MANILA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 12, 2010) - A group calling itself COURAGE criticized a Filipino lawmaker who is proposing to regulate the use of social networking sites in government offices and state-run corporations.
“The Honorable Representative from Marikina is barking on the wrong tree in claming that the use of social networking sites is adversely affecting the productivity and quality of public service of the government workers. If only he would do his homework, it’s low pay and the patronage system in government and definitely not facebook and twitter use,” it said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
COURAGE, the national center of government employees, said Marikina Representative Romero Federico Quimbo filed the House Resolution No. 184 filed which seeks to regulate the use of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter in government offices and state-run corporations.
Ferdinand Gaite, COURAGE National President, said: “No matter how hardworking the employees may be, this will come to naught if the policies and program of the government that they are bound to implement are inadequate or worse, inimical to public service. Even the supposed increased in power expenses is negligible compared to the millions of funds being pocketed by the fat cats in the government offices some of whom rarely spend time at the office to do their jobs”.
“While the rest of the world are recognizing the use of the internet for better communications and information dissemination, the legislator is proposing to limit their use. It is also disheartening given that some government offices especially in the provinces have yet to have access to the net,” Gaite said, adding, that the national broadband project that is supposed to interconnect offices and speed-up public service has been shelved due to corruption. He was referring to the NBN-ZTE deal.
He said Quimbo should sponsor a legislation to increase the employees salaries and improve their working conditions. “His suggestion for employees to use their own laptops and internet connection for Facebook use is an insult to us because a majority of the government employees’ take home pay could not even take them home,” Gaite said.
But while Quimpo is proposing the regulation of the social networking sites among civil employess, President Benigno Aquino III and his spokesmen, on the other hand, has encourage citizens to follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Lawmaker criticized for proposal regulating use of Twitter, Facebook by civil employees
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Zamboanga's Young Beggars
Moro rebels accuse Philippine military of violating fragile truce in troubled South
“Military planes bombed our areas, although there were no reports of casualties, but the attacks violated the cease-fire agreement between the MILF and the Philippine government. We have filed a protest in connection with the airstrikes which occurred in Datu Piang (town in Maguindanao province) this week,” a rebel spokesman, Von Al-Haq, said on Wednesday.
The attack he said, as two MILF groups clashed over control of a rice field in the farming village of Alunganan. “The military took advantage of the fighting between two groups of MILF commanders – Adzmie and Abunawas – and bombed the village and it was only by luck that no civilian was killed in the airstrike,” Al-Haq said.
But the Army’s 6th Infantry Division denied the MILF accusations and said the planes fired only white phosphorous as a warning for the protagonists to stop fighting.
“Our military planes fired white phosphorous rounds in between the warring factions to mark their positions and show that we are serious in our efforts in stopping their conflicts. However, those rounds were smokes and not bombs. After we fired the white phosphorous rounds, the sporadic firefight stopped,” said Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Hao, a spokesman for the 6th Infantry Division.
He said sporadic fighting between the two rebel groups forced more than 1,200 families to flee their homes for fear they would be trapped in the villages or held as shield by MILF forces. “The operation conducted was a preventive move by the military to protect civilians and families displaced by the conflict between the warring MILF groups in the field,” Hao said.
He said at least 4 rebels from were reported killed in the sporadic fighting between the two rebel commanders. Hao said the military also filed a protest against the MILF for violating the truce with the government cease-fire committees.
The MILF said it suspended the two commanders involved in the fighting and ordered rebel forces to stay inside their camps while it investigates the clashes.
Peace talks between the Manila and the MILF which is fighting for decades for self-determination, was temporarily suspended in June after President Gloria Arroyo, who ended her term, stepped down without new agreements that would put an end to decades of bloody fighting in the restive region of Mindanao.
But new Filipino leader Benigno Aquino III said he would resume the negotiations after the holy month of Ramadan.
The MILF chieftain, Murad Ebrahim, said the rebel group is ready to resume the peace negotiations, but stressed that Manila should honor all previous agreements signed by both sides. “The two parties have to continue from where we stopped, and following the stipulations agreed by both parties as provided for in the Declaration of Continuity for Peace Negotiation between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front signed in Malaysia on June 3, 2010,” Ebrahim said.
He said if the Philippine leader is sincere in pursuing the peace talks with the MILF, Aquino can resolve the Moro problem in Mindanao within his 6 years in office.
“The greatest challenge to the peace process is whether this time the President has the political will to surmount all obstacles and oppositions including well-entrenched spoilers once the peace talks start or when an agreement will be signed. Running parallel is whether the peace process is truly a problem-solving endeavor or just an exercise to manage the conflict, as what previous presidents, deliberately or otherwise, did. We wish to tell you that whether in negotiation or in the normal course of our Islamic revolutionary struggle, the political aspirations of our people remain the same and constant – we want genuine governance for our people. We want our people to decide for themselves.”
“It is our hope that the Moro question and armed conflict in Mindanao will be settled in our lifetime, otherwise, this struggle of our people for freedom and right to self-determination will drag on for generation after generation. To ensure this, we are preparing the young generations to carry on the great task of liberating our people from the yoke of oppression and thralldom,” Ebrahim said.
MILF chief peace negotiator, Mohagher Iqbal said Manila previously offered the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao instead of what was previously agreed upon in the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain.
Arroyo opened peace talks with the MILF in 2001 and the negotiations nearly collapsed seven years later after both sides failed to sign any agreement on the most contentious issue — ancestral domain – which refers to the rebel demand for territory that will constitute a Muslim homeland.
The failed agreement triggered deadly rebel attacks in 2007 in Mindanao after the Supreme Court stopped the formal signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain.
Politicians and lawmakers, many of them wealthy landowners in Mindanao, opposed the ancestral domain deal and filed their petitions to the High Court and asked Manila to make public the rest of the agreement. They claimed the accord was made without public consultations.
The MILF said it will not renegotiate the ancestral domain agreement. "It is already a done deal; we have already initialed the memorandum of agreement on the ancestral domain. We will not revisit or renegotiate the agreement," Iqbal said.
But despite the ancestral domain deal, there is still a need to amend the Constitution to allow plebiscite on areas under the ancestral domain that would make up the so-called Bangsamoro Juridical Entity and give Muslims their own homeland.
Ancestral domain is the single most important issue in the peace negotiations before the rebel group can reach a political settlement with the Philippine government.
It covers the whole of the Muslim autonomous region – Sulu, Tawi-Tawi-, Basilan, Maguindanao and Lanao, including Marawi City. And some areas in Zamboanga Peninsula, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani provinces in Mindanao where there are large communities of Muslims and indigenous tribes. And also Palawan Island, off Mindanao.
Last year, Tawi-Tawi Representative Nur Jaafar filed House Bill 4963 and Arroyo, now a member of the Philippine Congress, also filed a similar bill, proposing to divide the Muslim autonomous region into two – the South Western Autonomous Region and the Central Mindanao Autonomous Region – and that a plebiscite will be held in every village in the provinces of Sulu, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay and the cities of Isabela, Pagadian, Dipolog, Dapitan and Zamboanga.
