SUBIC BAY (MindaNews/31 December) — Our Father in heaven, forgive us our sins and help us forgive those who trespass against us. Grant us the faith na ikaw na bahala sa ila. Lamdagi pod kining mga self-righteous who have become so proud of what they are doing: hugging the poor and elderly, kissing babies, having [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY  (MindaNews/31 December) —  Fearing for his life and his family’s, the brother of the primary suspect in the killing of Italian missionary in North Cotabato, sought the help of Rep. Nancy Catamco and is now under her protective custody until a warrant for his arrest is served. Roberto Ato, a Teduray from North [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/31 December) – “Sendong” survivors will greet the New Year inside the already cramped evacuation centers as public and private volunteers scramble to prepare their temporary relocation sites. Even if volunteers double their efforts, it will still be unlikely for Sendong survivors–cramped inside 22 evacuation centers in this city–to move into [...]

Last of two parts MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/31 December) – Weather bureau PAGASA issued storm signal number 2 for “Sendong”. In the Philippines, however, most people only become restless when storm signals reach number 3 or higher, which explains the general complacency even when the storm was about to make a landfall. As noted in the [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY  (MindaNews/31 December) — Job order employees of the Bukidnon provincial government and the city government of Malaybalay received extra cash gifts or performance enhancement incentives (PEI) ranging from P20,000 to P30,000 at the end of the year but not without signing promissory notes that they would pay the amounts back if the Commission [...]

The Tupag family, originally of Purok 6 in Bayug Island, one of the worst hit villages by the floods brought by Typhoon Sendong in Iligan City, move in to their temporary shelter 30 December 2011. Iligan’s first “Tent City” was erected at the compound of the north-bound bus terminal in Tambo, in an open space [...]

NBI agents take off the handcuffs from Jimmy Ato, alleged gunman in the killing of Italian missionary Fr. Fausto Tentorio, at the NBI regional office in Cagayan de Oro City on Dec. 30, 2011. NBI agents arrested Ato in Arakan in North Cotabato and brought him to Cagayan de Oro City. MindaNews photo by Froilan [...]

Iligan residents light candles on small plastic cups and let them float on the Mandulog River, scene of the most devastating flood in Iligan City on Dec. 29, 3011. MindaNews photo by Roel Catoto

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/30 December) — As early as October 2010, the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council in Northern Mindanao had warned of more floods until 2011. In a MindaNews report (October 16, 2011), Director Carmelito Lupo of the regional Office of Civil Defense was quoted to have said that the weak to moderate La Nina that started in July that year could further strengthen based on “statistical model forecasts.”

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/30 December) — The National Bureau of Investigation is pursuing the lead that a high-ranking police official and a politician may have been behind the killing of Italian missionary Fr. Fausto “Pops” Tentorio in October this year. But lawyer Virgilio Mendez, NBI 10 deputy director told reporters here today they could [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/30 December)– President Benigno Simeon Aquino III has asked his legal team for a list from which to choose the possible replacement of Chief Justice Renato C. Corona and he or she must be in the mold of Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda told reporters last December 27 [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/30 December) — Bukidnon, a landlocked province located in the heart of north-central Mindanao, has a total area of 1,049,859 hectares. (This figure is based on the certified data from the DENR-Land Management Bureau). This makes Bukidnon the largest province in Region 10 and the eighth largest in the country in [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/29 Dec) – Posing as mining prospectors, National Bureau of Investigation agents went to a hinterland village in Arakan, North Cotabato and arrested this morning the alleged gunman of Italian missionary priest Fausto Tentorio. A brief gunfight ensued after companions of suspect Jimmy Ato fired at the NBI operations as they [...]

AGUSAN DEL SUR (MindaNews) – Close to 41,000 people have already evacuated to higher and safer grounds while 745 houses have been destroyed in the floods that swept 28 barangays in four towns and a city in this province since Monday. Meanwhile, in Maguindanao province, about 87 percent of the land area of the municipality [...]

SAN ISIDRO, Valencia City (MindaNews/29 Dec) – About 950 hectares of rice farms in Valencia City have been underwater because of last Tuesday’s flashfloods, the provincial agriculture office reported. Estelita Madjos, deputy to the provincial agriculturist, said that the flashfloods affected the rice farmers most. Valencia, she noted, has at least 10,000 hectares of rice [...]

