Jejemon Fashion

A shopper in a Digos City mall in Mindanao poses with a bull cap commonly used by so-called Jejemon texters in the Philippines. Even belt buckles are now sporting new designs. (Mindanao Examiner Photo – Geo Solmerano)

Digos City at Night!

While residents enjoy the Christmas holiday in Digos City in the southern Philippine province of Davao del Sur, others continue to suffer because of extreme poverty. (Mindanao Examiner / Geo Solmerano)

Rapper Andew E. Performs in Mindanao's Digos City

Filipino rapper Andrew E. performs Tuesday, September 8, 2009 before a huge crowd in Digos City in the southern Philippines which is celebrating 9th Araw ng Digos. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Geo Solmerano)

Digos' Bamboo Vendors

Bamboo vendors from the southern Filipino city of Digos prepare to sail for 9 hours to sell the poles, usually used by fishermen as outriggers and antenna poles for their boats. Each pole sells for P60. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Geo Solmerano)

Boat maker at work in Digos City

A Filipino boat maker puts braces on his unfinished boat as his wife and children look on at a coastal village in Digos City in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Geo Solmerano)

Two NPA rebels killed in Digos clash

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 17, 2009) – Government soldiers killed two New People’s Army rebels in a firefight Sunday in the southern Philippine city of Digos, officials said.

Officials said the fighting erupted after troops attacked a group of communist rebels in the village called Goma at around noon time.

Villagers secretly tipped off the military about the presence of rebels in the area, said Lt. Col. Kurt Decapia, of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division.

“The firefight was a result of the tip-off information from the members of the Barangay Defense System who reported the NPA’s presence in the vicinity of their village,” he said.

“The troops maneuvered towards the location of the NPA that caught the latter in surprise and was forced to withdraw into different directions after the heavy volume of fire delivered by the troops leaving behind two M16 rifles in the possession of two dead NPAs,” he said.

There were no reports of military casualties. The military vowed to step up offensive against the rebels who are fighting the past decades to put up a Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)

Court jails killer of slain Filipino journalist

MANILA, Philippines (Reuters) - A Philippine court found an unemployed man guilty on Wednesday for the 2006 killing of a radio commentator on the southern island of Mindanao, sending him to jail for 17 years.

It was only the sixth conviction among more than 100 cases of murders of Filipino journalists since 1986, a local media group said.

"We are thankful to the government prosecutors for making sure justice would be served," Maximo Solis, an official of the local broadcasters' association, told reporters. "But we want to know why our colleague was killed and who wanted him dead."

Radio broadcaster Armando Pace, known for his critical commentaries on local politicians, was shot in the head and chest as he was riding home from work in July 2006 in southern Digos City.

One of the two gunmen linked to the crime, Joy Anticamara, was caught and brought to trial but denied he was near the crime scene. The court threw out his alibi after a neighbour identified him as one of the gunmen.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has listed the Philippines as among the world's most dangerous places for journalists due to many unresolved murders since 1998.

About 24 killings of Filipino journalists have remained unresolved in the last 10 years, said a CPJ report in March 2009, calling on the government to prosecute and punish those behind the murders.

The government said four people had been convicted in the last eight years and 26 others were facing charges for the murder of at least 31 Filipino journalists since 2001. But local media groups said about 78 to 100 of more than 130 journalists have been killed since 1986 and only five of those cases led to convictions. (Reuters)

Road hazard in Digos City in Davao del Sur province

An overloaded truck transporting chicken manure has stalled near a bridge Saturday, March 21, 2009 in Digos City in Davao del Sur province in the southern Philippines. The truck driver failed to put any early warning device to caution other vehicles that the truck is stalled.

