Zambanga Tops Call Center Agents Hiring

Jovita de Jesus, manager of E-World Career Center in Zamboanga City (9th from left), poses with call center students. E-World Career Center is offering various courses for contact center students.

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Cheng Ordonez / 07 Aug) Zamboanga City registered the highest passing rate of call center applicants, according to a latest interview by a US-based call center company, the G-Com Ltd.

Of the 140 applicants, 48 had passed the interviews conducted by phone G-Com Ltd. from July 29 to August 1.

Chita Cilindro, regional director of the Department of Labor and Employment in Western Mindanao, said the city's passing rate is higher than the recorded national passing rate nationwide at five percent and their record in Davao City at 12 percent. She attributed the high passing rate to employment promotions efforts, which include orientation for pre-selected applicants.

Cilindro said that G-Com has some 63 “near-hires,” who were referred to the Technical Education for Skills Development Authority (Tesda), so they can avail of short-term scholarship through the government’s training-for-work program. She said the near-hires will attend a brief English language course in any of six local TESDA training schools accredited to conduct the course.

At least 18 of the near-hires took 100 hours of selected brief courses at E-World Career Centre, Corp. in Zamboanga City.

Jovita de Jesus, E-World Center manager, said the applicants also took up communications and listening skills, language neutralization, telephone manners, customer service, and computer literacy program, among others to further enhance their skills.

Jerry Lajo, 41, a near-hire from Southcom village, accentuates the Zamboangueño tongue for Spanish accent as reason for the high passing rates.

Twenty-four year old Mary Grace Francisco, of Lorenzo Heights, Putik, Zamboanga City, said most of them are prepared to go to Davao to work. "If the company (G-Com) will put up a (call) center here in Zamboanga, then it's okay.

Davao or elsewhere--we are ready to go after this training." This high acceptance rate increased the number of Zamboanga residents' as call center agents and firmed up G-Com decision to set up a call center in this city, which management said would require at least 600 square meters of space, initially, to house some 150 seats.

G-Com is also planning to put up a local branch by November. It also has an office in Davao City in southern Mindanao. (With reports from Bong Garcia and Darwin Wee)

Mindanao, Luzon Groups Praise Arroyo

MANILA (Jason Carlos / 07 Aug) Civic groups and non-governmental organizations and politicians in Mindanao praised President Gloria Arroyo on Monday for her utmost commitment to the peace process and development of the region.

Arroyo exhibited her administration’s commitment to improve the lives of the people in Mindanao and the Cordilleras as well as help former rebels in these regions to reintegrate themselves into mainstream society, they said.

In her State of the Nation Address last motnh, Arroyo said cited this year’s commemoration not only of the 20th anniversary of the peace accord with the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army but also the 10th year of the peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front.

Aside from distributing land titles to families of CPLA beneficiaries, the Arroyo administration has led the improvement of infrastructure facilities such as airports and highways connecting Baguio City and the rest of the five provinces of the Cordillera Administrative Region including Tabuk town in Kalinga province with Tuguegarao City in Cagayan Valley province.

“We have rehabilitated the Baguio-to-Mount-Data leg of the highway and the rest of Halsema will now follow,” Arroyo said. “We will upgrade the Bagabag airport and build a new one in Lallo, Cagayan, which will connect to Cordillera by upgrading the Tabuk-Tuguegarao road.”

Also, the President revealed that last April in Tabuk, an elderly former CPLA member wearing his old uniform got his land title after waiting for it for the last 20 years since the signing of the 1986 Mt. Data Peace Accord between the government and the CPLA.

Arroyo highlighted the experience of an ex-CPLA member, Ama Balunggay, who had lined up with a young boy in tow and had declared “this is not for me but for him,” then giving the land title to the boy named Jacob – his beloved grandson.

With high spirits, the Chief Executive then introduced Ama Balungay and his grandson Jacob to the SONA audience at the Batasan Complex.

As for Mindanao, the President cited Sulu Governor Benjamin Loong for his “From Arms to Farms” program, where former MNLF combatants armed with heavy firepower have become farmers armed with bolos for cutting grass and tilling soil, with the caravan of tractors literally invading former rebel camps in the province.

The President also showcased in her SONA the historic reconciliation of military forces and MNLF combatants in Barangay Bitan-ag, Panamao, Sulu during the recently concluded 2006 Organization of Islamic Conference visit to Mindanao.

The Chief Executive also cited a positive development in early July in the “Eleven Islands” off the coast of Zamboanga, where former rebels under ex-MNLF commander Aribari Samson together with their family members were finally able to revisit this erstwhile haven of armed bands and criminals.

Because of a housing program under the joint implementation of the national government and the United Nations, stakeholders were able to build at least 200 new homes and generate more means of livelihood for the people under Samson and their families.

“Thank you for giving peace a chance,” Arroyo said to Commander Samson.

Further, she thanked the foreign donor community composed of the United States government, the OIC, and the European Union, as well as Australia, Japan, and the neighboring countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations for helping the Philippine government successfully implement peace and development initiatives in the entire island region.

“If we can harness the forces of good in our nation, the positive force at work here at home and those from abroad such as the US, Malaysia, the OIC, and others, we shall prevail in Mindanao with a peace agreement that brings freedom and hope to all Filipinos,” she said. “With this peace, we would reap dividends in resources invested in agribusiness, not aggression, to build up, not tear down, the Philippine south.”

At present, the government through the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process and other peace partners continue to implement development programs in conflict-affected areas to fully achieve lasting peace and development in the country.

Photo: US Spy Plane

An unidentified personnel walks past two of three United States Navy EP3 Orion Reconnaissance planes at the Philippine Air Force's Benito Buen air base in Mactan island in the central Filipino province of Cebu Monday 07 Aug 2006. The spy planes are helping Filipino troops track down Abu Sayyaf terrorists, led by Khadaffy Janjalani, and two Jemaah Islamiya Bali bombers Umar Patek and Dulmatin in the southern island of Jolo, where fierce fighting since last week have killed and wounded dozens of people. (Zamboanga Journal)

Photo: Army Officer Slain In NPA Attack In Negros

A woman in Negros Occidental province reads a newspaper headline Monday 07 Aug 2006. Communist insurgents have killed an army officer in an attack in Roxas City in Negros province, a known stronghold of the New People's Army. (Zamboanga Journal)

An Open Letter To President Gloria Arroyo

Reporters Without Borders/Reporters sans frontières
Open Letter

Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

President of the Republic
Malacanang PalaceManila, Philippines
Paris, 4 August 2006

Dear Madam President,

Reporters Without Borders, an organisation that defends press freedom throughout the world, hails your statement on 1 August giving the police and the justice department 10 weeks to solve the murders of at least 10 journalists and left-wing activists.

We hope this declaration of political will on an important issue has not been made just for effect.

For this reason, we ask you to give precise orders to the security forces, above all the Philippines Police Task Force, to reinforce or relaunch their investigations. We also think it is vital that you should warn the security forces not to use any extra-judicial means to eliminate critics, including journalists.

In this respect, the accusations often made by senior police and military officers against press freedom organisations are very regrettable.

At a meeting with representatives of the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists, one of the heads of the national police recently accused international journalists' organisations of being backed by the Communist Party of the Philippines.

Such charges are grotesque and testify to a climate of mistrust between the authorities and journalists' organisations that will in no way help the fight against impunity.More than ever, we hope for concrete results. There is an urgent need for the killers and above all those who hired them to be identified, arrested and tried.

To this end, your administration should disburse funds to reinforce the Philippines Police Task Force and the witness protection programme. A budgetary effort is needed to make good on the announcements.

Reporters Without Borders representatives met the head of the national police and the justice department in Manila in April 2005 and we expressed our concern about the climate of impunity enjoyed by those who kill journalists in your country.

We would now like to alert you to 10 cases of murders of journalists which, according to the information available to us, have not been solved or have been solved only partially. We hope that, within this 10-week deadline, the police and judicial authorities will focus their work on these cases and will step up efforts to arrest those who ordered these murders.

Firstly, we would like to remind you that while the person who carried out the May 2002 killing of Edgar Damalerio in Pagadian (in Zamboanga del Sur province), Guillermo Wapile, has been sentenced to a long prison term, no one has ever been questioned or detained on suspicion of ordering it.