Police Officers remove the newly-built shanties below Maharlika Bridge in Isla de Oro, Barangay Consolacion, Cagayan de Oro City on Dec. 28, 2011. Settlers tried constructing again in Isla de Oro despite an order from President Benigno Aquino III not to resettle in the critically endangered area. MindaNews photo by Roel Catoto

A flood survivor brings out his family’s possession, including a statue of Sto. Niño, in Acacia Street, Barangay Carmen on Dec. 28, 2011. MindaNews photo by Froilan Gallardo

Signages bearing messages thanking Allah are posted on a tree in Barangay Hinaplanon, Iligan City on Thursday, December 29. Hinaplanon is one of the villages in Iligan badly affected by the flashfloods brought by Tropical Storm Sendong. MindaNews Photo by Ruby Thursday More

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/29 Dec) – The Information and Communication Technology-Davao is planning to link river monitors to a platform that could send disaster alerts through text messages so residents could immediately respond and evacuate when threats of flood arise. Erriberto P. Barriga Jr., executive vice president of ICT-Davao, said during the weekly Club 888 forum [...]

Ting-ulan na usab ang Kanding ‘di na ka-sabsab mag-sige na la’g tikuko kay sa tugnaw ‘di kaagwanta   Ambot duna ba kaha’y kuwarta ‘ning akong lola mopalit unta ko’g raincoat kay sa katugnaw ngipin ko ningkagot   Baha naman siguro ang merkado sa langihan Ninglutaw na pud basura,pastilan! Unsa man ‘ning drainage system pirme’ng dili [...]

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/28 Dec) – True or not, but some residents in the coastal barangay of Santiago here claim that almost every night, they are hearing voices crying for help coming from the pile of logs swept from the mountains during the flashflood dawn of December 17. Fisherfolk Jaime Jambre, one of the flood surviors [...]

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/28 Dec) – The city government of Iligan is eyeing to make use of lands owned by the National Steel Corporation (NSC) as relocation site for victims of the flood that damaged thousands of homes here. Mayor Lawrence Cruz said the city government intends to purchase a 10-hectare property from the National Steel [...]

I was taking my dinner watching ANC’s World Tonight Tuesday when one of their crawling news titles caught my attention. It says: “Group warns Valencia floods may reach CDO.” I almost dropped from my seat when a person they interviewed, a certain Dr. Steve Godilano, popped up and said that most likely in five hours [...]

Eight-year-old Bernadette Mendoza draws cartoons at the evacuation center Barangay Macasandig, Cagayan de Oro City. Her family is among those affected by the floods that hit the city dawn of Dec. 17. MindaNews Photo by Ruby Thursday More

Workers repair a damaged portion of Mandulog bridge along the national highway in Barangay Hinaplanon, Iligan City on Tuesday, December 27, 2011. Hinaplanon is one of the worst-hit villages of the city by the flashfloods dawn of December 17. MindaNews photo by Keith Bacongco

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/28 Dec) – Regularity of release being among the criteria on which journal publications are assessed, the editorial board of the Tambara has made sure that volume 28 comes out as expected on the last day of the year. As I write this blurb, the press is running. This newest edition of the [...]

COTABATO CITY (MindaNews/28 December) – The city government here does not want a repeat of  the tragedy that happened in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities on December 17, so fearing an impending major flooding, it ordered a forced evacuation of residents in Punol Island and warned residents along the riverside, particularly the Rio Grande [...]

VALENCIA CITY (MindaNews/28 Dec) – The National Power Corporation’s (NAPOCOR) Pulangi IV hydroelectric power plant and dam is in good condition, with no cracks, even with the flashfloods Tuesday morning owing to the overflow of rain water from upstream, plant manager Rudy Brioso told MindaNews Wednesday. Brioso said he led a team who inspected the [...]

Flood survivors get their water from a fire truck in Burgos Street in Cagayan de Oro City on December 26, 2011. Water is still being rationed in Cagayan de Oro after the several water pumps of the local water distribution firm were destroyed by floods brought by Tropical Storm Sendong last December 17. MindaNews photo [...]

BATANGAN, Valencia City (MindaNews/27 December) – Flashfloods early Tuesday morning displaced an estimated 1,146 families in riverside barangays in the city, according to initial estimates from the City Social Welfare and Development Office, in what residents said had been the worst so far in 29 years. Residents climbed to their roofs or the trees to [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/27 December) –  The death toll from typhoon Sendong’s “tsunami in reverse” in Northern Mindanao last week is the second highest in Mindanao in 35 years, second only to the death toll from the 1976 tsunami along the Moro Gulf. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) report as of  2 [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/27 December) — The city government recently received a Jesuit-owned land to serve as a relocation site for the victims of the flood brought by Tropical Storm Sendong, and cash-donations from even the most unlikely donors—the local revolutionary movement and inmates at the provincial jail of Misamis Oriental. In a letter [...]

SURIGAO CITY (MindaNews/27 December) — Sargassum or “samo”, a type of seaweed that is abundant off the coast of Surigao del Norte, has become valuable to some fisher folk, and locals now consider it a means to augment income as overfishing continues to affect their main livelihood. But experts warned that unregulated harvesting of samo [...]

