KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/30 October)  –  The Mines and Geosciences Bureau has given its nod to Sagittarius Mines, Inc. and a mining firm in Misamis Oriental to resume exploration activities. The two firms in Mindanao were part of 10  nationwide whose applications to resume exploration activities were approved recently by Leo Jasareno, MGB acting national director. [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/30 October) — Bukidnon Gov. Alex Calingasan has announced that tribal leaders in the hinterland boundary of  Bukidnon’s Cabanglasan and Agusan del Sur’s Loreto towns turned over some P4.5 million worth of marketable marijuana plants tp authorities. Calingasan told reporters Thursday that Apu Manggarin, supreme datu of the Umajamnen (also referred to as [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/30 October) – Those who favor an all-out war forget or seem to not understand that government is talking peace with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front precisely because using military means has proved futile after nearly half a century of conflict. The grief and anger of the widows and orphans of the soldiers [...]

LILIES FROM DAVAO. Juliet Ostero, a worker at the King Toto Farm of the Puentespina Orchids and Tropical Plants in Carmen, Davao City harvests Oriental Lilies for shipment to Metro Manila and neighboring provinces days in time for All Saints and All Souls Days. Along with candles, flowers are the usual offerings of Filipinos to [...]

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/29 Oct) — A brigade commander in Lanao del Norte has warned that an advisory spread through text messages allegedly coming from him and warning the public to “refrain from  traveling” along the Iligan-Zamboanga highway  this week “because the MILF is agitated”  is not true. “This is false information. The Armed Forces of [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/29 Oct) –  The methods differ but the calls remain the same: No to all-out war, Yes to Peace. “Running priest” Fr. Robert Reyes will lead an “all out-run for all-out peace” Sunday morning in Davao City to mobilize support  for the peace process while  caravan for peace will move from Cagayan de [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/29 October) — Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño has filed a House Resolution calling for an investigation into the merger of  Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT)-Digital Telecommunications Philippines, Inc. (Digitel), claiming it would “essentially” monopolize the telecommunications industry. House Resolution 1320, co-authored by Byaan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, directs the [...]

DAHICAN, Mati City (MindaNews/29 October) – At least 50 skimboarders from different parts in the country have converged here for the two-day 2011 annual Skimboarding Challenge that ends Sunday afternoon. Amihan Boys president George G. Plaza, organizer of the competition said cream-of-the-crop skimboarders from the cities of Davao, General Santos, Tandag, Digos, Mati, Cagayan de [...]

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanews/29 October) – The improvised bombs that exploded or were detonated this week in Barangay Sangali here this week were new types of explosives, an expert said. A construction worker was killed while six other were injured when a bomb exploded shortly after 9 p.m. on October 26 at an eatery in Barangay [...]

SKIMBOARDING. A young competitor shows his stuff during the 2011 Mati Annual Slimboarding Challenge in Dahican, Mati City in Davao Oriental on Saturday, October 29.. Teams from Davao, General Santos, Tandag, Digos, Mati, Cagayan de Oro and Zambales participated in the contest. MindaNews photo by Roel N. Catoto

SHUT DOWN. Personnel from the South Cotabato provincial government shut down a mine entrance in Barangay Kematu, Tiboli town on Thursday, October 27, 2011. The South Cotabato provincial government has steped up its campaign against illegal small-scale gold mining in the province. MindaNews photo by Bong Sarmiento

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/29 October) — I was thirty minutes in the airport lounge in Zamboanga City at 2:15 pm last Friday when the shakes came on. I locked myself in the privacy of a public restroom before someone would mistake me for a drug dependent. My body needed to ride out the waves of adrenaline [...]

ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews/28 October) —  The military is not undertaking pursuit operations against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Basilan but has filed a complaint against them through the government peace panel’s Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH). “If they want me to attack Al Barka now, we can do that any [...]

SPIDERS. Despite the prohibition imposed by local school authorities, these boys play a game of spiders outside the gates of a public school in Cagayan de Oro. MindaNews photo by Erwin Mascarinas

THE VIEW. Serenity is spending a day in a beach resort in Bacolod, Lanao del Norte. MindaNews photo by Froilan Gallardo

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/28 October) — The peace talks between the Philippine government (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) may have been stalled following the rejection by the MILF peace panel of the government’s “3 for 1” formula in August, but there are supposed to be mechanisms in the peace process that can immediately [...]