The police and judicial authorities must urgently dispatch a sizable team of investigators to Pagadian, where several journalists have been killed in recent years.

The prevailing impunity is especially flagrant in Pagadian in the murder of journalist Edgar Amoro on 2 February 2005. Arrests warrants have been issued for two suspects, "Madix" Maulana and Norhan Ambol, but the police have not detained them. According to a Pagadian journalist, they have been seen on the streets of Pagadian for months.

Rolly Canete was also murdered in Pagadian on 20 January 2006.

He was shot by unidentified gunmen who drove away on a motorcycle. Aged in his 60s, Canete hosted programmes on local radio stations on behalf of a parliamentarian and the parliamentarian's wife, the province's governor.

Reporters Without Borders would especially like to see the police solve the March 2005 murder of journalist and anti-corruption activist Marlene Esperat in Tacurong (on the southern island of Mindanao). She was gunned down at her home as her daughter and two sons watched in horror.

The hit men have been arrested but those who hired them are still at large. While the trial of the gunmen is on track, the presumed instigators, who include agriculture department officials, were questioned and then mysteriously released.

We also urge you to instruct the police and judicial authorities to focus on the murder of radio presenter George Benaojan, 27, who was shot three times in December 2005 by a man using a .45 calibre pistol who had been waiting for him for more than three hours near a market in Talisay City. Witnesses saw the killer take off in a white taxi.

Benaojan's colleagues said he had recently received SMS death threats. He previously escaped a murder attempt in August 2004 in which those responsible were never identified.
Rolando "Dodong" Morales, 43, a presenter on radio DXMD, was brutally killed by eight unidentified men on the evening of 3 July 2005 near the city of Polomolok (in the south of Mindanao).

Also on the island of Mindanao, Armando Pace, the host of a programme on local radio station DXDS, who had often been threatened for his criticism of local politicians and drug trafficking, was gunned down on 18 July 2006 in Digos by two men on a motorcycle - a common method of carrying out killings in the Philippines.

Two days after his murder, the police arrested three suspects - the motorcycle driver and the shooter (who were confused, one with the other, by the neighbours and relatives who identified them) and the motorcycle's owner.

They were reportedly released. In late July, two policemen were suspended for trying to bring charges against the wrong person. So far the people who ordered the killing have not been identified.

On Mindanao again, George Vigo, a contributor to the Union of Catholic Asian News (UCAN), a news agency, and his wife, Maricel Vigo, the host of a programme on radio dxND, who were both also human rights activists, were murdered on 19 June 2006 in Kidapawan by two men on a motorcycle.

The police claimed to have solved the case after identifying three members of the communist guerrilla group, the NPA, as their killers.

But the victims' colleagues dispute this claim and accuse the police of being unable to arrest the real suspects. Several sources say the investigation has been politically manipulated and botched.

Ely Binoya, a Radyo Natin political commentator who was outspoken in his criticism of corruption in the local elite, was gunned down by two men on a moped as he was returning home on 17 June 2004 in the southern city of Malongon.

Three months later, the police arrested two of the four men they had named as suspects. Both denied having anything to do with the murder.

One of them, Ephraim Englis, was described by the police as the mastermind. Despite evidence pointing to his role, he was acquitted by the regional court in nearby General Santos on 6 March 2006.

Finally, there is an urgent need for the police to find Joey Estriber, the producer of the programme Pag-usapan Natin (Let's talk about that) on local radio DZJO, who was kidnapped on 3 March 2006 by four men outside an Internet café in Baler (in Aurora province).

According to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, Estriber struggled with his abductors and called out as he was bundled into a pickup with tinted windows and no number places.

In the past, you expressed your desire to put an end to the murders of journalists and human rights activists by offering rewards for those providing information.

These efforts have been in vain, and both the perpetrators and instigators know they are protected. The culture of violence in the Philippines is not the sole explanation.

It is the culture of impunity, for which senior government officials share the blame, that has allowed the hit-men and those who hire them to murder so many journalists throughout the country.

The solving of these 10 cases is a major test for your government in its fight to combat press freedom violations, corruption and organised crime.

If it does not pass the test, Reporters Without Borders will again raise this issue with the United Nations, and with the UN human rights council in particular.I look forward to a positive response to our request.


Sincerely,

Robert Ménard
Secretary-General

Puerto Princesa to host Sports Tourism Forum

PALAWAN -- To encourage and stimulate sports tourism development in the country, Selrahco Management Services in cooperation with the Department of Tourism, the local city government and Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) will hold a Sports Tourism Forum next month in Puerto Princesa City in Palawan in the central Philippines.

Cynthia Carrion, Assistant Secretary for Sports and Wellness of the Department of Tourism and Commissioner Jose Emmanuel Eala of Philippine Basketball Association are invited to speak on the event on September 19 at the Asturias Hotel.

Other invited speakers who will discuss topics relevant to sports tourism and marketing are Mayor Edward Hagedorn of Puerto Princesa who will speak on Preparation of Puerto Princesa for Sports Tourism; Felix Cruz, vice president of Philippine Airlines Marketing Support who will present a Case Study: PAL Inter-Sports & Inter-Club Tournament and Princess Galura, IMG Managing Director who will speak on The Badminton Boom on the Philippines.

The forum is open to event organizers, hotels, resorts, tourism councils, sports commissions, schools, sports facilities, event sponsors, sports clubs, malls, sports associations, media organizations and tour operators to attend and be aware the development of sports tourism.

The seminar also aims to prepare participants for active sports tourism programs, marketing sports events, case studies of successful sports tournaments and will give them insights on the staging of the national and international sports events in the Philippines.

In recent years, Puerto Princesa has successfully hosted both local and international sporting events in the past, most prominent of which are: the BIMP-EAGA (Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia- Philippines - East ASEAN Growth Area) Games in 2003, the National Youth and Women's Amateur Boxing Championship, the MIMAROPA (Mindoro Oriental and Occidental-Marinduque-Romblon-Palawan) Regional Athletic Association Games, the International Invitational Sepak Takraw Championships and the best-ever attended motorsports event in Philippine sports history, the FIM-UAM Asia Pacific Motocross Championships; 2006 3rd Motocross Masters of Asia and Round 2 of the FIM-UAM Asia Pacific Motocross Championship last March 2006.

Registration fee is at P500. Limited spaces are available and registration is still ongoing. Those who wish to participate may contact Daisy Adatu at Puerto Princesa City Coliseum at (63 48) 4334297 / fax (63 48) 424-7080 or e-mail at starhtel@mozcom.com or contact (0922) 8262128.

North Cotabato Has New Specialists

KABACAN, North Cotabato (Carolos Bautista / 06 Aug) Some 41 agricultural officers, environment officers, nursery operators from various provinces graduated Sunday as specialists from a month-long rubber technology training at the University of Southern Mindanao in Kabacan town in North Cotabato province.

Also among the graduates were representatives from the Department of Agriculture Region II, IX, XII and ARMM, as well as soldiers from the Army’s 602nd Infantry Brigade based in Carmen town.

The training organized by the provincial government of North Cotabato and jointly supported by the Department of Agriculture, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Agrarian Reform, and National Agribusiness Corporation is part of the national rubber program which Gov. Emmanuel Pinol has asked the national government to adopt.

"For a very long time, we have neglected the potential of the countryside, failed to focus on the more globally marketable high value crops like rubber, resulting in the pathetic condition of the people in the countryside," Pinol told the graduates.

"Our experience in North Cotabato has proven that a refocused agricultural development program based on marketable high value crops is a very potent tool to combat poverty. From the 5th poorest in 1998, our province is now ranked 29th among the more progressive in the country according to the NSCB. "

"We want to share this with the other provinces because our success would be meaningless if our other countrymen remain poor and hopeless," he added.

Pinol said rubber could well be the vehicle that will propel the country forward economically.

"A million hectares planted to rubber in the country would mean 500 thousand new jobs in the rubber plantations alone. If we add those who are needed to produce rubber farm implements like tapping knives, rings, etc., the count could easily run to 1.5 million jobs. Filipinos would no longer need to suffer the indignation of working abroad as domestic helpers," he said.

"What we are all doing is a historic step to provide hope for our people," the governor added.

