized child-rearing and nursery and a support system for child-rearing mothers and single parents must also be promoted.
Currently and concretely in our base areas, violations against children’s rights are gradually eliminated.  The people’s democratic government has successfully reduced the number of illiterate adults and children, especially in many Lumad areas in Mindanao. Children have been organized, and cultural campaigns have been launched for them to combat anti-social activities. Collective production farms have been put up to help eradicate malnutrition in their communities.  Their health committees have coordinated with the health staff of the New People’s Army (NPA) to provide basic health services to the barrio-folk, especially to children. Units of the NPA and the organs of political power strictly adhere to the international laws of war regarding the non-recruitment of minors into the People’s Militia or the NPA.
In line with our long term program for children, it is our immediate task to the protect children’s rights and welfare.  Children must be kept safe from atrocities of the fascist armed forces of the GPH as well as from hostilities and anti-social groups.  They must be organized and educated on the history and current situation to know their place in Philippine society and the world.
More than ever, the NDFP-Mindanao is duty-bound to mobilize all its resources in order to defend, uphold and promote the rights and welfare of children, including the NDFP’s Program of Action which stipulates the creation of a special office for the continuing protection of children’s rights and welfare.

Ka Oris
Spokesperson

NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC FRONT-Philippines
NDFP-Mindanao

Sarangani Energy raises capital stock, sets start of 200-MW coal plant project

GENERAL SANTOS CITY - The Alcantara-controlled Sarangani Energy Corporation (SEC) has increased its capital stock to P4.5 billion as it moved ahead with the construction of its US$ 450 million coal-fired power plant in nearby Maasim town in Sarangani province.
The increase in capital stock will mainly cover for the equity in the development, construction and operation of the 200-megawatt (MW) coal power plant in the coastal village of Kamanga in Maasim that was targeted to go on stream by 2015, the company said in a statement emailed Thursday to the Philippines News Agency.
It said SEC’s capital stock, which was raised from an initial declared capitalization of P5 million, will be divided into 4.25 billion shares with a par value of P1 per share.
SEC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc. (ACR) – the publicly-listed holding company of the Alcantara Group.
The coal plant project is a joint venture between the Alsons and Thailand's Electricity Generating Public Co. Ltd. or EGCO.
With the increase in its capital stock, SEC said it gave the go-signal to Korean contractor Daelim Industrial Co. Ltd. to proceed with the engineering and construction of the Sarangani coal plant project’s first phase.
Daelim, which is considered as one of the biggest construction and engineering firms in South Korea and with projects moving in over 24 countries, was earlier contracted by SEC to handle the project’s engineering, procurement and construction aspects.
Daelim executives and engineers recently flew in from its Seoul offices to conduct an ocular inspection of the site, signaling the start of the detailed design and engineering works that will run through the fourth quarter of the year.
Oscar Benedict Contreras III, Alsons Power Business Unit manager for communications and stakeholder relations, said the actual construction of the coal power plant is targeted to commence by the third quarter of the year.
He said the completion of the project’s detailed design and engineering will lead to the actual erection and installation works of the power plant.
The power plant project is a two-phase complex of two 100 megawatt plants each. The second phase will commence within 18 months of the start of the first phase.
Maasim Mayor Art Lawa, who earlier met with the Daelim and SEC executives, expressed full support to the coal plant project, which is so far the biggest investment venture in Region 12 or the Soccsksargen Region.
The mayor expressed optimism that the SEC power plant would put an end to the worsening power supply shortage in Southern and Central Mindanao.
SEC had forged a power supply deal with the South Cotabato Electric Cooperative II (Socoteco II), which serves this city, the entire Sarangani province and parts of South Cotabato. The power sales agreement covers the provision of 70 MW to the electric cooperative. It is still up for review by the Energy Regulatory Commission. (PNA)

Pimentel asks Estrada: 'Please forgive me'

“I will not accept any nomination for me to run as one of the candidates for senator under the UNA"

  

