Today the great challenge of tension and conflict in Mindanao continues to vex and worry us. I speak particularly of the conflict between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Government of the Philippines. In the face of this challenge, what do our degrees mean? Certainly a degree from Xavier University opens up probabilities of good jobs beneficial to yourselves and to your families.

Villagers in Barangay Pedtad, Kabacan, North Cotabato burn wood for charcoal, which they sell for P100 a sack at the local market. MindaNews photo by Ruby Thursday More

Seventy six-year-old Euteqio Alucaya carefully sorts out the abaca hemp for drying before selling them to the market in Bislig City in Surigao del Sur, which he sells for P40 a kilo.  MindaNews Photo by Froilan Gallardo

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/30 March) – Oil price hikes and corruption in government are two sides of the same coin, according to a transport group as it prepares for widespread transport strike and street protests on Thursday. According to the Transport Alliance in Region X (Starex), government cannot close its eyes on the oil [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/30 March) – As Davao City is still in a quandary whether to approve or not the construction of a giant coal-fired power plant within its boundaries, neighboring Sta. Cruz town in Davao del Sur have no second thoughts in allowing Aboitiz Power Corp. to construct a small part of the plant. Of [...]

TABUAN LASA, Basilan (MindaNews/30 March) – The mayor of this newly created municipality is eyeing to put up a floating school for Badjao children. In an interview at the sidelines during the town’s third founding anniversary celebration last Tuesday, Mayor Muctar Junaid noted that Badjao children seldom finish school, even in the elementary level.

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/30 March) – Bukidnon’s three members of the House of Representatives filed a bill creating the province’s fourth congressional district, House records obtained by MindaNews said. Rep. Jose Zubiri III (3rd District), the principal author, filed on March 15 the bill “An act reapportioning the first (1st) and second (2nd) legislative districts of [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/30 March) – An investment company is planning to build 10 processing plants for coconut coir in Northern and Western Mindanao by 2016. Vicente T. Laoa, president of the Maharlika Agro-Marine Ventures, Corp., said each plant would cost P20 million, for a total of P200 million. This they will build with the help [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/30 March) – PO1 Lonie Rementizo was supposed to surface before the court Friday last week, said his lawyer, but the Presiding Judge of the Regional Trial Court Branch 37 Jose Escobido called in sick. In a hearing last week before the People’s Law Enforcement Board (PLEB), lawyer Alejandro Jose Pallugna [...]

PULANGI EXPRESS A 50-foot wooden motorboat crosses the Pulangi River which divides the towns of Kabacan and Carmen in Cotabato Province. The boat is bound for Bukidnon where the river, Mindanao’s longest, originates. MindaNews photo by Ruby Thursday More

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/29 March) – Transport groups here and in the neighboring provinces of South Cotabato, Sarangani and Davao del Sur vowed to paralyze public transportation in the area on Thursday as they declared to join the national transport strike and protest actions on Thursday against the continuing increases in fuel prices. Roy Sande, [...]

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/29 March) — Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs Dr. Zenaida Ababa, Officer-in-charge Dr. Cristina Achacoso, former Dean Dr. Emma Macaraya, former Dean Dr. Ombra Tamano, faculty members, graduating students, dear parents, relatives and friends, good morning!

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/29 March) — Three films from Mindanao have been nominated for at least five top awards each in the 34th Gawad Urian in May: Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Production Design and Best Sound. “Halaw: Ways of the Sea” by Sheron Dayoc, “Limbunan” (The Bridal Quarter) by Gutierrez Mangansakan II, and [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/29 March) — Operators and drivers of public utility vehicles who are joining the planned national transport strike on Thursday face the risk of having their franchises cancelled, a top official of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board of Region XI warned. Benjamin Go, regional director of LTFRB-XI said in the press [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/29 March) – Local governments have been cautioned against entering into contracts for coal-processing and coal-fired power plants as mounting global fears on operating nuclear power plants may prop up the price of coal soon and using it may end up more costly. Catherine P. Maceda, adviser to the Senate committee on climate [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/29 March) – Two congressmen from Cagayan de Oro City have expressed opposition to the reproductive health bill even as civil society organizations and lay religious groups are seeking for more dialogue on the controversial measure now pending in Congress. Second District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said that he is opposed to [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/29 March) — Members of the Radio Mindanao Network Davao Employees’ Union (RDEU) yesterday staged a protest rally urging the network management to immediately hold a certification election. The protesters threw red paint on a signage that had the initials RMN but which read Repressive Media Network to symbolize their grievance against the [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/29 March) – At least 5,000 poor senior citizens in Region 12 or Southwestern Mindanao are set to receive a social pension worth at least P6,000 annually from the national government as part of the full implementation this year of Republic Act (RA) 9994 or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act. Fatima Abobakar, [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/28 March) – The Regional Development Council (RDC) of Region 12 or Southwestern Mindanao is seeking the intervention of Malacanang over the alleged irregularities involving the P40-million unfinished airport renovation project here. City Mayor and RDC chair Darlene Magnolia Antonino-Custodio said Monday they are set to file a request before the office [...]