And also in the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Sultan Kudarat, North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sarangani and the cities of Cotabato, Marawi, Iligan, Kidapawan, General Santos, Koronadal and Tacurong. (With a report from Mark Navales)
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Pinoy kids declared 2nd overall in Singapore int’l math tilt
MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines bagged 136 medals and merit awards to place second overall behind China in the 6th International Mathematics Competition (IMC) held from August 6 to 10 in Singapore.
According to Dr. Simon Chua, president of the Mathematics Trainers Guild-Philippines (MTG), the young Filipino math wizards bagged 12 gold medals, 26 silvers, 54 bronzes and 44 merit awards in the contest.
The Philippines placed second behind China in the overall ranking in the competition that was participated in 987 students from 10 countries and territories. Third place was Indonesia followed by Malaysia, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and India, according to Rechilda Villame, MTG vice president.
Dr. Chua said this year’s medal harvest increased compared to last year’s contest where Filipino students won 102 medals. MTG is an organization of math experts that train students for math competitions abroad.
The 12 Filipino gold medalists are: Raphael Villaluz San Beda College-Alabang in Muntinlupa, Matthew Angelo Isidro of St Jude Catholic School, Shaquille Wyan T. Que of Grace Christian College, Farrel Eldrian Wu of MGC New Life Christian Academy, Errol John Suarez of Bicol University Integrated Laboratory School.
Frederick Matthew Corpuz of Colegio San Agustin-Makati, Adrian Reginald Sy of St Jude Catholic School, Gabriele Anne Gabaton of Pasig Catholic College, Jervis Ong Chua of Philippine Cultural College, Kate Andrea Bonamy of Grace Christian College, Shaun Wesley Que of Grace Christian College, and Karl Joshua Reyes of Regional Science High School in Olongapo.
The 26 silver medalists are Xavier Jefferson Go of Zamboanga Chong Hua High School, Lord Danly Mafe of Colegio San Agustin-Biñan, Jose Ignacio Locsin of St. John's Institute.
Bon Leif Amalla of Colegio San Agustin-Biñan, Emmanuel Paulo Santos of Colegio San Agustin-Biñan, Adam Christopher Chan of Grace Christian College, Jami Mae Ching of Jubilee Christian Academy, Jan Joshua Cruz of Pasig Catholic College, Elijamin Wolfgang Claveria of Elizabeth Seton School-South, Albert Neil Dulay of Integrated Montessori Center, Luis Salvador Diy of Xavier School, Hans Markson Tan of St. Stephen's High School, Andrea Jaba of St. Jude Catholic School, Alyssa Guevara of De La Salle Santiago Zobel School Ayala.
Cary Albert Chan of St. Jude Catholic School, Mark Christopher Uy of Xavier School, Christopher Banzon of Nemesio I. Yabut Elementary School, Juan Mario Luis Esplana of Elizabeth Seton School-South, Kelsey Lim Tiong Soon of Jubilee Christian Academy, Vincent Jaime Benitez of Philippine Science High School-Western Visayas, Dave Laurence Juntilla of Philippine Science High School Southern Mindanao, Himig Marcos of Philippine Cultural College, Sterling Alvin Tiu of St. Stephen's High School, Timothy James Tan of Trinity Christian School, Stephen Laohoo of Grace Christian College and Jeremy Vance Yap of Grace Christian College.
In addition, the bronze medalists are Vincent Angelo Suarez of De La Salle Lipa, Patricia Ina Tañada of Pembo Elementary School, Joan Lyn Fadri of San Beda College-Alabang, Aubrey Beatrice Carnaje of SPED-Integrated School for Exceptional Child, Richlyn Joy Villalobos of Doane Brilliant Child Learning Haven, Thomas Spencer Balete of St. Stephen's High School, Amyll Angelin Uy of Davao Christian High School.
Cheska Marina Hufano of Mother Goose Special School System, Luke Matthew Bernardo of Philadelphia High School, Kenneth Shi of Philippine Cultural College-Main, Vicente Raphael Chan of Zamboanga Chong Hua High School, Robert Diel Abdao of Integrated Montessori Center, John Aries Ceazar Hingan of San Beda College-Alabang, Andrew Vince Lee of Xavier School, Lou Irish Gonzales of Pasig Catholic College, Kyle Garret Lee Uy of Xavier School, Josh Thomas Clement of West Visayas State University, Adrian Nathaniel Chua of Xavier School, Brendan Cale Coseto of Xavier School.
Matthew Johann Uy of Xavier School, Almira Beatrice Uy of PACE Academy, Bryan Pocholo Miguel Illana of Divine Light Academy-Molino, Jes David Adriel Buaron of Statesfield School, Angelo Miguel Eduarte of City Central Cagayan de Oro, Royce Val Malalis of City Central Cagayan Oro, Jan Kendrick Ong of Chiang Kai Shek College, Janina Navarra of Colegio de San Agustin, Agnes Robang of PAREF Woodrose School, Dominique Sy of Grace Christian College, Leo Emmanuel Sombiro of Solomon Integrated School of Iloilo.
Nadine Macalalad of St. Paul College-Pasig, Akkiara Symonn May Sawali of St. Augustine's School, Vince Roi Alvarez of Colegio San Agustin-Biñan, Yusaine Maon of Falcon Learning Center, Marx Vincent Cobol of Philippine Science High School Southern Mindanao, Caisa Subia of San Beda College-Alabang, Carissa Andrea Lim of St. Jude Catholic School, Mark Vincent Tan of Ateneo de Manila High School, Anchelle Grace Ho of Silliman University, Nathaniel Ryan Ang of Xavier School, Karli Ang of Philippine Institute of Quezon City, Dielle Tio of St. Stephen's High School, Martin Lewis Koa of St. Jude Catholic School, Hans Bryan Geremy Ong of Grace Christian College, Wilford Jason Julio of St. Jude Catholic School.
Lu Christian Ong of Grace Christian College, Casey Oliver Turingan of San Beda College-Alabang, Hannah Elyse Tee of Immaculate Conception Academy, Charles Emerson Ngo of Leyte Progressive High School, Andrew Cua of Philippine Cultural College, Kyle Justin Meguizo of St. Jude Catholic School, John Cedric Laohoo of Grace Christian College, Emmanuel Gerard Chiu of Siliman University High School and Ann Michelle Siao of Zamboanga Chong Hua High School.
Students who got merit awards are Yusaira Maon of Falcon Learning Center, Justin Baes of Dee Hwa Liong Academy, Justin Matthew Lapastora of St. Paul College of Ilocos Sur, Maxim Grace Sorongon of Children's Integrated School of Alta Tierra, Frenz Evander Cabison of Mother Goose Special School System Inc., Lorenz Matthew Tech of Pasig Catholic College, Janella Umbina of Special Education Center for the Gifted.