(Mindanao Examiner Photo / Geo Solmerano)

Summer fun in Digos City

Reimond Stegeimann, a disc jockey in Germany, enjoys his vacation at Dawis beach resort in Digos Citty in the southern Philippines. And Filipinos too. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Geo Solmerano)

Wakeboarding In Digos City

A young man shows his skills on “wakeboarding,” in Dawis in the Mindanao city of Digos where the sport is popular. Locals contend with homemade surf board which is made mostly of marine plywood. Wakeboarding is a surface water sport which involves riding a wakeboard over the surface of a body of water usually behind a boat. It was developed through a combination of water skiing, snowboarding and surfing techniques. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Geo Solmerano)

Fishers head out to sea in Mindanao

Filipino fishermen head out to the open sea on Monday, February 23, 2009 off Digos City in Davao del Sur province. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Geonarri Solmerano)

Photo: Midnight Mass In Digos City

Policemen stand guard as Filipino Catholics attend midnight mass in Digos City in the southern Philippine province of Davao del Sur. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Geonarri Solmerano)

No Signs Of Philippine Bombers

Police investigators work at the scene where a commuter bus was bombed September 1, 2008 in Digos City in the southern Philippines. (Photo submitted by Romy Bwaga)

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 4, 2008) – Police continue to search for group behind the deadly bombing in the southern Philippines.

But there were no signs that authorities are nearing in putting an end to the atrocities committed by the Al-Khobar gang, blamed for the September 1 bombing of a commuter bus in Digos City in Davao del Sur province that killed and wounded dozens of people.

Senior Supt. Cesario Darantinao, the provincial police chief, said a woman was believed behind the attack on the bus owned by Davao Metro Shuttle. It was the second commuter bus bombed in the past three months.

“Like in the first bombing incident, we believe the extortion group Al-Khobar is behind this blast,” he said.

The bombing occurred at a bus depot and Metro Shuttle bus owner Mayor Rey Uy, of Tagum City, blamed extortionists as behind the attack.

The Al-Khobar gang is composed mostly of Filipino terrorists and some of them were former Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels trained by the Indonesian militant Jemaah Islamiya. (Romy Bwaga)

8 Killed In New Bombing In Southern Philippines

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Sept. 1, 2008) – A homemade bomb explosion Monday ripped through a commuter bus, killing at least 8 people in the southern Philippines, where security forces are battling Moro rebels, officials said.

Officials said the bombing targeted the bus owned by Metro Shuttle in Digos City in Davao del Sur province. At least seven people were seriously wounded in the attack.

The bombing occurred at a bus depot shortly before 3 p.m., according to Army Col. Roland Bautista, of the 10th Infantry Division. “We still don’t know the motive of the bombing,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.

Metro Shuttle bus owner Mayor Rey Uy, of Tagum City, has blamed extortionists as behind the bombing and urged authorities to put an end to the attacks. It was the second Metro Shuttle bus bombed in three months, he said.

He said four people were instantly killed in the blast, but other reports claimed four more others had perished in the bombing and the number of casualties may still increase because more people had been rushed to hospitals. Radio network dzRH also reported that 8 people were killed in the blast.

Army Maj. Armand Rico, a spokesman for the Eastern Mindanao Command, said the blast was so powerful that it decapitated a still unidentified civilian. “It was powerful that the blast decapitated a civilian,” he said.

Witnesses said they saw human body parts scattered inside the bus. The blast tore the roof and sides of the bus.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but a bombing in July of another Metro Shuttle bus in Digos City had been largely blamed to the Al-Khobar gang.

One passenger was killed and 35 others were wounded in the July bombing, which authorities claimed had been carried out by a woman, who left a bag containing the explosive inside the bus.

Three days before the bombing, Uy said unidentified men demanded P500,000 from his firm and P50,000 every month as protection money. Uy said the men threatened to bomb his buses if he will not pay up.

The Al-Khobar gang is composed mostly of Filipino terrorists and some of them were former Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels trained by the Indonesian militant Jemaah Islamiya.

The latest bombing coincided with government offensive against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels who launched a series of attacks last month in the provinces that killed dozens of civilians. It was not immediately known whether the rebels had anything to do with the bombing, officials said. (With a report from Romy Bwaga)

Jemaah Islamiya Affiliate Blamed For Philippine Bus Bombing

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 25, 2008) – Police and military on Friday tightened security in the southern Philippines following a bombing of a commuter bus that killed one passenger and wounded at least 35 others in Digos City in Davao del Sur province.