The training participants which came from Isabela, Benguet,Mindoro Occidental, Palawan, Antique, Negros Occidental, Zamboang Sibugay, Bukidnon, Saranggani, South Cotabato and Maguindanao, were given lessons in nursery establishment, plantation establishment, soil suitability, operational requirements, processing and manufacturing among others.

"It's practically a 1-year rubber technology course compressed into 1 month,' said North Cotabato provincial agriculturist Antonio Balagot.

The participants were also taught how to prepare feasibility studies and project proposals for establishment of nurseries, plantations, and rubber processing or manufacturing projects for presentation to their respective LGUs and agencies for funding.

Pinol has proposed that the new rubber specialists be sent to Kuala Lumpur in November for an educational trip to the Malaysian Rubber Board's research and development facility there.

"We will request the DA to sponsor the trip, but the LGUs should of course have a counterpart," he said.

MAGHUSAY TA! By Uriel Cruz Vallecera In Cebu

KONSENSIYA UG PRINSIPYO

TAGSA na lang kaayoy buotang driver karong panahona. Tungod ba kaha sa kalisod na sa panahon karon, naay ubang mga driver og public utility vehicle nga manikas pa sa ilang pasahero pinaagi sa dili paghatag sa hustong sukli. May mga taxi driver usab nga dili mogamit og metro kay gustog kontrata. Ang uban may metro man tuod pero paspas pas alas kuwatro kon modagan.

Pero duna pa gyod diay mga driver nga adunay konsensiya ug usa na niini si Toribio Malicay, taga Banawa, Cebu City nga nagmaneho sa Spider taxi.

Dalaygon ang maong driver tungod kay bisan sa kalisod sa panahon karon, wala man gayod siya mahaylo pagtago sa dakong kantidad nga nahibilin sa pasahero sa iyang taxi nga gimaneho.

Konsensiya ug prinsipyo maoy nagtukmod ni Malicay, 50 anyos, sa pag-uli sa pitaka sa usa ka pasaherong Hapon nga may sulod nga $10 mil o P.5 million. Dako gyod ang maong kantidad ug kon gitagoan lang kadto ni Malicay o ba kaha gamiton sa pagnegosyo, mahimong dili na siya magmaneho og taxi sa tibuok niyang kinabuhi.

Apan ang prinsipyo ni Malicay dili matugbangan og bisan unsang kantidad. Mipatigbabaw ang iyang baroganan kay sa tentasyon pagtago sa kuwarta nga dili iya. Nahadlok ba kaha sa gaba, o nag-amping lang gyong dili mabulingan ang iyang kaligdong, si Malicay mihukkom nga iuli ang maong kantidad ngadto sa tinuod nga tag-iya.

Dalaygon ang gibuhat ni Malicay ug angay gayod siyang pasidunggan. Lisod na kaayong pangitaon ang tawong ligdong nga sama kaniya. Kon modaghan ang mga driver nga susamag baroganan ni Malicay, kanindot kaha sa katilingban. Wala untay suliran ang mga pasahero mahitungod sa badlongon nga mga taxi driver.

-o0o-

Daghan kaayo ang nakabaton og suliran mahitungod sa paghipos sa basura sa lainlaing dapit sa atong nasod. Usa na niini ang lalawigan sa Cebu nga gipuy-an sa daghan kaayong mga tawo.

Ang problema god naggumikan ra usab sa katawhan nga dili mokooperar sa mga programa sa gobyerno mahitungod sa hustong paghipos og basura. Tungod ba kaha sa katapolan, daghan sa atong kaigsuonan nga dili mosunod sa mga lagda nga gipatuman mahitungod sa paghipos sa basura.

Kon mokooperar lang unta ang katawhan, mahimo gyong limpiyo ang atong palibot. Dugang niini, kinahanglang magmatinud-anon usab ang mga gitahasan sa pagkolekta sa mga basura sa ilang trabaho aron malimpiyo gayod ang atong palibot.

2 Soldiers Killed In Jolo Clash

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Juan Magtanggol / 04 Aug) Two government soldiers were wounded in sporadic clashes with Abu Sayyaf militants in the southern Filipino island of Jolo, where security forces are pursuing leaders of the terrorist group, blamed for the spate of attacks in the strife-torn region, officials said Friday.

Officials said a still undetermined number of militants were either killed or wounded, but there were no signs that any of the top Abu Sayyaf leaders were slain. Troops were also tracking down two Jemaah Islamiya bombers Umar Patek and Dulmatin reportedly hiding on the island, about 950 kms south of Manila.

"There are fighting on the island and two of our soldiers were wounded. We have reports saying that many terrorists were killed and wounded," Marine Lt. Col. Abid Bajunaid, of the Southern Command, told the Zamboanga Journal.

The latest casualties brought to 7 the number of soldiers wounded in the fighting since Tuesday.

The military said at least 3 militants were also killed and two more wounded in the fighting when security forces attacked terrorist hideouts in at least four hinterland villages in the town of Indanan.

Soldiers were also tracking down Khadaffy Janjalani, the chieftain of the Abu Sayyaf group, but there were no fresh reports about his location or any of the two JI bombers.

Patek, an Indonesian explosive expert, was believed to have played a role in the Bali bombing in which more than 200 people were killed. Both Patek and Dulmatin, a Malaysian electronics expert, evaded a massive police hunt in Indonesia after the Bali bombing and fled to Mindanao in the southern Philippines in August 2003 soon after the bombing of the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta.

Police on the island said four fishermen were also arrested by the military for carrying illegal weapons near Indanan town and are being interrogated.

The US military is also helping in the anti-terror campaign by providing intelligence to the Philippine military, Filipino security officials said.

Washington listed the Abu Sayyaf as a foreign terrorist organization. The group was implicated in the kidnapping of three US citizens in 2001; two of them were killed during captivity. The US has offered $10 million bounty each for the capture of Janjalani and Dulmatin and another $1 million for Patek.

Dulmatin and two more JI leaders, including Patek, were also reported training Filipino recruits in Mindanao under the protection of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the country's largest Muslim rebel group which is currently negotiating peace with the Arroyo government, according to Zachary Abuza, an Associate Professor for Political Science and International Relations at Boston's Simmons College.

"(Dulmatin), he is one of four top JI leaders — including Umar Patek, Zulkifli bin Hir and possibly Abdul Rahman Ayub — who have continued to train members of JI and the Abu Sayyaf Group in Moro Islamic Liberation Front camps in the Philippines."

"His presence has in part explained the ASG's return to terrorism since 2004. He was the target of Philippines Armed Forces bombing raids in the Liguasan Marsh (in Maguindanao province) area in November 2004 and January 2005, where a hard-line member of MILF was believed to have given him sanctuary, said Abuza.

The MILF on Thursday branded Abuza's statement as an old issue, but said it is ready to cooperate with the Philippine authorities and investigate the matter.

"It was an old issue. Provide us the information and we will investigate these allegations; our doors are wide open for the Philippine authorities to see that we have no links with the JI or the Abu Sayyaf or any terror groups. The MILF is not a terrorist organization and we have repeatedly and publicly denounced terrorism. We are for peace," said Eid Kabalu, the MILF spokesman.

The Afghanistan-trained Dulmatin was also said to be raising funds for terror campaign in the Philippines and Indonesia, Abuza said.

Philippine authorities have implicated Dulmatin in the 2003 bombing of the Davao International Airport and Sasa wharf in Davao City in Mindanao. Three of his local Abu Sayyaf contacts -- Pedro Guiamat, Ali Salipada and Norodin Mangalen -- were arrested last year in Maguindanao Province.

A bomb hidden in a backpack exploded in March 2003 at the Davao airport terminal, killing 19 people, including a US missionary William Hyde, and wounding more than 145 people. A second bomb explosion also ripped through a passenger terminal in Sasa wharf that killed and wounded dozens of people.

In 2005, Dulmatin and Umar Patek ordered Abdullah Sonata, a JI operative in Central Java who was arrested in conjunction with the September 4, 2004 Australian Embassy bombing, to dispatch additional JI members to Mindanao for training. He has also called for JI suicide bombers to be sent to the Philippines for operations.

Muslim Cleric Arrested In South RP

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Top Pinoy Quilter Seeks Honor For RP At AQS 2006 Quilt Exposition In U.S.