Cristiana Marie Calderon of Falcon Learning Center, Emmanuel Maminta of Iligan City East Central School, Patrick Allen Tañada of Pembo Elementary School, Azel Amada of Silliman University, Justin Adriel Zent Togonon of Children's Integrated School of Alta Tierra, Nathaniel Dinsay of Young Shepherds School, Albert Jason Olaya of Morning Star Montessori School, Thamania Keith Gumilao of Pasig Catholic College, Lorenzo Magnaye of De La Salle Canlubang, Karljan Kotah of Philippine Cultural College-Main, Sabrina Rae Chan of Zamboanga Chong Hua High School, Benoni Perez of Dee Hwa Liong Academy, Neil Marc Dasas of Solomon Intg. School.
John Lester Tan of Dee Hwa Liong Academy, Patricia Marie Yap of Iloilo Central Commercial High School, King James Fetalvero of Philippine Science High School Southern Mind, Christina Marie Moneda of Blessed Lights International Christian Academy, Jasmine Marie Gamboa of Grace Christian College, Royce Dy of Kong Hua School, Gail Denise Destura of La Salle Academy, Abigail Laureen Sy of St. Jude Catholic School, James Daniel Cordon of Philippine Science High School-Main, Darren Anthony Khow of St. Jude Catholic School, Aaron Jevon Anthony Dy of Xavier School, Edgar Laurrence Osis of Colegio San Agustin - Biñan.
Samuel Wong of Grace Christian College, Jeska Brenot Belonio of Xavier University High School-Ateneo de Cagayan, Beatriz Michelle Go of Immaculate Conception Academy, Peter Nicholas Onglao of Xavier School, Joelle Sophia Peña of Philippine Science High School - Main, Carlo Luis Benitez of Ateneo de Iloilo-Sta. Maria Catholic School, Daniel Ratilla of Philippine Institute of Quezon City, Kennichi Tan of Zamboanga Chong Hua High School, Regine Joy Perania of Iloilo Central Commercial High School, Kerwin Edfrey Utanes of Philippine Science High School-Main, Ian Chesterson Lim of Zamboanga Chong Hua High School and Carlo Patrick Tan of Zamboanga Chong Hua High School.
2 men in bloody Zamboanga attack arrested
The two were among a group of armed men who killed six fishermen last week during an attack on a trawler near Eleven Islands in the eastern coast of Zamboanga, said Senior Superintendent Edwin de Ocampo, the local police chief.
He said the two men had been identified by a lone witness who hid on one of the trawler’s rooms during Thursday attack. The witness said the gunmen intercepted their trawler and told the crew to jump off the boat and were later shot and hacked with machetes.
“We have filed criminal charges against the two suspects and there is an operation to track down the others involved in the attack,” he said.
The attack was only discovered on Friday after the witness - son of one the victims - who feared the gunmen were still around, managed to sail the trawler back to the fish port of Sangali in Zamboanga.
De Ocampo said attack was connected to a family feud.
Clan war or locally known as “rido”, is common in many parts of the southern Philippines. The U.S. Agency for International Development and think -tank Asia Foundation have said more than 3,000 people have been killed over the past seven decades in family feuds in the southern Philippines.
In Zamboanga City, more than two dozen vengeance killings occurred in recent months in three villages involving Christian and Muslim families. And this is also common in Basilan, Sulu, Maguindanao and other parts of the Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao.
Rido can involve disputes among family members or among two or more rival families, pitting neighbors or different ethnic groups against each other. The disputes center on issues of land, money, marriage or political power and involve revenge killings.
The violence increases with each act of retaliation, broadening to include those not directly involved in the dispute, including women and children, according to the Asia Foundation, adding, some feuds lasted for decades. (Mindanao Examiner)
Sunday, August 08, 2010
Dengue, kalat sa Zambo at North Cotabato
Sa Zamboanga City ay mahigit sa dalawang dosena na ang kumpirmadong nasawi dahil sa naturang sakit sa mga nakalipas na buwan.
Agad naman iniutos ng mga awtoridad ang malawakang kampanya sa mga ibat-ibang barangay upang mapuksa ang mga pinamumugaran ng mga lamok (Aedes aegypti) na may dala ng sakit.
Maging ang mga mamamayan ay naglilinis na rin ng kanilang mga bakuran, partikular sa mga containers na may lamang maruming tubig, mga kanal at iba pa na pwedeng pamahayan ng lamok.
Sa North Cotabato naman ay mahigit sa isang dosena rin ang nasawi dahil sa sakit mula pa nitong taon.
Sa record ng Department of Heath ay sinabi nitong Karamihan sa mga namatay sa dengue fever ay sa bayan ng Pigkawayan, Libungan, Makilala at Arakan. May naiulat rin umano sa Kidapawan City.
Kadalasan ay sa umaga at takip-silim umano ang paboritong oras ng mga lamok sa kanilang pagkain at ito rin ang dahilan kung bakit nalilipat sa tao ang nasabing sakit. (Ulat nina Geo Solmerano at Becky de Asis)
Saturday, August 07, 2010
Mindanao lawmakers condemn Zambo airport blast
MANILA, Philippines — With two persons killed while 22 others were wounded, including Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan, two lawmakers from Mindanao condemned as dastardly act the blast Thursday night outside the arrival area of the Zamboanga City International Airport.
"We are saddened by the blast in our airport. We are victims of such a dastardly act which violated the very essence of our City we dearly love and protect," House Deputy Speaker and Zamboanga City Representative Maria Isabelle Climaco said.
Climaco said measures to address security and investigate the matter were being done.
"We reiterate our aspiration to bring about development in our city, a hub to neighboring cities and municipalities," she said.
According to reports, the bomb exploded at around 6:20 p.m. Thursday, minutes after the Philippine Airlines flight from Manila arrived at the airport. Tan and the other victims were passengers of the PAL aircraft.
Sulu Representative Tupay Loong also condemned the latest bombing incident in Zamboanga City, saying "this was another cowardly act and un-Islamic that deserves the strongest form of condemnation. Only the most cruel and merciless are capable of such acts that victimized ordinary travelers and their innocent families."
Loong called on authorities to conduct an immediate, thorough investigation on the incident "to determine the real culprits of the bombing, so that justice may be immediately served."
He, however, said that authorities should desist from using "haphazard methods" in investigating the bombing incident.
"The true perpetrators of the crime must be arrested and not any fall guys they (authorities) will just pick up from the streets. The (real) perpetrators must be put behind bars," he said.
The Philippine National Police activated a special investigation task group to assist the crisis management committee now investigating the bombing incident. (Lilybeth G. Ison)
Police launched manhunt for more suspects in Zamboanga airport bombing
Police said the target of Thursday attack was Sulu Governor Sakur Tan, who was among the injured. The bomber, Reynaldo Apilado, and another man, Hatimil Haron, were killed in the blast.
Authorities are investigating whether Haron, a native of Basilan province, was an accomplice of the bomber, who lived on a seaside village of Caragasan in Zamboanga City.
National police chief Jesus Versoza said they were investigating whether the attack was connected to the failed assassination of Tan last year in Sulu. “We are looking into this now and ordered a manhunt for three men who are all accused in the bombing last year,” he said.
Tan survived a roadside bombing in Patikul town, but ten of his companions, including a town mayor, were wounded in the attack blamed to the militant group Abu Sayyaf.