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/28 March) – One of the worst fears expressed years back by the local Catholic Church over the massive Tampakan copper-gold project of foreign-backed Sagittarius Mines, Inc – that of tribesmen taking up firearms in protest of the mining operation and its related activities – may have begun to unfold. Fr. Romeo Catedral, [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/28 March) – The radiation released by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in the aftermath of the strong quake that rocked Japan on March 11 may reach the Philippines, a toxicologist at the University of the Philippines said. Contrary to the claims by officials at the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/28 March) — Redemptorist priest Amado Picardal said in a mass Sunday that he will be assigned to Manila as the new executive secretary of the Committee on Basic Ecclesial Communities of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP-BEC Committee). But instead of taking a plane to Manila Picardal will once again [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/28 March) – At least three policemen assigned at the Koronadal City police station were disarmed and relieved from their posts over the weekend after they were accused of raping and committing acts of lasciviousness on a female detainee inside the police station compound earlier this month. Supt. Anecito Ambay, acting Koronadal [...]

Pet owners bring their dogs to government veterinarians for anti-rabies vaccination. The month of March is designated as Rabies Awareness Month by the government. MindaNewsPhoto by Geonarri Solmerano

Parishioners joined the Walk for Life (anti-RH Bill rally) in Kidapawan City last weekend. The Church has flexed its muscles against the controversial bill with rallies held in various cities in the Visayas and Mindanao. MindaNews Photo by Geonarri Solmerano

Defying a local ordinance that bans selling near schools, vendors use a sidewalk in front of Xavier University to make flower bouquets to be sold to parents of graduating students. MindaNews Photo by Froilan Gallardo

Mr. Speaker, this representation votes NO to HB 4146 on the basis that it is unconstitutional and it infringes on the right of ARMM voters to choose their leaders. Postponing the ARMM elections from August 8, 2011 to May 2013 and appointing OICs in the stead of elected officials mocks the supposed autonomy granted to the region by virtue of the Philippine Constitution and Republic Act 6734 and 9054, also known as the Organic Act providing for the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.

COTABATO CITY (MindaNews/27 March) — When the UN Security Council finally decided to impose a ‘no fly zone’ in Libya, many people both within and outside the Arab and Islamic world heaved with great relief.  Without this historic decision, we would have witnessed a wanton carnage of the people in Benghazi as Qadaffi threatened to [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/27 March) —  A former chief of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) whose firm was the supplier for Northern Mindanao’s controversial P30-million organic fertilizer subsidy program, is willing to replace the questionable stocks amid investigation by the Department of Agriculture legal office, Jimmy Apostol, NIA Bukidnon irrigation officer, told MindaNews. Apostol said Carlos [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/27 March) — The House of Representatives passed House Bill 4146 postponing the August 8 elections in the Autonomous Region in  Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to synchronize it with the May 2013 elections and to allow President Aquino to appoint officers-in-charge but Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, who hails from Bukidnon, said the Senate will [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/27 March) — On the 100th anniversary of the celebration of  International Women’s Day on March 8, I would like to offer my personal reflections coming from my more than three decades of organizing women.  These are some of the important things I have learned in my work to help women to empower [...]

EARTH HOUR.Rover scouts light candles during the Earth Hour celebration in one of the malls in Davao City Saturday evening, March 26. Earth hour is a global movement that raises environmental awareness by asking household and  businesses to turn off non-essential lights for an hour. This year’s campaign calls for an environmental-friendly living. MindaNews photo [...]

P16 PER KILO. Workers wash bunches of banana before placing them in wooden crates in New Corella, Davao del Norte. A local trader has bought these bananas for P16 per kilo, for shipment to Cebu City. MindaNews Photo by Keith Bacongco

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/26 March) —  The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will be infusing P2.5-billion rehabilitation fund to strengthen the country’s cooperative banking industry. “The BSP rehabilitation fund will come as preferred shares in selected cooperative banks that are stable,” said Ating Koop party list Rep. Isidro Q. Lico. These strong cooperative banks, [...]