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (Mike Banos / 03 Aug) Top Filipino quilter Myrl Lehman Tapungot of Cagayan de Oro City was selected as semifinalist for the AQS 2006 Quilt Exposition on August 23-26 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

Tapungot has been chosen to join 328 others in this annual contest now in its sixth year, offering $38,000 in cash awards. Tapungot's quilt, La Renaissance en Pastel, measures 74 inches wide by 74 inches long, and hundreds of hours of work.

Her entry was chosen by a three-member jury for the final judging. Three quilting authorities will judge this elite group prior to the opening of the show. The individual quilt named Best of Show will garner the AQS Best of Show award and $7,500 cash prize.

Regardless of how her the quilt places in the final judging, it still joins all 329 quilts to be displayed at the annual quilt show which brings more than 25,000 quilters, collectors, enthusiasts, and vendors to Nashville each August.

Quilts are no longer relegated to serving as mere bed covers. Many of these works, made with fabric and thread, are designed as art for the wall, according to AQS President Meredith Schroeder.

The quilts in this year's contest are from around the world and feature beautiful palettes of color. Entries are from 41 U.S. states and 7 other countries, including Canada, Germany, France, Korea, Japan, the Netherlands with only the Philippines, represented by Tapungot.

There are four categories in the judged contest: Quilter's Choice, O My Stars, On the Wall, and the Ultimate Guild Challenge.

In addition to the contest, there are six special exhibits of quilts: Cutting Loose, quilts by the Studio Art Quilt Associates, Teacher's Showcase of Quilts, Oh Wow! Miniature Quilt Collection from the Museum of the American Quilter's Society, Dresden Plate, New Quilts from An Old Favorite, Alzheimer's: Forgetting Piece by Piece, and Quilts That Saw Us Through the War, antique quilts from WWII.

Sewers will also have the opportunity to stitch at the Baby Lock USA Quilts for Kids booth to make charity quilts for children.

Tapungot and her company M. Dean's House of Design, have previously placed Cagayan de Oro City and the Philippines in the map by winning top prizes in quilt competitions.

Barely three months ago, she brought honors to the Philippines by winning first prize in her category at the 2006 AQS Quilt Show & Contest held April 26-29 at the Paducah Expo Center in Paducah, Kentucky which was dominated by entries from the U.S. and Japan.

Myrl Lehman Tapungot's entry, "Mystic Beauty II", won first prize in the Bed Quilts Category Group - Mettler(r) Imported by A&E, Inc. Second was Sagacious Sisters by Sagacious Sisters, Marysville, WA while third was Flower Symphony by Aki Ueda of Aichi, Japan which however, is also reportedly made by Filipino quilters from Gusa.

"We have been around for many years, and we have been winning awards for quite a while. We compete in the group quilt category, and as you might imagine it is harder for group quilts to compete with other quilts because they are done by several different hands, therefore different stitches," Tapungot wrote in a statement posted in her website http://www.mdeans.com

"But in order to offer large works to the general "quilt loving" public, we have to do our quilts as a group and team effort. Some of our quilts can easily take over a year of dedicated effort to complete. We pride ourselves in making quilts with near perfect, identical stitches, and even experts using magnifying glasses find it difficult or impossible to tell the difference."

Tapungot stressed that while she designs and directly supervises all the work done on her award winning quilts, it is a collective effort by M. Dean's House of Design, a small family business that started in 1984 in their residence at Villa Ernesto Subdivision in Gusa village in Cagayan de Oro City.

"We employ some 150 handicraft people in the making of our beautiful quilts, all done by hand, to achieve that special look that can't be duplicated by any machine." Tapungot stressed. "This is a long, intricate process, because we do some of the finest stitching in the world. However, for maximum strength and accurate alignment, all of our piecing is done by machine."

"We guarantee all of our quilts 100%," Tapungot asserts with confidence. "If for any reason, you are not satisfied with the quilt you ordered, we will fix it, and if it can't be fixed, we will either replace it or cheerfully refund your money."

Although almost all of her quilters did not have any previous experience in quilting, M. Dean's established a family tradition among the quilters she employs who sometimes have three generations of their kin quilting together the award-winning designs in their homes.

"Many of our quilters' main source of income is farming, and quilting provides a valuable source of supplemental income between planting and harvesting," Tapungot explained.

"Most of the quilting is done in the traditional way, in the employee's individual homes, providing scores of families in our area additional income and stability. This also affords the homemakers a chance to earn income while caring for their homes and families."

Tapungot is not bothered by the country's lack of a tradition in quilting, which was pioneered in Cagayan de Oro by another Filipino quilter from Carmen, Ellen K. Delgado and the Oro House of Patches.

"We have set up shop here off the beaten track and have grown independent of what is going on with the rest of the Quilt world. We offer original designs and methods few have the means or skill to do. We think you will agree that our Trapunto MAGIC is a complete departure from other more traditional Trapunto Quilting. We make lovely three dimensional Quilts that will please the eye, the hand, as well as the heart. "

Tapungot and M. Dean's House of Design have won many awards over the years, the most significant of which include "Le Mariage d' Eryn", 1st Place in the Group Quilt category at the Houston International Quilt Festival held Nov 4-7, 2004 ("An amazing Trapunto quilt inspired by my lovely granddaughter and the hope that one day I will be there to see her wedding).

“Enchanted Doorway II”, 1st Place and Judges Choice award, Group Quilt Category, International Quilt Association's Quilt Festival at Houston, Texas held Oct. 21-24 1999; which again won 2nd Place, Group Quilt Category at the 17th Annual Quilt Show and Contest of the American Quilter's Society, Paducah, Kentucky, April 25-28, 2001.

“Baltimore Album,” 1st Place Viewers Choice Award, 3rd Annual Quilt Show held in Mt. Angel Brewery, Mt. Angel, Oregon, February , 1999 ; "My Garden of Dreams", GINGHER AWARD for "Excellence in hand Workmanship", Viewers' Choice Award, American Quilt Society in Paducah, Kentucky, awarded a $10, 000.00 dollar prize in April 1997 and now exhibited in the American Quilters Society Quilt Museum;

Purple Lilac Bouquet, 1st Place, Quilting in the Teton's Trapunto Category Viewers Choice Award 1993; Small Myomi, 1st Place, Lampasas Quilt Extravaganza, Lampasas, Texas; Texas Star, 1st Place, CPQG, Texas, 1993; and the multi-awarded Rose Lilac Bouquet, 1st place and Viewers Choice Award, Misty Mountain Quilters Guild, August 1993;

1st place , Wall Hangings 36" or less category, 22nd Annual Northwest Quilters Guild, March 1997; 1st place, Okefenokee Quilt Fest Ware CO Chapter, Georgia, Council on Child Abuse, 1992 and 1st place, Lane County Fair, Oregon 1997 (competing in the "Applique, trapunto and alphabet quilts" category).

Couple, 2 Children Die In Misamis Flash Flood

WRATH OF NATURE: Above, the homeless and middle, rescuers carry the body of a father, his wife and two children also died after rampaging flood swept them away while crossing a river in Misamis Oriental province in southern RP. (Dante Sudaria, Gold Star Daily)

MISAMIS ORIENTAL (Mike Banos / 03 Aug) A farming couple and their two children were killed after drowning from rampaging flood water brought about by heavy rains in the province of Misamis Oriental in the southern Philippines, officials said Thursday.

Rescuers have recovered separately the bodies of the couple Ronald and Ana Ayuman in Macajalar Bay and children’s corpses – Joy, 3, and Neil, 7 months, had been found Thursday off Camiguin island after flash flood swept away houses in at least three towns in the province on Wednesday.

Teddy Sabugaa, acting provincial social welfare officer, said the four were crossing the Balatukan River in the village of Kibanban in Balingasag town when flash flood swept were them all away.

Another farmer, identified only as Jamiro, is also missing in the village of Talusan in Balingasag, he said.

Jaime Caina, provincial board member, said the flood damaged dikes and spillways and would cost the government about P20 million.

The Department of Agriculture in Nothern Mindanao said some P4 million in livestock and agriculture were also damaged by flash floods. All the crops in the farming village of Napiliran were wiped out by floodwaters and at least 19 houses destroyed in Balingasag alone, it said.