Versoza said two of the bombers captured in Sulu following a firefight with police forces and the duo implicated Temogen Tulawie, Muamar Astali and a third man identified only by his first name, Abs, as their accomplice.
“The three men are facing multiple frustrated murder and illegal possession of explosives. They are at-large. Police forces are hunting down the three men,” he said.
Police said Apilado’s neighbors claimed he previously travelled to Cotabato and Pagadian City, where Tulawie was believed to be hiding. Tulawie, a defeated congressional aspirant, went into hiding after the failed assassination of Tan in May 13, 2009.
Tulawie, also a political activist, is a member of a group called the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society in Sulu and was active in the past in street demonstration against the presence of US troops training Filipino soldiers in the province.
Tan said more witnesses to the latest bombing have come out in the open and implicated several people as behind the attack. “Witnesses are coming out now and telling authorities that some people are also involved in the bombing,” he said, adding, authorities are now investigating the reports.
Regional police chief Edwin Corvera said they also received information from people claiming to have knowledge or were involved in the failed assassination of Tan. He said most of the information was passed to them through a police hotline they put up on Friday.
One information allegedly tagged Tulawie as behind the airport bombing while another implicated two defeated town mayors in Sulu who are known political foes of the governor, and several policemen and that a bounty was put up by the mastermind to assassinate Tan. A third politician in Sulu, who lost in the May elections, was also implicated in the bombing.
Versoza said they were investigating all these reports. The National Bureau of Investigation also started its own probe into the failed assassination of Tan.
Tan, a known philanthropist and a religious man, was re-elected in May as governor of Sulu, one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region.
Marine General Benjamin Dolorfino, a regional military commander, confirmed that Apilado was carrying the bomb when it went off outside the Zamboanga International Airport just when Tan was getting out, but said authorities were still investigating whether there was a second man who could have remotely detonated the explosive.
“Authorities are reviewing the CCTV footage from the airport security camera,” Dolorfino said. “You can see Reynaldo on the video (footage) and he was just standing outside the airport arrival area just before the blast. He was just loitering there.”
Authorities did not release copy of the video to the media, but one television cameraman claimed that he was shown a part of the footage by a policeman and it was clear enough that the bomber waited for Tan to come out from the airport and his backpack exploded.
“Reynaldo Apilado was just there standing in front of the exit gate of the arrival area and when Tan came out, the bomber casually walked a bit and there was this huge flash of light and an explosion followed and then chaos,” he said. (Mindanao Examiner)
Friday, August 06, 2010
Church, civil groups reaffirm stand vs. large-scale mining in the Philippines
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines National Secretariat of Social Action and the Alyansa Tigil Mina and their network of civil society organizations were pleased to hear the firm statement of the new Environment chief Ramon Paje on ensuring the protection and conservation of the natural resources by suspending the issuance of large-scale mining permits.
“We reaffirm our stand against large-scale mining. This does not only destruct our natural resources, but also allows the displacement of communities in the affected areas. As church leaders, we cannot watch this happen to the Filipino people."
"We have supported the Natural Resources Management and Stewardship Act since it started, we will see it through its passage,” CBCP-NASSA Executive Secretary, Father Edu Gariguez, said in a statement.
Last year, the Natural Resources Management and Stewardship Act or House Bill No. 6342, was approved on the third reading. It was re-submitted to the 15th Congress last month as House Bill No. 206 which proposes to regulate the rational exploration and utilization of our natural resources, and protection of indigenous peoples and local communities.
Taking the lead in scrapping the Mining Bill of 1995 and signing into law of the NaRMS is Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center Friends of the Earth Philippines.
“DENR Secretary Ramon Paje said it himself, the Mining Bill of 1995 is inherently flawed. Foreign investors have been benefiting a lot from mining in the Philippines at the expense of our natural resources and communities,” said LRC-FOEI Executive Director Judy Pasimio.
Unfortunately, mining has contributed very little in the country's GDP. In 2007, the contributions of the mining industry was merely 1.4%, compared to the contribution of the agriculture sector at 35%.
Meanwhile, environmental group HARIBON Foundation Executive Director Blas Tabaranza said: “Going back, in the 15 years of promoting the extractive industry in the country, we have seen how terrible communities have been. Mining has killed our forests and polluted our waters.”
In 2005, HARIBON reported that extractions and explorations affect the Philippines Important Biodiversity Areas mainly areas in Sierra Madre in Luzon Island, Palawan in central Philippines and CARAGA region in Mindanao.
To mitigate the destructive effects of mining, Haribon is also pushing for the approval of Forest Resources Conservation and Management Bill.
“We have seen international investors in and out of our land, exploiting the environment and even our people. Now that we heard a positive statement from Sec. Paje, we have hope that the Natural Resources Management and Stewardship Act will be approved and signed into law under the new administration,” said ATM National Coordinator Jaybee Garganera.
“Rest assured, we will continue in our advocacy, especially in supporting organizations in communities affected by mining,” Garganera added.
2 soldiers killed, 4 civilians wounded in Mindanao rebel attack
Officials said more than a dozen New People’s Army rebels opened fire on a group of tribesmen and soldiers traveling on motorcycles on their way to attend a forum in Colosas village in Paquibato district.
The leader of the tribesmen, Datu Ruben Labawan, of the Davao Supreme Tribal Council for Peace and Development, survived the ambush, but four of his companions were wounded.
“The soldiers were escorting the tribal leaders when rebels ambushed them, said Captain Emmanuel Garcia, a spokesman for The 10th Infantry Division. He said the soldiers fought back, but were overpowered by rebels and eventually killed.
The motive of the attack was unknown, but an army commander, Brigadier General Eduardo del Rosario, said rebels have previously murdered tribesmen and their leaders who refused illegal taxation. Others were abducted and killed for their refusals to join the rebel group.
“Tribal leaders fighting for the rights of their people are the usual targets for assassination of the NPA. This is a deplorable act and must be condemned by every sector of the society. Such evil deed of the NPA cements their reputation as a terror group and not a revolutionary one,” he said.
He said last month, rebels also abducted and executed tribal leader Kito Melody in Columbio town in Sultan Kudarat province after he resisted extortion and recruitment by the NPA in his village.
Last year, rebels also murdered dozens of tribesmen in Davao and Sultan Kudarat and the military claimed that from 1998 to 2008, some 357 tribesmen had been killed by the NPA in the region.
There was no immediate statement from the NPA about the allegations, but the rebel group is fighting for decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)
Balut, anyone?
Peasant group appeals to President Aquino to prioritize land reform
TFM, which comprises some 500 farmers’ organizations in 15 provinces nationwide, made the appeal as it noted that one year had passed since Republic Act No. 9700, also known as the CARP Extension with Reforms Law, was enacted on August 7 last year but land distribution has not made any progress.
“We are worried that President Noynoy has not issued any clear policy on agrarian reform, not during the election campaigns and not now that he is president. His silence is deafening,” said TFM president Jose Rodito Angeles.
Angeles added: “CARP has only four more years left. It still has to distribute 1.2 million hectares of private agricultural lands. President Noynoy has to take decisive actions and distribute 300,000 hectares per year if he wishes to complete land distribution during the extension period.”