KORONADAL CITY  (MindaNews/26 March) — An official of a construction firm belied on Saturday a claim by  Sagittarius Mines, Inc. (SMI) that they’re not a contractor for the mining firm and that the three workers killed Friday afternoon in an ambush in Tampakan, South Cotabato, were “not SMI employees or contractors.” South Cotabato Governor Arthur [...]

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanews/26 March) – An education official has appealed to the police and military and local government officials in Zamboanga Sibugay to provide security to teachers who are facing threats of kidnapping. “Please protect our teachers, they need you,” said Amelia Torralba, Assistant Schools Divisions superintendent  at the Department of Education (DepEd) Assistant Schools [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/26 March) — In September last year, the 10th Infantry Division began deployment of its Peace and Development Teams (PDTs) to implement its Peace and Development Outreach Program (PDOP). The Division initiative would anticipate the implementation of the Internal Peace and Security Plan (IPSP) or Oplan Bayanihan, the AFP roadmap for 2011-2016, touted [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/26 March) – No, this is not about the movie based on Nicholas Sparks’ book of the same title but a message intended to raise awareness on ocean issues, placed in a nine-liter, 20-inch glass bottle which has travelled 5,000 miles from south of Hawaii since April 2010 and has been tracked 10.5 miles off the southern end of Sarangani Island in Davao del Sur as of 4:23 a.m. today.

GRADUATION SEASON. Parents take pictures of their children during graduation rites held at one of the shopping malls in Davao City. Thousands of students will be graduating this month, which marks the end of the school year. MindaNews Photo by Keith Bacongco

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/25 March) – Civil society organizations and lay religious groups in the city want open and fair discussion and dialogue on the controversial reproductive health legislation in Congress. In their presentation to the President in a town hall-like meeting with President Benigno Simeon Aquino III Wednesday at Pilgrim Christian College, the [...]

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/25 March) – Dismayed but still hopeful. Foreign-backed Sagittarius Mines Inc. on Friday aired frustrations over the signing of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the controversiaacl environment code that bans open-pit mining method in South Cotabato. At the same time, John Arnaldo, Sagittarius Mines corporate communications manager, said the company is [...]

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/25 March) – Three people were killed while another was injured in yet another violent incident on Friday afternoon in Tampakan, South Cotabato, host of the mines development site of foreign-backed Sagittarius Mines, Inc., officials said. South Cotabato Gov. Arthur Pingoy Jr. said the victims of the ambush were workers of a construction [...]

ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews/25 March) – Eighty women, most of them aged between 19 and 25, were rescued Thursday at the Zamboanga International Airport (ZIA) in what is believed as a large-scale human trafficking operation, police said. Supt. Celso Bael, chief of the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime (PCTC) Western Mindanao field office, said they were [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/25 March) – Provincial board members chastised the Department of Education’s proposed “K+12” program, which will extend the present 10 years of elementary and high school to 12 years. Dr. Ingrid Racoma, DepEd Bukidnon schools division superintendent, presented the proposed program at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan last Wednesday. Vice Gov. Jose Ma. R. Zubiri [...]

ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews/25 March) – Fishing companies here are rethinking their security strategies in the light of the abduction of three crew members of a boat owned by a canned sardine manufacturer in this city in the seas of Sulu last week. “Before it was just extortion, but now they are resorting to kidnapping. This [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/25 March) – Civil society organizations (CSOs) have asked President Benigno Simeon Aquino III to look into the “overstaying” regional director of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) in Northern Mindanao, saying that Dir. Mandangan Darimbang does not have a “franchise” to his office. The issue of Darimbang’s stay [...]

Journalists and lawyers light candles in Kidapawan City March 23, on the 16th month since the infamous “Ampatuan massacre” that left 57 people dead, including 32 journalists, in the municipality of Ampatuan in Maguindanao. MindaNews Photo by Geonarri Solmerano

Davao City — Amidst the recent natural disasters, advocates warned that environmentally critical projects such as mining, nuclear plants, coal fired power plants, largescale mining among others could trigger worst man-made tragedies if the government and the people allow it. “Natural disasters are made worse by the presence of capitalist’s profit – oriented projects that [...]

Local street artists perform in front of a crowd at the Divisoria Park in Cagayan de Oro City. MindaNews Photo by Erwin Mascarinas

DAKBAYAN SA DABAW (MindaNews/24 Marso) – Kinsay magdahom nga sa akong edad nga 63 anyos, maigo kog dengue? Sa panahon nga dili na ni uso? Pero mao gyod nay nahitabo nako. Naospital kog unom ka adlaw, sa Pebrero 12-18, tungod sa dengue. Tayming pa gyod nga bisi mi sa Davao Writers Guild (DWG) sa pagpadagan [...]