Aside from Balingasag, the flash flood also submerged the towns of Sugbungcogon and Lagonglong. The hometown of Gov. Oscar Moreno, Balingasag, was the hardest hit and flooded the villages Binitinan, Mandangua, Talusan, Tulay Grande and San Isidro. Flash flood also hit the villages of Kauswagan in Lagonglong and some portions of Sugbongcogon along the river.

Sabugaa said some 181 families were affected in Balingasag and 150 in Lagonglong where Mayor Jovenal Puertas Jr. evacuated villagers to the Lagonglong Multi-Purpose Court since the flood waters had already raised to three feet.

Balingasag vice mayor Alexis Quina called an emergency meeting of the Sangguniang Bayan and declared the town disaster area to enable the local government to use its calamity fund.

Cebu Pacific offers P99 seats to Tagbilaran and Kalibo

MANILA (Zamboanga Journal / 03 Aug) Cebu Pacific (CEB) on Thursday announced that it was offering seats for its Manila – Tagbilaran and Manila – Kalibo routes for only P99 one-way.

The sale runs from August 3 to August 10 only and travel period will be from August 14 to October 19, it said.

After the seat sale, the lowest ‘Go’ fare to Tagbilaran and Kalibo starts at P568 for one-way travel. The promotion and ‘Go’ fares are exclusive of regular surcharges and government taxes.

“As we carry on with our expansion, we will continue to offer the lowestfares in the sectors we operate. We are confident that with this seat sale more people are going to fly to Tagbilaran and Kalibo because now, they can afford to,” said Candice Iyog, CEB marketing director.

The P99 one-way fare is for immediate payment upon booking, Iyog said, adding, the best way to grab the promo is through Cebu Pacific’s website at cebupacificair.com or any nearest ticket outlets.

"Our efforts to help develop local tourism continue as we open new routes, add more frequencies to our destinations and offer the lowest fares in the market. All these are aimed at bringing air travel closer to Filipinos because we really believe that it’s time every Juan flies,” Iyog added.

CEB has earlier opened its Dipolog and Laoag service and will start flying to Legaspi on August 17 and Singapore on August 31. It will also start its third daily frequencies to Tagbilaran, Cagayan de Oro and Tacloban on August 17.

The new routes and additional frequencies are part of CEB’s expansion program, according to Iyog.

Now in its 11th year, the airline pioneered low fares in the country and now has the youngest fleet in the Philippines and one of the youngest in Asia. CEB also introduced travelers to on-time service, e-ticketing, and on-line booking, setting the standards for airline innovation in the local aviation industry.

MAGHUSAY TA! By Uriel Cruz Vallecera In Cebu

SUPAK ANG MAYOR

MIPADAYAG sa iyang pagsupak si Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmena kalabot sa rekomendasyon sa Police Coordinating and Advisory Council (PCAC) nga hatagan sa kagamhanan sa siyudad sa Sugbo og P1,000 nga incentive allowance matag bulan ang mga polis nga naggikan sa lainlaing dapit nga madestino sa dakbayan atol sa pagpahigayon sa ASEAN Summit.

Alang ni Mayor Osmena, wala siyay nakitang balidong hinungdan kon nganong kinahanglan pang mogahin og pundo ang dakbayan sa Sugbo alang sa dugang insentibo sa mga polis tungod kay gimbuhaton sa maong mga polis ang pagpatunhay sa kahusay ug kalinaw.

Samtang malipay unta kita kon misanong pa ang mayor sa maong rekomendasyon apan gitahod usab nato ang iyang pagsupak. Kini tungod kay may sukaranan man usab ang iyang pagsupak sa lakang paghatag og insentibo ngadto sa mga polis nga madestino sa dakbayan sa Sugbo atol sa summit. Suweldado sa kagamhanan ang maong mga polis.

Hinuon, kon miuyon pa gyod si Osmena nga hatagan og insentibo ang mga polis, makaayo usab kini alang sa maong mga polis tungod kay makatapak man gayod kini sa ilang magasto samtang ania sila sa Sugbo. Apan dili usab nato masupak ang kaligdong sa mayor tungod kay nagsandig ang iyang argumento sa balido kaayong katarongan.

Tinuod man usab nga dili gayod mobligasyon sa dakbayan sa Sugbo ang paghatag og insentibo sa mga polis nga madestino sa maong dapit. Bisan asa pa sila madestino, magdawatan sila kanunay sa suweldo nga naggikan sa gobyerno. Busa walay obligasyon ang dakbayan sa Sugbo sa paghatag og insentibo kanila.

-o0o-

Makapahibulong kaayo kay kon mag-uwan gani, maghuot dayon ang trapiko sa dakbayan sa Sugbo nga unta dili man madugangan ang volume sa mga sakyanan nga mosubay sa kadalanan.

Kining suliran sa trapiko sayon ra gyod untang sulbaron kon dili pa lang papingispingisan sa atong mga opisyal ang paghatag niining kasulbaran. Ang problema kay wala man gayod mohimo ang kagamhanan og ultimatum nga sulbad niining maong suliran.

Dili kay ang dakbayan sa Sugbo ray makasinati og kahuot sa trapiko kon mag-uwan. Lakip pod ang Talisay City, Mandaue City, Lapulapu City, Consolacion, Liloan ug uban pa. Angayan sulbaron kining maong suliran kay hasol kaayo kini sa mga biyahedor.

-o0o-

Adunay tapsilogan diha sa Humayhumay Road sa Lapulapu City nga gireklamo tungod kay masuko (kuno) ang tagdumala niini kon mangayo og resibo ang mga kustomer. Tulibagbag kaayo kining pamation.
Ang mas tulibagbag mao ang giingon sa atong texter nga adunay mga babayeng mugbog lupad diha sa maong tapsilogan. Maayong masusi kini sa nahingtungdang ahensiya sa atong kagamhanan aron masuta kon unsa kini ka tinuod.

OUR WORD OF THE DAY: schwarmerei

The Word of the Day:

schwarmerei \shavair-muh-RYE\ noun

1:excessive or unwholesome sentiment

Example sentence: The poet's later works are refreshingly free of the schwarmerei that hobbled his earlier efforts. Merriam-Webster

Human Rights Violations In RP Worry Church Leaders

Rev. Larry Pickens

Human rights abuses remain a concern for faith leaders in the Philippines, according to a United Methodist church executive.

Rev. Larry Pickens, chief executive of the United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity, met with ecumenical leaders, including those from the United Church of Christ and Pentecostal churches, during a 3-day visit to Mindanao last week.

The leaders shared with him the most recent list of church workers, both laity and clergy, assassinated over the past three years, Pickens said.

Support from international groups -- including United Methodist delegations, the World Council of Churches and the Christian Conference of Asia -- has been helpful in raising the "visibility" of the human rights problem.

"The hope is that as church groups continue to put the pressure on their governments to push the Philippine administration, that will have a positive effect," he said.

In early January, Pickens was part of a United Methodist delegation to the Philippines that called upon President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to take a more aggressive role to stop the killing of clergy, laity, journalists and human rights workers who help the poor.

Bishop John Hopkins, head of the delegation, told a Jan. 6 news conference in Manila, "The killing must stop." The delegation heard first-hand testimony from more than 20 victims and surviving family members from many parts of the Philippines, who described the pain and suffering exacted through murders targeting religious and community workers.

"Our people are not armed," the bishop said at the press conference. "They teach, provide medical care, counsel and educate. We implore the government and military officials to recognize the important work of those who seek to minister with the poor and marginalized, and to distinguish their work as vital and important to the country and its people."

Pickens also visited United Methodist and United Church of Christ sites with Jonathan Ulanday, a director of the Commission on Christian Unity and assistant to Bishop Leo Soriano, based in Kidapawan City in North Cotabato province.

Pickens was impressed by the interfaith cooperation on Mindanao. "The church is able to function in what is a very heavily populated Muslim setting," he said. "I think there generally has been peaceful co-existence between the Christian community and the Muslim community.”

Pickens said the Commission on Christian Unity would investigate the possibility of an interfaith summit for the denomination to consider ways in which the church can address interfaith relationships in various countries and "be in dialogue and community with brothers and sisters in other faith contexts." (Linda Bloom)

RP Troops Continue Assault In Jolo Island

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Zamboanga Journal / 03 Aug) Filipino troops, backed by US military intelligence, continue to assault suspected lairs of Abu Sayyaf militants, whose group is tied to Jemaah Islamiya terror network, in the strife-torn southern island of Jolo, about 950 km from Manila, officials said.