Senator Aquilino ‘Koko’ Pimentel III expressed regret on Friday over not having responded earlier to former President Joseph Estrada’s wish for him and former Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri to meet to thresh out the issue regarding the former's candidacy in the 2013 midterm elections. ”Please forgive me for having delayed that meeting because I had to consult with my party mates and supporters. I come to see you today hoping you would understand the position I have taken on the issue of whether or not Migz Zubiri and I should run in 2013 as common senatorial candidates of the UNA,” Pimentel said in his letter to his ninong (godfather) Estrada.
Pimentel acknowledged that Estrada’s support would be a great help in his senatorial candidacy in 2013, and that the former president had helped him in his quest for vindication in his electoral protest against Zubiri.
But Pimentel told Estrada that “my conscience says it would be inconsistent with my concept of what is right and wrong if I run on the same ticket under UNA. I protested against Migz for cheating me in many parts of the country, especially in Maguindanao.”
Pimentel added in his letter: “Ninong, please do not think that I refuse to forgive Migz, because I have already forgiven him a long time ago for his having fraudulently deprived me of my rightful place in the Senate. That is on the personal level. But I cannot forgive him on behalf of our supporters who voted for me but whose votes by the tens of thousands were nullified because of the massive cheating in the 2007 elections of which Migz was, at the very least, the willing beneficiary.”
The senator explained that he would “consider all options available to me that accord principally with what is good for our country and people and with what I can accept in good conscience.”
Pimentel told Estrada that he wanted “to campaign with a happy heart.”
“The issue is not about you or Vice President Binay. It is about consistency in my fight against electoral fraud,” Pimentel said.
Pimentel thanked Estrada for “all the goodness you have generously extended to me over the years. I hope that you will indeed understand and forgive me for this decision and find it in your heart to somehow support me or, at the very least, wish me success in my candidacy.”
Pimentel categorically stated that he will not be running on the same ticket in the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) with Zubiri.
“I will not accept any nomination for me to run as one of the candidates for senator under the UNA. But to be very clear about it, I am not leaving my party, the PDP-Laban, as I intend to run as a PDP-Laban candidate,” Pimentel said.

UNA is a coalition of Estrada’s Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) and Binay’s PDP-Laban that adopted Zubiri as one of the senatorial candidates in 2013 despite strong opposition from Pimentel. (PNA)

KOKO PIMENTEL - UNA's loss; AQUINO's gain

SENATOR KOKO PIMENTEL HAS BEEN RESERVED A FRONT SEAT IN THE SENATORIAL LINE-UP FOR THE 2013 ELECTION BY THE LIBERAL PARTY OF PRESIDENT BENIGNO AQUINO.

Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III remains a "priority" for the administration party after he officially bolted the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) Thursday, a spokesperson said.

House Deputy Speaker and Quezon Representative Lorenzo Tañada III, spokesperson for the Aquino-led Liberal Party (LP), said Pimentel is welcome to join the 2013 senatorial ticket of the administration party.

"His name was earlier mentioned as a candidate for the administration. I believe he is one of the priorities for the slate," Tañada said.

 READ MORE:

Senator Koko Pimentel a 'priority' in admin 2013 line-up | Sun.Star

 

SIXTH VITAL WITNESS IN MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE KILLED

Like sitting ducks, vital witnesses are being killed one-by-one in the gruesome 2009 Maguindanao Massacre in southern Philippines where 57 people including 34 journalists perished in a politically-related violence.

A Philippine police official has confirmed that a potential witness in the Maguindanao (south Philippines) massacre had been killed, a private prosecutor said yesterday.

In all, six people¿three witnesses and three relatives of other witnesses¿have been killed in connection with the trial of the politically influential Ampatuan family accused in the Nov. 23, 2009 murders of 57 people, including the wife of the current Maguindanao governor, Esmael Mangudadatu.

Nena Santos, a counsel of the Mangudadatus, said Senior Superintendent Marcelo Pintac, the police director of Maguindanao, had reported that Alijol Ampatuan was shot in Shariff Aguak, the provincial capital, in February, and that he later died.

READ MORE:

Another witness in south Philippines massacre killed

TAGUM CITY MAYOR REY UY'S CHAIRS DONATED TO BURNED SCHOOL IN SULOP, DAVAO DEL SUR

DOLPHY: HELLOOOOW! BUHAY PA AKWOOOO!

 

Critical but stable, doctor says

MANILA, Philippines – Comedy king Dolphy remains in critical yet stable condition, the Makati Medical Center (MMC) reported on Monday.

DOLPHY could survive health crisis to receive the National Artist Award

In its latest bulletin, the hospital said Dolphy’s health showed significant improvement but his platelet and potassium levels are still low.

Doctor Eric Nubla, director of MMC’s Patients Relations Office, said Dolphy was undergoing blood transfusion Monday afternoon, which will be followed by another session of dialysis.

“[Dolphy's health is] still guarded. Critical, but stable,” Nubla said.

Dolphy has also been given medication and his diet is being adjusted to to raise his body’s potassium level.

The hospital did not give additional details about the health of the veteran actor, who is battling pneumonia for the 11th time in 11 months.

Dolphy has been suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which hinders the flow of air to his lungs.

He underwent tracheostomy Saturday night “to alleviate from a lot of discomfort and make it easier for his organs to perform properly,” according to a statement from his family Sunday.

Close friends and family of Dolphy are allowed to see him but they are carefully screened, according to the MMC official.

The hospital is expected to issue its next bulletin on Dolphy’s health on Tuesday.