TACURONG CITY (MindaNews/28 October) —  Sultan Kudarat is holding the 1st Region 12 Coffee Congress to discuss ways to improve production and increase investments in the industry, a Department of Trade and Industry official said on Friday. Nelly Nita Dillera, DTI-Sultan Kudarat director, said the congress on November 17 to 19 at the provincial capitol [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/28 October) – Thirteen barangays in two cities and two towns in Bukidnon have been identified  for the International Labor Organization-funded child protection program starting November, Arsenio Alagenio, Bukidnon provincial social welfare and development officer, said. Alagenio said the P7.6 million program will be implemented in select barangays in the cities of Malaybalay [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/28 October) —  Police officers here and in the neighboring areas have placed all their units on full alert in preparation for the observance of the All Saints Day and All Soul’s Day. Senior Supt. Cedric Train, city police director, said security has been tightened in key areas of the city, especially [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/28 Oct) — The National Democratic Front’s North Central Mindanao regional Committee (NDF-NCMR) says Ricardo “Kumander Joker” Manalili of the New People’s Army (NPA)  is not dead, contrary to the announcement of the military that he was killed in a military operation. But the spokesperson of the Philippine Army’s 4th Infantry [...]

COTABATO CITY (MindaNews/28 October) —  A police officer sustained a minor leg wound when an improvised bomb within a cordoned area along Sinsuat Avenue, exploded just as he was approaching it. The city police received reports at about 9 a.m. that an improvised explosive device was planted along the national highway in Sinsuat Avenue. A [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/28 October) – The most unfortunate thing that has resulted from the government’s military debacle in Al-Barka Basilan is that it has been exploited to the hilt by interest groups that wish to see the peace process between government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front fall flat on its face. They’re everywhere – [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/28 October) — I never got to meet Father Fausto “Pops” Tentorio. In my lifetime, I only saw him thrice.  First was during a fieldwork in Arakan—2004 perhaps—when I was working with the Philippine Eagle Foundation. If my memory serves me right, he was riding his motorcycle then at the poblacion. It was [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/28 October) — We have seen mothers, widows and children grieve for the soldiers who perished in the Basilan ambush. We even saw brothers-in-law die in separate encounters within days from each other – one in faraway south of Mindanao, the other up in Northern Luzon. One child was not able to [...]

PAYAO, Zamboanga Sibugay (MindaNews) – Payao Mayor Joeper H. Mendoza has confirmed reports from the Armed Forces of the Philippines that government troops have occupied Sitio Talaib in Barangay Labatan here where “lawless elements” are supposed to be hiding, after 13 days of assault operations led by the 53rd Infantry Battalion of the 103rd Brigade. [...]

MAKATI CITY (MindaNews/27 October) — I think I have spent enough time in the field to know that the anger of foot soldiers is quite understandable, although sometimes misdirected. The same goes for the frustration they feel after suffering casualties. However, what I cannot understand is how media screws it up every time. Every time. [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/27 October) – Political leaders in Manila who are calling for an all-out war against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front may not have anticipated the fallout that can result from their lust for vindictive justice for the soldiers killed in recent clashes in Western Mindanao. Like ousted president Joseph Estrada, who always brags [...]

  DAVAO CITY(MindaNews/27 October) — Mindanao’s 26 governors have issued a manifesto of support for President Aquino’s “all-out justice” vow,  drowning calls from mostly Manila-based leaders to wage an “all-out war”  following the series of incidents that killed at least 40 soldiers, civilians and Moro guerrillas and displaced some 20,000 residents in some villages in [...]

T’BOLI, South Cotabato (MindaNews/27 Oct) — Backed by about two dozen police and military personnel, officials of the South Cotabato government swooped down on the gold rush village of Kematu here Thursday morning and shut down the operation of 300 illegal tunnels. No violent resistance marred the implementation of the closure order that was served [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/27 October) — About half of the 8,041 Pantawid Pasada-Public Transport Assistance Program (PTAP) subsidy slots for South Cotabato province has remained unclaimed even as the national government ponders another possible rollout of the relief initiative. Josephine Leysa, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG)-South Cotabato provincial director, said their initial [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/27 October) — The provincial government of South Cotabato plans to establish common quarry sites in each of the province’s 10 towns and lone city in a bid to properly regulate the ongoing quarry operations in the province. Engr. Siegred Flaviano, acting chief of the Provincial Environment Management Office (PEMO), said the [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY – An Army Special Forces sergeant who was among the 19 soldiers killed in last week’s carnage in Al Barka, Basilan was buried a hero on Wednesday in his hometown Kiamba, Sarangani province. Sgt. Ronald Sta. Rita, team sergeant of the Army’s 4th Special Forces Battalion, was given a hero’s burial Wednesday [...]

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanews/27 October) – A bomb explosion rocked an east coast barangay here, killing a construction worker and injuring six others, including a businessman, Senior Insp. Elmer Acuña, chief of the Police Station 3, said. Acuña said the explosion took place shortly after 9 p.m. Wednesday in Barangay Sangali, 25 kilometers east of this [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/26 Oct) —  Various groups have called on the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panel to immediately meet to de-escalate violence and avert a humanitarian crisis, following the displacement of  thousands of  residents in some villages in Payao, Zamboanga and in Al-barka, Basilan. In a statement, Bantay Ceasefire, called [...]