Officials said soldiers were also tracking down Khadaffy Janjalani, the chieftain of the Abu Sayyaf group, and two Jemaah Islamiya leaders Umar Patek and Dulmatin, tagged as behind the deadly 2002 Bali bombings.

"We have reports that the two JI bombers are in Jolo, but we cannot say if they were with the group of Abu Sayyaf terrorists that we are fighting now. It is difficult to say that Patek and Dulmatin are fighting soldiers alongside with the Abu Sayyaf group," Army Col. Antonio Supnet, chief of staff the Southern Command in Zamboanga City , told the Zamboanga Journal.

Patek, an Indonesian explosive expert, was believed to have played a role in the Bali bombing in which more than 200 people were killed. Both Patek and Dulmatin, a Malaysian electronics expert, evaded a massive police hunt in Indonesia after the Bali bombing and fled to Mindanao in the southern Philippines in August 2003 soon after the bombing of the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta.

At least 3 militants were killed and two more wounded in the fighting. Five soldiers were also injured in the clash since Tuesday when security forces attacked terrorist hideouts in at least four hinterland villages in the town of Indanan, said Supnet.

"The military offensive is ongoing and sporadic clashes were reported today in Indanan," Supnet said, but there were no immediate reports of new casualties from both sides.

Indanan is also a known lair of the former rebel group Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and its leaders assured the military that their forces would not provide sanctuary to terrorists. The MNLF signed a peace accord with Manila in 1996 ending more than three decades of hostilities in the south.

Filipino authorities blamed the Abu Sayyaf group for the spate of terror attacks and killings in the region.

The US military is also helping in the anti-terror campaign by providing intelligence to the Philippine military. "Friends in the US military are helping the military by providing us intelligence. They are not involved in combat operation," Supnet said.

Commander Kathy Wright, a spokesperson for the US military, said American soldiers were also providing life-support system for local troops in Jolo island. "We are helping in the medical evacuation of wounded soldiers. The US military is not directly involved in any combat operation in Jolo, but we continue to assist and advice the Philippine military on the fight against terrorism on the request of the Filipino government," she said.

A US EP3 Orion reconnaissance plane was also reported flying over Zamboanga and Jolo on Tuesday, but Wright said the aircraft was only gathering weather data for the Philippine military. "Law abiding people have nothing to fear about the plane. It was just gathering weather data and forecast for the Philippine military," she said in a separate interview.

US soldiers were training Filipino troops in anti-terrorism warfare and involved in many humanitarian missions in the south. A small contingent of American troops is also in Jolo island.

Washington listed the Abu Sayyaf as a foreign terrorist organization and was implicated in the kidnapping of three US citizens in 2001, two of them were killed during captivity.
Major General Gabriel Habacon, chief of the Southern Command, said he ordered the assault on the terrorist groups after the military traced the Abu Sayyaf in Indanan town.

"The Southern Command has already designed an extensive offensive plot for the capture of these elements to prevent them from performing terrorist activities and permanently disperse them in the region. We have been planning and working for months to find and track the terrorist leadership and the time is now," he said.

The US has offered $10 million bounty each for the capture of Janjalani and Dulmatin and another $1 million for Patek.

Dulmatin and two more JI leaders, including Patek, were also reported training Filipino recruits in Mindanao under the protection of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the country's largest Muslim rebel group which is currently negotiating peace with the Arroyo government, according to Zachary Abuza, one of the leading scholars on Terrorism in Southeast Asia, in an article he wrote for the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation.

"(Dulmatin), he is one of four top JI leaders — including Umar Patek, Zulkifli bin Hir and possibly Abdul Rahman Ayub — who have continued to train members of JI and the Abu Sayyaf Group in Moro Islamic Liberation Front camps in the Philippines."

"His presence has in part explained the ASG's return to terrorism since 2004. He was the target of Philippines Armed Forces bombing raids in the Liguasan Marsh (in Maguindanao province) area in November 2004 and January 2005, where a hard-line member of MILF was believed to have given him sanctuary, said Abuza, who is also a current Associate Professor for Political Science and International Relations at Simmons College in the US.

The MILF on Thursday said Abuza's statement was an old issue, but said it is ready to cooperate with the Philippine authorities and investigate the matter.

"It was an old issue. Provide us the information and we will investigate this allegations; our doors are wide open for the Philippine authorities to see that we have no links with the JI nor the Abu Sayyaf or any terror groups. The MILF is not a terrorist organization and we have repeatedly and publicly denounced terrorism. We are for peace," Eid Kabalu, the MILF spokesman, told the Zamboanga Journal.

The Afghanistan-trained Dulmatin was also said to be raising funds for terror campaign in the Philippines and Indonesia, Abuza said.

Philippine authorities have implicated Dulmatin in the 2003 bombing of the Davao International Airport and Sasa wharf in Davao City in Mindanao.Three of his local Abu Sayyaf contacts -- Pedro Guiamat, Ali Salipada and Norodin Mangalen -- were arrested last year in Maguindanao Province. A bomb hidden in a backpack exploded in March 2003 at the Davao airport terminal, killing 19 people, including a US missionary William Hyde, and wounding more than 145 people.

A second bomb explosion also ripped through a passenger terminal in Sasa wharf that killed and wounded dozens of people.

In 2005, Dulmatin and Umar Patek ordered Abdullah Sonata, a JI operative in Central Java who was arrested in conjunction with the September 4, 2004 Australian Embassy bombing, to dispatch additional JI members to Mindanao for training. He has also called for JI suicide bombers to be sent to the Philippines for operations, Abuza said.

Aside from the JI, the United States also listed the Abu Sayyaf as a foreign terrorist organization. Washington tagged the group for the killing of two kidnapped US citizens in 2002 in the southern Philippines.

Jail Bureau Holds Medical Missions For Prisoners

A doctor examines a prisoner while Chief Supt. Antonio Cruz (center), head of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, supervises a medical mission in the National Capital Region. (Belsie Agustin)

MANILA (Belsie Agustin / 02 Aug) The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) launched its medical and dental missions in the different jails in the National Capital Region and Antipolo City Jail as part of a continuing health program for prisoners, officials said.

Chief Superintendent Antonio Cruz, BJMP chief, said the program was in partnership with the private Give a Life Charity Foundation, Inc. and held at the weekend.

“Hundreds of prisoners benefited from the medical mission,” he told the Zamboanga Journal.

Many inmates at the Antipolo City Jail were suffering from skin diseases because of overcrowding and poor hygiene. Other inmates were also malnourished and had flu and diarrhea.

Cruz, who spearheaded the project, said the BJMP will conduct more medical mission to serve other jails. “We understand the plight and condition of the inmates and we will make it sure that these problems would be addressed to immediately,” he said.

He said the medical mission is a yearlong activity and targeted 24 jails in the National Capital Region.

Cruz said the medical mission was being supported by local government officials, civic and other non-governmental organizations. He urged regional jail officials to also conduct medical mission in their areas.

3 Sayyafs Killed In Jolo Military Offensive

Military officials brief Wednesday 02 Aug 2006 journalists in Zamboanga City on the offensive against the Abu Sayyaf group in Jolo island in the southern Philippines. (Zamboanga Journal)

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Zamboanga Journal / 02 Aug) At least 3 Abu Sayyaf militants were killed in fierce clashes in the southern Philippine island of Jolo, where local security forces, backed by US military intelligence, mounted fresh offensive against the group blamed for the spate of terror attacks and killings in the restive region, officials said on Wednesday.

Officials said fighting erupted on Wednesday in the hinterlands of Indanan town where troops had cornered a still undetermined number of Abu Sayyaf militants. At least two Abu Sayyaf gunmen and five soldiers were also wounded in the fighting that began Tuesday night, said Army Col. Antonio Supnet, of the Southern Command.

"Three terrorists were reported killed and two more are wounded. Five government soldiers are also injured in the fighting in Indanan town where we cornered a number of Abu Sayyaf members," Supnet told the Zamboanga Journal.

He said military intelligence reports suggested that two Jemaah Islamiya leaders Umar Patek and Dulmatin, blamed as behind the 2002 Bali bombings, were on the island.