Police said one of the injured in the blast died on Friday and that at least 35 people were injured in the attack believed carried out by the al-Khobar gang, blamed for the spate of bombings and extortion activities in Mindanao.

Police is also investigating reports that a woman who posed as passenger was behind Thursday attack on the bus owned by the family of Mayor Rey Uy, of Tagum City.

Three days before the bombing, Uy said unidentified men demanded P500,000 from his bus firm and P50,000 every month as protection money. Uy said the men also threatened to bomb his buses if he will not pay up.

“We have reports that the al-Khobar was behind the attack and that a woman carried out the bombing,” Lt. Col. Kurt Decapia, a spokesman for the Army’s 10th Infantry Division, told the Mindanao Examiner.

Decapia alsop corrected military reports that two people were killed in the bombing. Decapia said the military is investigating the blast and the type of explosive used in the attack. He said the al-Khobar gang is composed mostly of Filipino terrorists and some of them were former Muslim rebels trained by the Indonesian militant grouped called Jemaah Islamiya.

“Most of the members of this group were trained by JI terrorists in the manufacture of homemade bombs and we have stepped up efforts to locate them and stop their terrorist activities,” he said.

On Tuesdays, government troops also recovered a motorcycle rigged with explosives in nearby Maguindanao province. The military said the motorbike was abandoned by its driver due to flat tires before it could a government checkpoint in Ampatuan town.

The military said it had received intelligence reports that terrorists were planning to attack civilian targets using motorcycles rigged with explosives. Military explosives' experts found an improvised explosive device composed of TNT on the motorbike's engine and connected to a detonator and a cellular phone that served as triggering device. (Mindanao Examiner)

2 Dead, 27 Injured In Bus Bombing In Southern Philippines

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 24, 2008) – At least two people were killed and more than two dozen others wounded in Thursday bombing of a commuter bus in the southern Philippines, police and military said.

The attack occurred at noontime at a bus depot in Digos City in Davao del Sur province, said Lieutenant Colonel Kurt Decapia, a spokesman for the Army’s 10th Infantry Division.

“At least two people are confirmed dead and ten others or possibly more were killed in the bus bombing. We have deployed soldiers to help police forces secure the area,” Decapia told the Mindanao Examiner.

But police said at least 27 passengers were injured in the blast caused by a homemade bomb planted in the bus.

“We have reports that 27 passengers were injured in the blast caused by a homemade bomb explosion. A cell phone was used to trigger detonation of the bomb,” said Senior Superintendent Cesario Darantinao, the provincial police chief.

Darantinao said the bus, owned by the Davao Metro Shuttle, came from the neighboring town of Bansalan. He said the explosion occurred at around 11.30 a.m.

The military said no groups claimed responsibility for the bombing. “We still don’t know who was behind this or the motive of the attack,” Decapia said.

But bus bombings in the troubled region were previously blamed by authorities to the Indonesian terror group Jemaah Islamiya and its local affiliate the Abu Sayyaf and the al-Khobar gang and rouge members of the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which is negotiating peace with Manila.

On Tuesdays, government soldiers recovered a motorcycle rigged with explosives in Maguindanao province in the Muslim autonomous region also in southern Philippines where President Gloria Arroyo toured.

The motorbike was abandoned by its driver due to a flat tire before it could a military checkpoint in Ampatuan town. The military said it had received intelligence reports this week that terrorists could be planning to attack civilian targets using motorcycles rigged with explosives.

It said the motorcycle was en route to Davao City, which was previously bombed by JI and MILF rebels. Military explosives' experts found an improvised explosive device composed of TNT on the motorbike’s engine and connected to a detonator and a cellular phone that served as triggering device. (Mindanao Examiner)

Bus Bombed In Southern Philippines, 2 Killed

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 24, 2008) – At least two people were killed and ten others wounded in a bombing Thursday of a commuter bus in the southern Philippines, officials said.

The attack occurred at noontime at a bus depot in Digos City in Davao del Sur province, said Lt. Kurt Decapia, a spokesman for the Army’s 10th Infantry Division.

“At least two people are confirmed dead and ten others or possibly more were killed in the bus bombing. We have deployed soldiers to help police forces secure the area,” Decapia said.