He said the Department of Agrarian Reform had only distributed 87,000 hectares last year, which is 13,000 hectares short of its target of 100,000 hectares.
“This is so far the lowest performance of DAR in terms of land distribution, which is the heart and soul of agrarian reform. If this trend continues under the Aquino administration, then there is no hope for CARP and for at least half a million farmers who want to own land,” said Angeles.
“However, we still hope that President Noynoy is true to his word that the common Filipino is his boss. We hope that he also considers the poor farmers as his boss and will listen to their demand for CARP completion,” he added.
Angeles expressed regret that Negros Oriental Representative Henry Pryde Teves had been chosen chair of the House committee on agrarian reform.
He said Teves is grandson of former Congressman Herminio Teves, whose 61-hectare property in Negros Oriental was awarded by DAR to 30 farmer-beneficiaries in November 2008.
However, the farmer-beneficiaries were driven away by armed goons reportedly led by Hermino’s son Arnee a few weeks after they were formally installed by DAR in their awarded land.
He added that prior to the eviction of the farmer-beneficiaries, Teves had requested them to give him time to remove his piggery from the awarded property.
However, it was not the piggery but the farmer-beneficiaries who were removed from the property, according to Angeles.
“With Representative Teves as agrarian reform committee chair, the farmers have lesser to hope for from Congress,” said Angeles.
Angeles also called on new DAR Secretary Virgilio Delos Reyes to make the department distinctly different from DAR under the Arroyo administration.
“DAR under the Aquino administration should not be more of the same DAR under Arroyo. Secretary Delos Reyes should give the farmers a new hope by promptly addressing and resolving their existing problems,” Angeles said.
He said Delos Reyes could give the farmers positive signals by upholding and enforcing the agrarian law in current land disputes, adding, the Agrarian Secretary should reinstall the farmer-beneficiaries in the former Teves land and give them adequate protection against harassments by armed goons.
He also said Delos Reyes should compel the register of deeds of Negros Occidental to issue a new title for the 157-hectare Hacienda Bacan in the name of the Republic of the Philippines so that DAR could issue the certificate of landownership award to the hacienda’s 37 farmer-beneficiaries.
Hacienda Bacan, located in the village of Guintubhan in Negros Occidental's Isabela town was formerly owned by former First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo and has been paid for by the government in the amount of more than P42 million.
“Secretary Delos Reyes is facing great challenges, but he should always remember that the landless farmers are his constituents. He needs to exercise great political will to serve his constituents,” said Angeles.
Low-cost moisture meter for grain farmers, traders developed in Nueva Ecija
NUEVA ECIJA, Philippines - Palay and corn farmers as well as traders in the country will no longer depend on the traditional way of determining the moisture content of their harvests.
The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization of the Department of Agriculture based in Muñoz City has developed a low-cost SHEGA III grain moisture meter.
The excess moisture content of the grains leads to spoilage and poor grain quality, while over dried grains result to weight loss. These factors reduce the farmers’ chances of gaining additional income.
According to PHilMech, “farmers can now determine the amount of moisture present in their harvested grains and its price level in the market using the grain moisture meter.” Also, because of its accuracy the possible discrepancies in the moisture content reading can also be minimized.
At present, there are imported moisture meter available in the country through local distributors. The price ranges from 15,000 to 30,000 pesos per unit while the PHilMech grain moisture meter, costs around 12,000 pesos only.
Virgilio Gomez, manager of Macangcong Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Concepcion, Tarlac is one of the users of the SHEGA III grain moisture meter.
“This is very important for - this moisture meter. In the past, we used to guess on the moisture content of our grains, but it is different now because we can get an accurate reading of the moisture content of the corn or palay,” he said.
The PHilMech grain moisture meter is powered by four AA batteries, the measurement range for paddy is 10 to 26 percent MC on wet basis and 10 to 28 percent MC on wet basis for corn.
The technology can measure and get the average of 99 readouts and can store up to seven levels of memory.
For each measurement, about 150 grams of grains are required or just enough to fill the loading chamber that is placed above the testing chamber.
The loading chamber has a protruding plastic rod like a nail which is pushed down to flush the grains into the testing chamber.
The silver metal plate at the center of the testing chamber serves as the sensor which is connected to the main circuit of the moisture meter.
Other special features of the technology include, numeric and time indexed memory recording, auto-power off, commodity menu key control for palay and corn, self diagnostic and auto calibrating because it can detect system errors and show messages on-screen like ‘low battery’ or ‘recalibration needed’.
It has also a real time clock, casing with tactile key control, Gintong Ani melody and it is made from durable engineering plastic casing.
With this state-of-the-art but low cost technology, PHilMech assures that problems with the grains moisture content will be avoided to bring additional income to the farmers. (Erwin S. Embuscado)
Police begins probe into Zamboanga airport bombing
Sulu Governor Sakur Tan survived a suicide bombing shortly after he stepped out of the Zamboanga International Airport on Thursday evening, but a civilian was killed along with the bomber. At least two dozen people, including a British man, Charles McKerchar, airport were also wounded in the blast.
Tan admitted that he has been receiving death threats from political foes and said he was the target of the attack. “There were people telling me to take precautions because I will be bombed and that I will be killed,” he said.
Police have identified the bomber as Reynaldo Apilado, a carpenter, who lived on a village called Caragasan. One of his neighbors said she last saw Apilado carrying a green travelling bag on Thursday morning.
“I saw him and he was carrying a green travelling bag. I was shocked to learn that he was the man they said bombed the airport,” Apilado’s neighbor said.
Philippine police chief Jesus Versoza flew to Zamboanga City on Friday and met with Tan together with Marine General Benjamin Dolorfino and talked about the attempt on the life of the politician, a known philanthropist and a religious man.
“God saved me,” Tan said, adding, he was just a meter from the bomber when his backpack exploded.
Tan believes rival politicians with links to "terrorists" orchestrated the attack, and that he suspected the same people were behind an attempt on his life in May last year. “It is being investigated now by the authorities.”
A roadside bombing in May 13, 2009 also wounded Tan and at least 10 people who were in his convoy in Patikul town in Sulu province. Police said blamed the attack to Tan’s political foes after two Abu Sayyaf militants captured days after the bombing implicated them in the failed assassination.
The Philippine military confirmed that one of the men killed was carrying the bomb, but said authorities were still investigating whether there was a second man who could have remotely detonated the explosive.
“Authorities are reviewing the CCTV footage from the airport security camera,” Dolorfino said. “You can see Reynaldo on the video (footage) and he was just standing outside the airport arrival area just before the blast. He was just loitering there.”
The bombing occurred on the eve of visit of US Ambassador Harry Thomas who was to address human trafficking, among others, in Zamboanga.
Thomas cancelled his Friday visit because of the bombing. “Knowing that the PNP (Philippine National Police) is working hard to investigate this tragic incident, and understanding that my visit would require a great deal of security support, I have decided to postpone the visit I had planned today in order to avoid distracting the PNP from their most urgent task – investigating this heinous attack,” he said.