"We have reports that the two JI bombers are in Jolo, but we cannot say if they were with the group of Abu Sayyaf terrorists that we are fighting now. It is difficult to say that Patek and Dulmatin are fighting soldiers alongside with the Abu Sayyaf group," Supnet said.

Troops were also pursuing Khadaffy Janjalani, the chieftain of the Abu Sayyaf group, he said. Supnet did not say how many troops were involved in the offensive, but the Abu Sayyaf militants in Jolo are estimated to be less than 100.

Supnet said an undetermined number of civilians have fled their homes in Indanan town because of the presence of Abu Sayyaf terrorists. "The civilians are fleeing their homes because of the Abu Sayyaf. But many civilians are helping the military by giving information about the terrorists and their locations," he said.

He said the US military is also helping in the campaign by providing intelligence to the Philippine military. "Friends in the US military are helping the military by providing us intelligence. They are not involved in combat operation," Supnet said.

Commander Kathy Wright, a spokesperson for the US military, said American soldiers were also providing life-support system in Jolo island. "We are helping in the medical evacuation of wounded soldiers. The US military is not directly involved in any combat operation in Jolo, but we continue to assist and advice the Philippine military on the fight against terrorism on the request of the Filipino government," she said in a separate interview.

A US EP3 Orion reconnaissance plane was reported flying over Zamboanga and Jolo on Tuesday night, but Wright said the aircraft was only gathering weather data for the Philippine military. "Law abiding people have nothing to fear about the plane. It was just gathering weather data and forecast for the Philippine military," she said.

Major General Gabriel Habacon, chief of the Southern Command, ordered troops to assault the terrorist groups after the military traced the Abu Sayyaf in Indanan town.

“The Southern Command has already designed an extensive offensive plot for the capture of these elements to prevent them from performing terrorist activities and permanently disperse them in the region. We have been planning and working for months to find and track the terrorist leadership and the time is now,” he said in a statement.

US soldiers were training Filipino troops in anti-terrorism warfare and involved in many humanitarian missions in the south. A small contingent of American troops is also in Jolo island.

Washington listed the Abu Sayyaf as a foreign terrorist organization and was implicated in the kidnapping of three US citizens in 2001, two of them were killed during captivity.

Gunmen Seize Daughter Of University President In Zamboanga

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Zamboanga Journal / 02 Aug) Unidentified men snatched the daughter of a university president in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, where the Sayyaf group is known to operate, officials said

Officials said the 19-year old Grace Gonzalez was seized late Tuesday near their house in Guiwan village after gunmen attacked and injured her female companion.

Local radio reports said Gonzalez's companion was rushed to hospital after one of the men hit her in the head with the butt of his gun. The victim is the daughter of Dr Eldigario Gonzalez, president of the state-owned Western Mindanao State University .

"We still don't know the motive, but the police are closely working with the victim's family," said Superintendent Francisco Cristobal, chief of the local police force.

He said victim's family had received previous kidnapping threats and that police was investigating whether it was connected to the abduction of Gonzalez.

No group claimed responsibility for the abduction, police said.

The military is also tracking down the victim, said Army Colonel Edgardo Gidaya, commander of a local anti-terrorist task force.

"There is an ongoing investigation and we cannot say at this time who were behind the abduction or whether the Abu Sayyaf was involved or not, but security forces are now tracking down the victim," he told the Zamboanga Journal.

Just early this year, a young daughter of a senior police official was also kidnapped in Zamboanga City and until now is being held captive. But officials remain silent on who was holding the girl.

Authorities blamed the Abu Sayyaf group in several high profiles kidnapping of foreigners and wealthy Filipino in Zamboanga City . The group had previously kidnapped a German canning executive here, two Belgians and a Taiwanese matriarch and Fililipino-Chinese traders.

RP Military Orders New Offensive In Jolo Island

BASILAN (Zamboanga Journal / 01 Aug) The Philippine military on Tuesday ordered an intensified operation in the southern island of Jolo to flush out members of the Abu Sayyaf group and Jemaah Islamiya, officials said.

Major General Gabriel Habacon, chief of the Southern Command, ordered troops to assault the terrorist groups, blamed for the spate of attacks and kidnappings in the restive region.

“The assault operation on these terrorist groups is in accordance with the all-out war campaign that was recently launched by the government,” Habacon said in a statement.

The military said that “top-of-the-list” terrorist groups as well as some high-ranking terrorist leaders were allegedly in the town of Indanan.

“The Southern Command has already designed an extensive offensive plot for the capture of these elements to prevent them from performing terrorist activities and permanently disperse them in the region,” he said.

Habacon did not say if there were clashes, but he ordered infantry and marine troops on the island to track down the terrorists.

“We have been planning and working for months to find and track the terrorist leadership and the time is now,” he said.

He did not say if troops were pursuing Khadaffy Janjalani, the chieftain of the Abu Sayyaf group, and two Jemaah Islamiya bombers Umar Patek and Dulmatin, who were earlier reported to be hiding in Jolo. The duo was tagged as behind the 2002 Bali bombings.

The offensive came just a day after a US Orion spy plane was spotted flying over in the southern Philippine port city of Zamboanga, where US soldiers involved in joint anti-terrorism training with Filipino troops are based. A small contingent is also in Jolo island.

CPP-NPA Website Is Back!

Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal, CPP and NPA spokesman, works on his laptop in this undated photo on the mirror site of the Philippine Revolution Web Central. The rebel group's main website has disappeared from the Internet.

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Zamboanga Journal / 01 Aug) Communist rebels on Tuesday boasted of having one more website where it continue to wage war against Manila after its main portal disappeared from the Internet.

"This is to inform you that the Philippine Revolution Web Central (PRWC) is still online and can be accessed through the URL www.philippinerevolution.net," it said in a statement to the Zamboanga Journal after its main website was replaced with travel and tourism portals.

The website philippinerevolution.org of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA) and political organization, the National Democratic Front, was one of the most visited in the Internet.

Gone is the red hammer-and-sickle flag. The screen now shows a clear blue sky and the words “Welcome to the Philippinerevolution.Org.” It used to post news and photographs of communist war victories against the military and police. Gone too are stories of ambuscades and the wresting of arms from AFP soldiers and photographs of young male and female warriors.

The CPP-NPA website was defaced at least once or twice before. But loss of their website has not prevented the rebels and their political wing, the National Democratic Front, from providing the media with the latest news from the battle front. They do this through the CPP’s e-group.

With more than 450 members -- individuals as well as the media companies in the Philippines and abroad -- the CPP’s e-group and the NPA’s war bulletin continue to provide breaking stories and the communist perspective on the war. The rebels last week released 15 news stories about daring attacks on soldiers and policemen in Mindanao and in northern Philippines.

"We will continue to work hard to serve as an internet portal for the Filipino people and supporters and friends of the Philippine revolution to make available statements, publications and other important information from the Communist Party of the Philippines, New People’s Army, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and all other revolutionary allied organizations," it said of the mirror site.

"We will no longer be using the domain name www.philippinerevolution.org. This is a result of commercial and technical problems with regard the ownership of that domain name," it said.

Peace talks between rebels and the government collapsed in 2004 after the CPP-NPA and the NDF pulled out from the negotiations because of their inclusion to the terror lists of the United States and the European Union on Manila's prodding.

Rebels demanded that President Gloria Arroyo asks the United States and the European Union to strike them off from the terror lists before they resume peace talks. Manila rejected the demand and suspended safety and immunity guarantee for rebel peace negotiators.

Arroyo also ordered the Armed Forces to crush the rebels and even set aside one billion pesos for the military and police to help fight insurgency and terrorism.

Besides the CPP-NPA, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the country's largest Muslim rebel group, also maintains its own website called luwaran.com that carries daily news and photographs about the rebel group. And also the former rebel group, Moro National Liberation Front, on URL http://mnlf.net.

AFP, Militants Trade Barbs On Killing Of Peasant Leader In South RP

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (Mike Banos / 01 Aug) Military and militant group leaders continue trading barbs over the recent killing of a peasant leader in Salay town in Misamis Oriental province in the southern Philippines.

Ernesto Ladica, 43, leader of the Misamis Oriental Farmers' Association, was shot dead by motorcycle-riding gunmen July 26 in front of his house in the rural village of Lo-oc, just two days after President Gloria Arroyo condemned the series of all political killings in the country in her State of the Nation Address.