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/26 October) — Alarmed by the break out of skirmishes in some parts of Mindanao, the Japanese embassy in Manila has joined the calls for the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to adhere to the ceasefire mechanism to avoid the collapse of the peace process. This as government forces launched [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY  (MindaNews/26 October) — A consortium of Moro human rights groups in Mindanao has called for an impartial investigation on the facts and circumstances surrounding last week’s bloody incidents in Basilan and Zamboanga Sibugay as they appealed for sobriety and restraint. In a statement issued to media today, the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society [...]

KIDAPAWAN, North Cotabato (MindaNews/26 October) — The Queen of Prophets cemetery in the compound of the Bishop’s Residence in Balindog now has two Italian missionaries buried here: Arakan parish priest Fr. Fausto Tentorio on a plot fronting the huge cross, one grave away from his confrere, Tullio Favali, the first missionary from the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) who was gunned down in Mindanao by a paramilitary group on April 11, 1985.

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/26 October) – Father Fausto Tentorio disliked ceremonies, especially those that drew attention to himself,  and if he were alive, Kidapawan Bishop Romulo dela Cruz said as he opened his homily during the funeral mass at the Our Lady of Mediarix,  “he would not have been comfortable in a liturgy as well attended [...]

BACOLOD, Lanao del Norte (MindaNews/26 October) — – Shoulder-to-shoulder, residents from the towns of Bacolod, Maigo and Kauswagan, came out and stood along the Iligan-Pagadian highway, lighting candles for peace last Sunday. Abel Jose Moya of Pakigdait, an NGO, said many of the residents came out and brought their own candles. Muslims on the other [...]

ZAMBOANGA CITY – A soldier and two bandits, died while three others were wounded in a 15-minute clash Tuesday evening off shore Zamboanga City. Col. Buenaventura Pascual, Task Force Zamboanga commander, said. Pascual said the the 12th Division Reconnaissance Company troops chanced upon four bandits aboard a motorized banca while they were on patrol at  [...]

NO TO WAR. Musim and Christian religious leaders in Lanao del Norte vowed to promote peace during a peace and order symposium in Bacolod town on October 25. The leaders denounced calls for an “all-out war..” MindaNews photo by Froilan Gallardo | Read Story

IPIL, Zamboanga Sibugay (MindaNews/25 October) – The number of families displaced by the ongoing military operation in Payao, Zamboanga Sibugay against “lawless elements” has reached 2,368 families as of Monday, records at the provincial office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development showed. Payao Mayor Jeomar Mendoza said Monday that 917 families went to [...]

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/25 October) — The European Union Delegation to the Philippines has urged the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to strengthen their coordination to avoid deadly clashes and for the International Monitoring Team (IMT) to conduct an independent probe on recent skirmishes in parts of Mindanao. The EU Delegation made the [...]

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/25 October) — Officials in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) would peacefully turn over their posts to the appointees of President Benigno Aquino III, ARMM acting Gov. Ansaruddin Adiong said. In a statement released Monday, Adiong assured anew a peaceful transition at the ARMM once the appointees are ready to take [...]

VALENCIA CITY (MindaNews/25 October) – Irregularities were found in the implementation of the National Irrigation Agriculture’s fertilizer subsidy program in Northern Mindanao, but Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala was satisfied with the recommendations to withdraw and replace the substandard organic fertilizers released to farmers and reorient the officials behind the questionable P30-million project on bidding procedures. [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/25 October) – A 78-year-old woman was killed while around 150 families were rendered homeless after a huge fire leveled down almost an entire community in a coastal village here Monday night. City Mayor Darlene Antonino-Custodio said the fire, which reportedly started at 8:45 pm, razed to the ground around 150 houses [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/25 October) — The state will hunt them down. That’s what the President promised the bereaved kin of the slain soldiers last Friday. Stopping late at night at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, Mr. Aquino said he would hunt down the killers and those harboring them. “I make no promises that this will [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/25 October) — With brownouts again becoming a regular occurrence in Mindanao, expect the debate on energy sources to intensify. But it is wrong for advocates of renewable energies to accuse about everybody of contriving a power crisis to justify the construction of fossil-fired power plants.

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/25 October) –  When the 39-year Italian missionary Fr. Tullio Favali was gunned down by a paramilitary group on April 11, 1985, the 33-year old Fr. Fausto Tentorio “could have changed course, packed up his bags and head for a safer and kinder place on the missionary map,”  Kidapawan Bishop Romulo dela Cruz [...]

Around 3,000 people joined the funeral march for slain missionary Fr. Fausto Tentorio on Tuesday, October 25 from the Our Lady of Mediatrix to the Bishop’s Palace in Balindog, Kidapawan City where Fr. Tentorio will be laid to rest. MindaNews Photo by Ruby Thursday More