Thomas also condemned the bombing. “I deplore this heinous crime that victimized ordinary travelers. Our condolences to the innocent deceased and wounded victims of this brutal attack,” he said, adding, Washington stands ready to offer any assistance requested by Philippine authorities so that those responsible may swiftly be brought to justice. (Mindanao Examiner)
Agricultural engineer develops modern analysis for milled rice
NUEVA ECIJA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 6, 2010) - A local agricultural engineer in Nueva Ecija's Munoz City said he has developed a state-of-the-art, but low cost Computer Vision System which can analyze the quality of milled rice.
Manolito C. Bulaong, director for Research and Development at the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization of the Department of Agriculture, conducted the study leading to the development of the CVS.
According to Bulaong, the CVS uses an ordinary document scanner that serves as the “eye” of the system. The scanner replaces the expensive digital cameras being used in conventional CVS. While the image processing software, extracts the shape and color patterns from each grain image.
The artificial neural network acts as the “brain” of the system. Just like a human brain, the ANN was trained to recognize the shape and color patterns from each grain and learn the quality category it belongs.
The CVS can compute the percentage by weight of good quality grains and defective grains such as broken grains, brewer’s grain, damaged, chalky, discolored, immature, and red kernels present in a sample.
It can also count the number of palay grains, measure the grain length, and output of the grade of milled rice according to the specification of the National Grains Standard.
“As our country gears up for globalization, grains standardization is one of the strategies for modernizing the agriculture sector particularly improving the efficiency and global competitiveness of the grains industry”, Bulaong said.
The conventional milled rice quality analysis is a tedious and slow process and the analysis takes more than an hour per sample and costs 550 pesos for complete analysis.
Aside from being slow and expensive, the result is subjective as it is affected by the skill and physical condition of the classifier, lighting, and other working conditions.
At the National Food Authority, trained classifiers visually inspect each milled rice grain based on size and color characteristics, each grain is classified according to the quality category it belongs and presented on a percentage weight basis.
The result of the research revealed that the CVS, aside from being more objective and accurate, it is also faster then manual analysis. It can do complete analysis of a 100-gram sample in less than 30 minutes compared to more than one hour using manual analysis
“The development of the low-cost CVS for milled rice quality analysis will ensure objective, accurate, and fast results and will modernize the existing method being used by the grain industry,” Bulaong said.
The PHilMech-implemented project was funded by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development in collaboration with NFA.
Other researchers in the project “Quality Analysis of Milled Rice Using Computer Vision” were Engr. Ruben E. Manalabe and Jayson T. Carbonel of the Postharvest Engineering Department of PHilMech and Dr. Oliver C. Agustin of Vera Equinox Technologies.
For this project, Bulaong and his team were given recognitions by different award giving bodies like the Central Luzon Agricultural Resources Research and Development Consortium and Bureau of Agricultural Research, to name a few.
Bulaong, a member of the Philippine Society of Agricultural Engineers, earned his bachelor’s degree at the Central Luzon State University in 1982 and his master’s degree in applied science in food engineering in 1994 at the University of South Wales in Sydney, Australia.
In 2003, he obtained his doctorate in agricultural engineering, major in crop processing at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños in Laguna province through the PCARRD Scholarship Award.
At present, the CVS is still on the development stage, however, interested readers who want to know more about the CVS, may write or visit PHilMech.
The center was created in November 2009 replacing the Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension through Executive Order 366 or the government’s rationalization plan. (Erwin S. Embuscado - Special to the Mindanao Examiner)
Thursday, August 05, 2010
Bomber Killed, 16 Others Wounded In Suicide Attack In Zamboanga City
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 5, 2010) – One person was killed and more than a dozen wounded in an apparent suicide bombing Thursday evening outside the Zamboanga International Airport in the southern Philippines, police said.
Police said the target of the attack was Sulu Governor Sakur Tan, who was also injured in the blast. Tan was getting out of the airport after returning from Manila when the blast occurred.
“There were a lot of people waiting for their relatives to come out of the arrival area and I was near the man, in fact I saw the flash from the explosion,” he told reporters.
The powerful explosion decapitated the body of the bomber, police said. At least 16 people, including a Caucasian, were wounded in the attack. “The target of the attack was Governor Sakur Tan. It was a suicide attack and Tan was lucky to escape only with minor injuries,” a member of the SWAT team guarding the airport said.
Tan would not say whether the attack was politically motivated or not or who was behind it. Tan said he filed corruption and criminal charges against several politicians in Sulu. “It is too early to say who was behind the attack. Let us wait for the investigation of the police,” he said.
Tan, a known religious man and a philanthropist, said he was heading to Sulu when the attack occurred. Tan is to meet with Philippine police chief Jesus Versoza in Sulu on Friday for an important conference.
Last year, Tan also survived an Abu Sayyaf roadside bombing in Sulu which police claimed was masterminded by his political foes. (Mindanao Examiner)
Solar dryer for agri-fishery products pushed in the Philippines
NUEVA ECIJA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 5, 2010) - An agricultural agency in Munoz City in Nueva Ecija province in northern Philippines is promoting the use of solar dryer for agriculture and fishery products.
Officials of the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization said they are promoting the technology known as Multi-Commodity Solar Tunnel Dryer or MCSTD.
The technology is used as an alternative to traditional sun drying practices of small-scale producers. Sun drying lessens the product quality and allows dust, flies and other microorganisms to enter the commodities being dried.
According to PHilMech, “the MCSTD was adapted from the Hohenheim University in Germany. It was modified to fit in the needs of potential adopter and to maximize solar power in postharvest operations.”
The MCSTD has three major components, the heat collector, drying chamber and fan or blower. The heat collector and drying chamber are covered with UV stabilized polyethylene plastic sheets which prevents the entry of flies and dust in the commodity being dried.
The five small direct current axial fans serve as the blower. The flooring is made of corrugated G.I sheet which also serves as tray rack in the drying chamber. One of the early adopter of the MCSTD is the Kababaihang Masigla ng Nueva Ecija, processor of agricultural and fishery products based in Ilog Baliuag village in Nueva Ecija's Quezon town.
KMNE dries tomato, tamarind, kamias, karamay, ginger, and tilapia danggit known as tilanggit. They also have rice wine and rice coffee.
At present, the group also developed new products in powdered form and used these as condiments. These include malunggay, mushroom, squash, saluyot, and turmeric. They have also luyang dilaw which is known for its medicinal benefits.
Vilma B. Joson, president of KMNE said “the MCSTD is an answer to my prayers, it's a blessing for the group.”
“Our products are all fruits in season and my problem is how to store these products to meet the market demands and the only way to do it is through drying,” Joson said.
Using the technology the drying time was reduced by 50 percent. Usually, it takes three to four days to dry tilanggit and six to seven days to dry tamarind. Drying can be completed in one to two days for tilanggit and three to four days for tamarind. This can still be shortened depending also on the heat of the sun.
Joson said: “We have mechanical dryers but these are only used during rainy season. I still prefer the MCSTD over conventional dryers because it dries efficiently and hygienically, it has low operating cost, and with the MCSTD we are assured that there will be no wastage.”