Militant leaders led by Karapatan lawyer Beverly Musni; Bayan Muna-Northern Mindanao Region's spokesperson Henry Trugillo and Deputy Secretary Kristine Lim said the death of Ladica is the first local political killing under Arroyo's administration.

They blamed Ladica's death on the military, saying the killing was part of the so-called Oplan Bantay Laya, a nationwide campaign supposedly to suppress dissent and intimidate progressive groups aimed at ending the 37-year-old insurgency of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its guerrilla arm, the New People's Army (NPA).

According to Maureen, Ladica's daughter, the man who shot her father was seen frequenting the Army’s 8th Infantry Battalion camp, a claim Karapatan said was bolstered by testimonies from relatives and witnesses. The military has positioned a number of detachments in the eastern towns of the province, where the NPA has been particularly active.

But Lt. Col. Andrelino G. Colina, commanding officer of the 8th Infantry Battalion, denied any involvement in Ladica's murder.

"We categorically deny any involvement in that incident. My men have nothing to do with the killing of Ladica in Salay," Colina said. "We have our hands full running after the armed NPA elements in the countryside who continue to make life miserable for the lowly folks living in the remote areas, forcing and coercing these people to give what little they have even if this will lead them to starvation."

Ladica's daughter said that a number of eyewitnesses confirmed that the killer and his two companions were allegedly members of the Armed Forces operating in the area. "Why will my men harm Ladica in the first place? Ladica has chosen to live a normal and decent life when he decided to break away from the NPA he once belonged to, and we respect that because we value human life more than anyone else," Colina said.

The militant groups have called on Philippine National Police (PNP) regional director Florante Baguio and PNP Misamis Oriental provincial director Lyndel Desquitado to investigate Ladica's killing.

Musni has also called on Misamis Oriental Governor Oscar Moreno and Cagayan de Oro Mayor Vicente Emano to appeal to the government "to stop these killings." Desquitado said he has ordered his men to give the investigation of the murder "top priority.""I have already given a directive to the Salay police office to conduct a deeper investigation on this. I believe the victim deserved justice," Desquitado said.

But Colina accused Musni and militant groups of being "selective" in their condemnation of "political killings."

"The accusation made by Karapatan, particularly that of Atty. Beverly Musni is baseless,” Colina said. "Karapatan is making a selective condemnation, being selective in the sense that they make public condemnation only when their members are the ones getting harmed."

Colina also asked why Karapatan and other militant groups are strangely silent about the killing of other innocent civilians not involving their members.

Among them, village chieftain Editha Bodbod, of Puting Balas in Talisayan town who "was treacherously and mercilessly killed in cold blood by NPA hit men on Jan. 1, 2006" ; Poli Llera of the village of Samay in Balingasag town, killed by five NPA members on Jan. 30,2006.

Vicente Salvo Olinan of Lanise in Claveria town, shot at his residence by NPA hit men on Feb. 12, 2006; Jonathan Lapinig of Bulahan, Claveria, who was shot by the NPA on Feb. 15, 2006; Jonathan Sumilla of Lanise, Claveria, who was also murdered by 15 NPA members on Mar. 23, 2006; Timoteo Cabactulan of Salay, slain by 3 NPA hit men on May 3, 2006.

"Not a single member of the Karapatan, specifically Atty. Beverly Musni, came out in the open and condemned these killings," Colina said. "No press conference was held saying things similar to the words they have uttered when Ladica was killed."

"Now, how should one interpret this? Even if Atty. Beverly Musni makes a thousand denials that Karapatan, Bayan Muna and other legal organizations are not CPP-NPA-NDF legal front organizations, their actions speak for it," Colina added.

"The CPP-NPA-NDF has the propensity to kill their own. Hundreds of innocent members have been murdered and buried in shallow graves just because they were unreasonably suspected as deep penetration agents of the military. The purging and cleansing still continues until now," Colina said.

"By all indications, Ladica became part of the statistics in the NPA's purging and cleansing process. Indeed, the U.S. and the EU were justly correct in branding the CPP-NPA as a terrorist organization," he added.

Human rights groups said more than 100 militant and leaders of progressive political groups were abducted and killed the past years.

Photo: Video City In Cotabato Celebrates Anniversary With Poor Children

Staff and employees of the Video City, one of the Philippines’ top and largest chain of video shops, distribute food to street children in Cotabato City in Mindanao in line with the company’s public service during its 6th anniversary celebration recently. In the photos are Video City branch head Kenny Allan Acosta and his group Rhynan Arce, Eric Manalo, Jayson Polosan, Donie Gregg Adornado and Joylen Gepte. (Mark Navales)

North Cotabato To Distribute Health Insurance

A beggar's baby crawls from a sidewalk in Cotabato City in the southern Philippines. (Mark Navales)

KIDAPAWAN CITY (Carlos Bautista / 01 Aug) Local government officials in North Cotabato province on Tuesday pledged their commitment to the Cotabato Health Insurance Program (CHIP) which will be implemented next year.

Gov. Emmanuel Pinol said the program will be his legacy to the people of North Cotabato, especially the poor. "This will give our poor people the opportunity to recover their dignity in the face of their health and medical problems."

"They no longer have to go begging for assistance from politicians for their medicines and hospital bills, and suffer being scolded before receiving financial aid," he said.

A brainchild of Pinol, the CHIP aims to develop a scheme of health care financing which does not depend solely on government subsidy. The program will adopt a cost-sharing scheme between indigent members, the villages, concerned local government unit, and the provincial government.

It will also be made available to non-indigents who would have to shoulder the entire annual premium contribution. Both indigent and non-indigent members will have a maximum coverage of P150,000 in health benefits.

US-Funded Port Projects In South To Spur Economic Activity

The port of Bonggao in Tawi-Tawi island in the southern Philippines. (Darwin Wee)

TAWI-TAWI (Darwin Wee / 01 Aug) Shipping activities in the southern Philippines are expected to improve after the United States completed the rehabilitation of five major ports in the region, officials said.

The P300 million projects is part of the US commitment to help develop and spur economic activity in the southern Philippines, particularly in the Muslim autonomous region and the Zamboanga Peninsula.

Carlos Tan, deputy program manager, of the Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM), said that five out of the six priority ports in the region are completed.

"We are almost complete. At least 5 out six ports are already completed and operational in the Muslim autonomous region and Zamboanga Peninsula,” he said.

Kristie Kenney, the US Ambassador to Manila, recently visited Tawi-Tawi to personally hand over the new P53-million Bongao port project to Filipino officials led by Gov. Sadikul Sahali, Mayor Albert Que, of Bongao town and Ahmed Ampatuan, regional port manager.

Kenney said the completion of the facility would spur economic activity and lure local and foreign investors to Tawi-Tawi, the country’s top exporter of seaweeds.

The renovation of the ports was part of the Regional Impact Infrastructure Projects, according to Tan.

He said the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) also allocated at least P900 million for infrastructure development in conflict-affected areas in the southern region.

About one-third of the funding will be used to renovate or build ports and wharfs in Siasi and Maimbung towns in Jolo island; Lamitan and Maluso ports in Basilan island and Siocon town in Zamboanga del Norte province.

"Shipping ports are very crucial in this region because 90% of the people used these facilities to transport goods and commodities,” he said.

Tan said port projects will include additional berths, passenger terminal buildings, storage area for cargoes, and docking platform for roll-on, roll-off vessels. “From an average of 62 vessel calls per month, the port of Bongao is now capable of handling more ships and passengers,” he said.

“In the long-tem, the port improvement is expected to contribute to increasing port productivity and contribute to the growth of the local economy and regional development.”

Datu Harun Bandila, ARMM Business Council president, said improving port facilities in the region will promote better trade and business activities not only in the western part of Mindanao, but would strengthen trade linkages between Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines.

"Improved and fully developed ports will definitely reduce transport cost for cargoes, and will also provide better access to the resources of both private business and government sectors for the long-term benefits," he said.

Photo: Cebu Pacific Airbus A319

A Cebu Pacific Aibus A319 flies Tuesday 01 Aug 2006 over the southern Filipino port city of Zamboanga. The airliner is flying a brand new Airbus A319 for its Manila to Zamboanga and Cebu flights as part of a two-year, all Airbus refleeting program. (Zamboanga Journal)