He said no groups claimed responsibility for the bombing. “We still don’t know who was behind this or the motive of the attack,” he said.

But bus bombings in the troubled region were previously blamed by authorities to the Indonesian terror group Jemaah Islamiya and its local affiliate the Abu Sayyaf and the al-Khobar gang and rouge members of the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which is negotiating peace with Manila.

On Tuesdays, government soldiers recovered a motorcycle rigged with explosives in Maguindanao province in the Muslim autonomous region also in southern Philippines where President Gloria Arroyo toured.

The motorbike was abandoned by its driver due to a flat tire before it could a military checkpoint in Ampatuan town. The military said it had received intelligence reports this week that terrorists could be planning to attack civilian targets using motorcycles rigged with explosives.

It said the motorcycle was en route to Davao City, which was previously bombed by JI and MILF rebels. Military explosives' experts found an improvised explosive device composed of TNT on the motorbike’s engine and connected to a detonator and a cellular phone that served as triggering device. (Mindanao Examiner)

NPA Owns Up Killing Of Militia Leader In South RP

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 08, 2008) – The communist New People’s Army rebels on Thursday admitted to killing a village leader accused of leading anti-insurgency campaign and human rights violations in the southern Philippines.

Paterno Intes was killed after rebels raided his house in the village of Kapatagan in the outskirts of Digos City. Rebels also seized a cache of weapons from Intes’ house that included seven shotguns, a grenade launcher, an automatic rifle and fragmentation grenades and munitions.

Ricardo Fermiza, a rebel spokesman, said Intes was a notorious paramilitary leader working for the Army’s 39th Infantry Battalion.

“His liquidation should serve as a further warning to others who perform aggressive and armed counter-revolutionary activities,” Fermiza, of the NPA’s Magtanggol Roque Command, said.

Fermiza said the rebels had long warned Intes to stop his anti-NPA and anti-people activities, but he ignored the NPA. “Intes belonged to the 39th Infantry Battalion’s paramilitary and intelligence network in the hinterlands of Davao del Sur. He also maintained high powered weapons and used them in hostile actions against the NPA,” he said.

The army battalion was also accused of beating up civilians in North Cotabato province after an NPA ambush that left three soldiers dead. The army insisted the civilians knew of the ambush, but did not warn the military about it.

NPA rebels attacked early Monday a convoy of the 39th Infantry Battalion and killing three soldiers and wounding as many as 13 others. Civilians claimed soldiers returned on Tuesday and rounded up dozens of villagers and beat them up.

The rebels, military wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front, broke away in 2004 from peace talks with the Arroyo government after the United States and the European Union included the rebel groups in the list of foreign terrorist organizations on Manila's prodding. (Mindanao Examiner)

Private Security Man Killed In Attack In South RP

DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 27 Jun) – Two motorcycle gunmen fatally shot a private security guard in a daring broad daylight attack Wednesday in the southern Philippines city of Digos, police said.

Police said Loiue Kakasangka, 45, was killed instantly from a shot in the head. The gunmen escaped after the kill, it said.

Investigators said Kakasangaka, who worked for the Nakayama Group of Companies, was motoring when gunmen attacked him at around 10.30 a.m. along the busy Samba Street near downtown area.

Police said it is still investigating the motive of the attack. Company officials did not give any statement about the murder of its security personnel. (Romy Bwaga)

Boy Hangs Self In Southern Philippines

DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 05 Jun) – A Filipino boy, scolded by his grandmother for fighting his cousin, hanged himself in the southern Philippines, police said Tuesday.

Police said the eleven-year old boy, Denmark Quinto, was found dead by family members inside his room in the family house in the village of Tienda in Digos City.

The boy, police said, was scolded by his mother and locked himself inside the room on Monday. It was the last time the woman saw her son alive.

Police said the boy was found hanging from a beam with a blanket tied around his neck.

Suicide among minors is not common in the Philippines because of the strong faith of Filipinos in Christianity.

Although there were many cases of crimes committed by children because of extreme poverty and illegal drugs, bad family upbringing and influence of those around them. (Romy Bwaga)