Other commodities like mango, banana, cassava, and seafoods like shrimp, squid, anchovy, danggit and espada are also dried using the MCSTD by other PHilMech collaborators other than the KMNE.
At present, KMNE has already established market linkage not only in the provinces, but also in Metro Manila.
Recently, the group was cited as the Outstanding Small and Micro Enterprise in Nueva Ecija awarded by the One Town, One Product Philippines and Department of Trade and Industry-Nueva Ecija Provincial Office.
The KMNE will also serve as a social laboratory which will train people interested to engage in fruit and tilanggit processing. (Erwin S. Embuscado - Special to the Mindanao Examiner)
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
Church rejoices at ban on open pit mining in Philippine province
The local government ban, passed on June 11, is contained in a new Environment Code for the province, located in the Southern island of Mindanao.
Open pit mining involves the extraction of rocks and minerals near to the surface.
South Cotabato, particularly Tampakan town, is at the centre of rich resources, especially copper, gold and nickel deposits which Xstrata Copper, a foreign owned company, has been pursuing for development. However, the Tampakan Project has faced stiff opposition from the local Catholic Church and a network of indigenous peoples and non-governmental organisations.
In welcoming the decision, the national environmental group Haribon commented that, “open pit mining wreaks havoc to the environment; not only does it deforest, it also leaves wildlife homeless, and erodes the soil which upland communities and lowland farmers depend on for their livelihoods”.
"Divine intervention!" declared Fr Romeo Q Catedral, Social Action Center director of the Diocese of Marbel, who is at the forefront of church campaigning against large-scale mining.
"This is a triumph for the people not only of South Cotabato but also nearby provinces," the priest said.
He felt the project jeopardizes the rights to health, food and to a healthy environment of affected communities. However, John Arnaldo, corporate communications manager of Sagittarius Mines Inc., the local operative of the mine, commented that the provincial ban on open pit "won't have a bearing on the plans of the company to pursue the Tampakan project."
He told a Philippine newspaper that “since the Philippine Mining Act (1995) allows open pit mining, a local law cannot supersede a national law". There are also indications that the new Governor of South Cotabato, Arthur Pinggoy, may review and possibly defer implementation of the open pit ban.
The influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines has urged officials to see the ban signed into law. In a statement issued by Bishop Broderick Pabillo, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Manila and Secretary General of the National Secretariat of Social Action, the bishops urged that the Code be signed and become an Ordinance to assure the food security of the province and the preservation of the moral values and culture.
Bishop Pabillo said the environment code will be “leaving behind a legacy of intergenerational justice that gives a reasonable certainty for the children of South Cotabato that their future will not involve a serious scarcity of resources and a critical imbalance to the rich agricultural diversity of the province”.
The ban has been welcomed by the UK-based Working Group on Mining in the Philippines. “Local bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez of Marbel, whose diocese includes the Tampakan project, has been a strong opponent of the Mining Act and open cast mining” said Fr Frank Nally, a Columban priest who worked in Mindanao for eight years.
“When he came to London in 2007 for the launch of the Working Group report, Mining in the Philippines - Concerns and Conflicts, Bishop Gutierrez presented a vivid power point presentation on what open cast mining was doing,” Fr Nally reported.
Clare Short MP chaired the meeting and presided over the follow-up report Philippines-Mining or Food? which examined the case of the Tampakan Copper Project.
The Working Group on Mining in the Philippines has supported the Catholic Church’s opposition to the aggressive promotion of large-scale mining in the Philippines and called for the scrapping of the Philippine Mining Act of 1995. (Independent Catholic News - Ellen Teague)
Link:http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=16350
What helmet? Am a police intern!
Prosecutor gunned down in Mindanao
The attack occurred while Macadatar Marsangca was jogging on a village in Iligan City. The gunman escaped on a motorcycle driven by an accomplice after the shooting, leaving the bloodied Masangca sprawled on the road.
The motive of the attack is still unknown and investigators are looking into whether the killing was connected to criminal cases Masangca handled. The attackers were believed to be hired killers.
No individual claimed responsibility for the killing. (Mindanao Examiner)
Gunmen attack house of Maguindanao official
Major Randolph Cabangbang, a regional army spokesman, said the attack, carried out by two men on a motorcycle late Tuesday, targeted Talib Abo Jr, who belongs to the 1st Congressional district of Maguindanao, one of five provinces under the troubled Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao.
The blast tore through the garage of Abo’s house in Cotabato City.
No group or individual clamed responsibility for the blast, but police and military suspected hired assassins were behind the attack. It was not immediately known if Abo was in the house at the time of the attack.
“Members of the (military's anti-terror) Task Force Tugis of the 6th Infantry Division responded at the scene of the incident and conducted pursuit operation against the suspects, but they were able to escape,” Cabangbang said.
He said authorities were still investigating the motive of the attack. (Mindanao Examiner)
Monday, August 02, 2010
Philippines to investigate possible syphillis among displaced Mindanao women
MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 2, 2010) - Health experts in the Philippines will launch a six-month study to ascertain the presence of syphilis among displaced pregnant women in Mindanao, according to the United Nation's Integrated Regional Information Networks.
"This will conclude whether we are dealing with syphilis, yaws, or a combination of the two," Gerard Belimac, manager of the country's national AIDS/STI prevention and control programme, told IRIN.
The move follows a report by Médecins Sans Frontières Switzerland last year that 25.5 percent of women undergoing antenatal and post-natal care had tested positive for treponematosis, a group of non-venereal infections, as well as the bacterium Treponema pallidum, which causes syphilis.
The study will focus on priority areas of Maguindanao and North Cotabato provinces where high rates were reported. Participants - including 900 pregnant women and 200 of their husbands - will be provided with syphilis screening, counselling and treatment if necessary, Belimac said.
Scheduled to begin next month, the study is a joint effort of the Department of Health, the UN Population Fund, the World Health Organization and the UN Children's Fund.
Gunmen strafe bus, truck in Zamboanga village
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 2, 2010) – Unidentified gunmen strafed a commuter bus and a private truck on a highway in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, police said on Monday.
Police said there were no reported casualties in the attack, but the strafing sent a chilling warning that travelers are no longer safe on the road. The attack occurred late Sunday on a village called Tagasilay.
“I told my passengers to duck and luckily no was hurt or killed in the attack,” said Gilbert Denila, driver of the bus owned by Rural Transit of Mindanao.
No individual or group claimed responsibility for the attack, but it was the second strafing in two weeks in Zamboanga’s highway.
Gunmen also opened fired on a commuter bus in Muti village on July 22, wounding one person. He attack was largely blamed by the military to bandits operating in Zamboanga City.
The latest attack added to the growing concerns of many locals worried about the spate of violence in at least three Zamboanga villages – Mampang, Arena Blanco and Talon-Talon – where bloody clan feuds had already claimed the lives of many people.
A village official on Mampang was killed and his companions injured after gunmen ambushed them July 13 in Zamboanga City.
The ambush came a day after a lone gunman fatally shot a jeep driver who was plying the village route in front of many people. Prior to the daring shooting, gunmen also killed several people and exploded a hand grenade in a house in Mampang.