SURIGAO CITY (MindaNews/27 December) –The two radio “block-timers” charged by Surigao City Mayor Ernesto T. Matugas with libel have belittled the case, saying it will not prosper in court. “If he (Mayor Matugas) feels aggrieved, then he’s perfectly within his right to file any case against us,” said Jamar D. Gavino, one of the two [...]

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/27 December) – “Which do you want to do first, open your gifts or give gifts to the flood victims?”  Dr. Linlin Torres-Jo asked her two young kids Justin, 10, and Katlyn, 8. Doctors of the Iligan Society of Internists (ISI) and their children spend Christmas Day by donating basic home items to [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/26 December) – Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao OIC Gov. Mujiv Hataman has issued an order stopping all logging operations in Lanao del Sur. But sooner or later he will realize to his dismay that implementing the stoppage requires more than just making bold policy statements. He will have to step on the [...]

VALENCIA CITY (MindaNews/27 December) – Search and rescue teams, including three helicopters were deployed to this city Tuesday morning following reports from Governor Alex Calingasan that hundreds were trapped in Inawaan, Barangay Batangan and in Purok 2 after floods inundated communities along the Pulangi River. Calingasan reported that as of  8:30 a.m. 300 persons were [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/26 December) — Another kind of disaster looms in Barangay Consolacion, one of the areas worst hit by the flood brought by Tropical Storm Sendong last December 17: filth and garbage that has started to pile up on street sides and clogged drainage canals. Without running water, barangay residents were finding [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/27) — Fifteen more truckloads of assorted relief goods were on their way to disaster-stricken Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities on Monday, said Maj. Jacob Obligado, chief of the 10th Civil Military Operations (CMO) Battalion. But this time, 11 of the 15 trucks carrying the goods which left Davao City [...]

A sudden downpour causes a flood along the national highway in Kilometer 1 in Surigao City on Monday, Dec. 26, 2011 forcing motorists to slow down. MindaNews photo by Roel Catoto

A muddy doll sits among the garbage along Burgos Street in Barangay Consolacion, Cagayan de Oro City on Monday, Dec. 26, 2011. Garbage collection has become a major problem in the city in the aftermath of tropical storm Sendong. MindaNews photo by Froilan Gallardo

SURIGAO CITY (MindaNews/26 December) — A heavy downpour since this morning caused by a low pressure area off Northeastern Mindanao forced local authorities in this city and in neighboring Dinagat Islands to sound the alarm and urge residents in flood- and landslide-prone areas to evacuate. Local disaster management councils have already reported the occurrence of [...]

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/25 December) – The photograph of five-year old Maykaela P. Mansueto is just one among many posted on the walls of the Capin Funeral Homes in Camague, the message above the photograph in huge fonts, all caps: “Still Missing.” It is Friday afternoon,  December 23, six days after the flash floods that killed [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/25 December) — “Gail! You’re not writing for us any more?” asked University of Mindanao President Willy Torres. UM owns Mindanao Times, a local daily that carries my wayward and fanciful column on MindaViews. I reminded Willy that I wrote from an Internet café in Dumaguete two weeks ago. “You should write more [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/25 December) – While the whole nation was being glued to the news on the deaths and destruction caused by Tropical Storm Sendong in Northern Mindanao and parts of the Visayas, some other important events slipped past our attention. They took place while we were looking the other way, and as our minds [...]

A customer buys fireworks in one of the stores in Kidapawan City on Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011. The local government took precaution disallowing the sale of firecrackers. MindaNews photo by Geonarri Solmerano

A vendor goes emotional as she retrieves what is left of the firecracker stocks after a fire destroyed several stalls selling firecrackers along the Boulevard in Surigao City on Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011. Three persons, including a fireman, were injured in the blaze. MindaNews photo by Roel Catoto

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/25 December) — OIC ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman  has ordered  a stop to the cutting of trees in Lanao del Sur as well as the transport of  logs and flitches pending an inventory of logging operations in the area. Hatamans’ order was issued during a multi-agency meeting in Marawi City morning of December [...]

 CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/25 December) —  They lost their little house by the river, they have been staying and sleeping under the flyover since Saturday,  they have no money to prepare for even the simplest Noche Buena,  but Merlyn Rejas says it is still a happy Christmas “kay buhi ming tanan” (because we’re all [...]

SURIGAO CITY (MindaNews/25 December) — Surigao City residents were treated to a pre-Christmas fireworks show after an accidental explosion nearly burned a row of firecracker stores hours before Dec. 25, injuring three persons including a responding fireman. Firecracker vendor Nasro Manangkiran, 23, said a male customer bought some “kwitis”  at around 2:00 p.m. when he [...]