The attack on village officials occurred just as the local peace and order council was meeting to tackle the spate of killings and gun attacks in Zamboanga. Also in July, villagers discovered three bodies buried in a pit on a village of Mercedes. The cadavers bore stabbed wounds and its faces were covered in packing tape and one of the bodies was said to belong to a Muslim man.
Villagers were also afraid to come out in the open and tell what they know about the killings in the villages fearing reprisals from the criminals. One of the chief suspects in the murders was arrested by the police recently from his hideout in Mindoro province and another suspect surrendered to the police.
More than 100 people had been attacked by gunmen since early this year in Zamboanga City despite the presence of armed soldiers and policemen patrolling the streets. And police called these incidents isolated and government officials were quick to blame the proliferation of illegal firearms and urged authorities to intensify a campaign aimed at collecting these weapons.
Zamboanga has implemented a total gun ban the past years and despite this, the killings still go unabated, but most of the murders were perpetrated by professional killers who are actively operating in Zamboanga. (Mindanao Examiner)
Sunday, August 01, 2010
Potable Water: Will there be enough?
The 48-year-old Rosenda Palomares, a mother of nine, lives in a village called Little Margos in the town of Tungawan in Zamboanga Sibugay province. She, her children, as well as her neighbors, have been struggling to collect pails of water because their community cannot provide them direct access to a clean and safe drinking water.
Situated about 26 kilometers away from the main downtown Tungawan, considered as one of the remotest villages of the province, Little Margos is just one of the many rural areas in the country where access to potable water is still a privilege.
The village has been depending on rain, dug wells and rivers as their source of drinking water. There are also days wherein they will have to take the long treacherous road to the nearest neighboring village to draw water when their own supply runs out.
These methods of water sourcing has been proven to pose serious health risks as a study conducted in the village showed that the lack of clean water supply makes its residents more prone to contracting diseases like diarrhea, cholera and other waterborne diseases.
The Philippines is not the only country that suffers from the lack of potable water.
In 2004, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund reported that more than one billion people around the world still drink unsafe water.
The report “Meeting the Millennium Development Goals" revealed that the growing disparity between those who can avail and those who cannot access basic services like clean water is killing around 4000 children every day and underlies many more of the 10 million child deaths every year.
Waterborne diseases are also a major concern. Diarrhea kills at least 1.8 million people every year, mostly children, and the search for scarce drinking water results in 40 billion hours of lost work in Africa alone, their report says.
But there are also "worrying trends," aggravated by rapid industrialization in many industrialized countries, where the percentage of people with access to clean drinking water and basic sanitation actually dropped by two percent between 1990 and 2002.
The report did underline some encouraging signs. Efforts to reduce the number of people without access to clean drinking water to 800 million by 2015 are on track, it said, noting that an additional 1.1 billion people have gained such access in the last 12 years.
Progress on this front has been especially rapid in Asia, where the percentage of the population with access to potable water has increased from 77 to 83 since 1992. But there are still 675 million people in Asia , and the report estimates that they draw their drinking water from unsafe sources such as polluted rivers and lakes.
According to the Asian Development Bank, rural communities in the country, particularly those in small island provinces like Little Margos, generally have inadequate access to safe drinking water. On an average, two thirds of the population in such areas lack access to potable water sources, a figure that is remarkably higher than the Asian average of one in three people. In some provinces, the reported number is even lower.
In an effort to bring potable water to the underserved rural areas in the country, the Philippine Government developed the Integrated Water Supply Program from 1986 to 2000. Its mission was to prioritize several services to communities outside major urban areas. Non-governmental organizations such as the Peace and Equity Foundation, have also initiated projects aimed at improving the water system in far-flung rural areas.
Envisioning a better community, PEF supports projects that focus on basic services like water systems, livelihood and enterprises, capacity building and calamity assistance. Just July this year, PEF inaugurated a water system project in Little Margos that is expected to end decades of inaccessibility to potable water.
The project, amounting to more than 600,000 pesos, is called the “Little Margos Community-Managed Potable Water System.” It started last October 2007 and it aims to help the 91 households or the 490 residents of the village.
Now that their barangay already has free access to potable water, Rosenda Palomares is grateful to everyone who pitched in and made the project a reality. She shares that the days of carrying buckets of water are now in the past and the time that she spends fetching water to and from can now be used to attend to more important matters such as taking care of her family. (Amir Mawallil)
No more cluster bombs Convention now International Law, Philippines signed treaty
MANILA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 1, 2010) - The Philippine Campaign against Cluster Munitions praised the Convention on Cluster Munitions after it became an international law.
“We will no longer experience the adverse humanitarian effects of cluster bombs because the Convention on Cluster Munitions is now an international law,” it said.
Dozens of campaigners from around the world celebrated Sunday this historic ban. Philippine campaigners also launched a cluster munitions information campaign in selected areas in Quezon City and Manila. Campaigners as far as Nueva Vizcaya have also joined in the celebration campaign.
The convention prohibits the use, production and trade of cluster munitions, requires destruction of stockpiles, clearance of cluster bombed areas and assistance to affected communities and survivors. The convention was negotiated in Dublin in May 2008.
The Philippines signed in Oslo in December 2008. To date, 107 governments have signed the convention, of which 37 have ratified.
“Although there is no direct threat of cluster munitions in the country now, Filipinos are vulnerable to cluster bomb explosions because OFWs are working in countries such as Lebanon and Israel. In the conflict between these countries in August 2006, cluster munitions were used and their remnants continue to inflict damage”, according to Philippine Campaign to Ban Landmines.
PCCM, a national coalition spearheading the campaign in banning cluster munitions, expects that the new government will ratify the convention to signify the country’s commitment to the treaty. The Philippines is not a user, producer, stockpile or supplier of cluster munitions and as no intention to do so.
After the Convention on Cluster Munitions enters into force on 1August, the next milestone will be the First Meeting of States Parties, which is scheduled to be held in Lao PDR in November 2010. Lao PDR is the country most heavily contaminated by cluster munitions as a result of bombings more than 30 years ago.
The 37 governments that have ratified the convention are Albania, Austria, Belgium, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Croatia, Denmark, Ecuador, Fiji, France, Germany, Rome, Ireland, Japan, Laos, Lesotho and Luxembourg.
And also Macedonia FYR, Malawi, Mali, Malta, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Norway, Samoa, San Marino, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Spain, Seychelles, United Kingdom, Uruguay, and Zambia. (Nikki Delfin)
200 inmates transferred to Zambo penal farm
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 1, 2010) – The Bureau of Corrections transferred some 200 inmates to a penal colony in Zamboanga City in Mindanao in an effort to decongest the growing population of the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City in Luzon Island.
The prisoners, who were tightly guarded, had arrived by boat from
The New Bilibid Prison, the country’s largest prison facility, has more than 19,900 inmates and one-third of the prisoners are in maximum security camps. The local prison facility is capable of housing more than 5,000 prisoners. At present, the colony has more than 1,000 prisoners.
Many of the prisoners at the San Ramon Penal Colony, one of seven facilities under the Bureau of Corrections, pass the time by engaging in farming and in the production of handicrafts. (Mindanao Examiner)