A son of a fisherman prepares the “katangâ” before his father sails to the sea in Barangay Mabua in Surigao City. “Katangâ” is an improvised contraption that holds 10 flashlights that will draw the fish to the boat. MindaNews photo b y Roel Catoto

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/31 January) – A 12-year old boy and a man reported to be a member of the New People’s Army were killed and 11 villagers mostly children were injured when a weapon accidentally exploded Monday noon in a village in Kibawe town, Bukidnon. Maj. Butch Miñoza, Kibawe police chief, told MindaNews the explosion [...]

BEIING (MindaNews/31 January) – China’s foreign ministry doused cold water on the heated opinions over reports Manila was open to the possibility of increased American military presence in the Philippines, a move seen to be a countermeasure to China’s assertion of its claim over the disputed Spratly Islands. In a short statement issued late on [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/31 January) – Requiring drug tests for individuals as requisite for employment is useless, a provincial health official on Monday said. Dr. Teresita Damasco, Bukidnon provincial health officer, said drug traces are flushed out of the body after 24 hours. Damasco said the test would not be able to detect shabu in a [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/31 January)—The alleged gunman in the shooting of local radio commentator Michael James “Dacoycoy” Licuanan was scheduled for transfer today to the Lumbia City Jail after surrendering to authorities in Jasaan town, Misamis Oriental last night, this city’s police director said. In an interview today, Senior Supt. Gerardo Rosales said Baldomero [...]

SHOPPING SPREE. Kidapawan City residents have a field day buying at the various ukay-ukay stores set up for the city’s 14th foundation anniversary on Feb. 12, 2012. MindaNews photo by Geonarri Solmerano

SUNDAY LEISURE. Beach goers enjoy the sea, sun and sand in Barangay Mabua in Surigao City on Sunday, January 29, 2012. MindaNews photo by Roel N. Catoto

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/30 January) – Foreign-backed Sagittarius Mines Inc. has formally filed a reconsideration for its rejected application for environmental compliance certificate (ECC) to bring the Tampakan copper-gold project into commercial phase, mining executives confirmed on Monday. Richard Laufmann, chief executive officer of Indophil Resources NL, said that Sagittarius Mines lodged the motion for reconsideration [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/30 January) – A rise in water temperature has been blamed for a fish kill in Lake Sebu town in South Cotabato since last week. Called “kamahong,” the phenomenon has killed 48.55 metric tons (MT) of tilapia, Rex Vargas, provincial fishery coordinator, said Monday. In the hinterlands of South Cotabato, Lake Sebu [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/30 January)—The Department of Agriculture has requested the World Bank to pour an additional P6 billion into the extension and expansion of the second phase of the Mindanao Rural Development Program (MRDP). Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala, said in a press forum on Monday at Pinnacle Hotel that the funding agency is currently [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/30 January) —The legal counsel of the opposition politicians here who filed an administrative case against City Mayor Vicente Y. Emano last week, said his sources at the Palace confirmed it has ordered the mayor to submit his reply within 15 days. “I can’t confirm that (the suspension order has been [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/30 January) – Vendors are unfazed by reports that street food items being sold in the city are not safe to eat as these may contain harmful bacteria. Last week, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), in a joint study with a German non-profit organization, discovered that most of the samples taken [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/30 January) – A rookie policeman assigned in Tantangan town in South Cotabato province is facing administrative and criminal charges for allegedly duping a local burger stand in nearby Koronadal City over the weekend using counterfeit money. Senior Insp. Joan Maganto, Tantangan municipal police station chief, said Monday he relieved the station’s [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/30 January) – Pacquaio is facing his acid test in Congress: First, how well on the way is he in rounding the square peg that he is to fit into the round hole that is Congress? How is he living up to the great expectation cast around him.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/30 January) – Rep. Manny Pacquiao is professing he is now a changed man. Of course he is. From the dirt poor kid to the mega millionaire celebrity who can shell out US$ 500,000 for a private yacht without batting his eyelashes, he is indeed a changed man. But that is obviously [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/29 January) –  Local government units must regulate land use in Cagayan de Oro’s river catchment because massive deforestation and unregulated land use are a “recipe for disaster,” Raoul Geollegue, former regional drector of the Deparment of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said. Geollegue told MindaNews that typhoon Sendong’s 187 mm rains which [...]

BEIJING (MindaNews/29 January) – China’s state media on Sunday called on its government to punish the Philippines by cutting off economic ties following news reports that the Philippine government is offering its island country to beef up the presence of US forces amid tensions in the South China Sea. In its editorial titled “Make Philippines [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/29 January) — As a boxer and Filipino, has Emmanuel Pacquiao done much good for his country? Certainly! He made the sports world, American especially, take notice of the Philippines. He has given boxing in the Philippines the needed boost – inspiring promising Filipino boxers. For these, he deserves honors.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/29 January) — Being away and out of reach by technology during the days when many were expecting the Corona impeachment trial to proceed smoothly after a superb first week handling by Senator-Judge and presiding officer Juan Ponce Enrile, I am limited to picking up TV replay highlights and news account of [...]

STREET FOOD. Students enjoy a sampling of kwek-kwek (deep fried hard-boiled egg with batter) at a food stall in in San Pedro Street, Davao City. A recent study conducted by the Department of Science and Technology and the German-funded Center for International Migration and Development revealed that samples from street food sold in Davao, Cagayan [...]

FIRE OUT. A firefighter battles to put out the fire that destroyed two houses in Purok 6 Balanghai, Barangay Libertad in Butuan City on Jan. 28. Nobody was hurt. MindaNews photo by Erwin Mascarinas

Ako mag hinam-hinam kung sa tv makit-an si mam for she is always on my mind I like her when she’s mad ‘cuz she’s really bad but sometimes I feel sad when she treats some people like rags I love her high falutin’ words feels like am lost in the woods with her wit and [...]

FROM THE SEA. A fisherman pulls the fishnet back to the riverbank in Barangay Masao in Butuan City.  MindaNews photo by Erwin Mascarinas

BANGA, South Cotabato—The Sangguniang Panlalawigan of South Cotabato is studying the proposal of the local Catholic Church to declare the mountains in Tampakan as a protected watershed, a senior official said on Saturday. Vice Gov. Elmo Tolosa confirmed the provincial board has received the letter of Fr. Gillarme Joy Pelino, Social Action Center director of [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/28 January) — A Multisectoral Mineral Council (MSMC) not just the Department of Environment and Natural Resources or its Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau should decide whether or not mining should be allowed in a particular area, the consolidated alternative mining bill proposes. Gabriela partylist Rep. Luz Ilagan told the International Conference on Mining [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/28 January) – A revolutionary innovation in teaching, applied in public high schools here has given its students an edge over those using the traditional, classroom-type, learning system in their learning recovery since tropical storm Sendong claimed a thousand lives and affected hundreds of thousands more last month. One such school, [...]

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanews/28 January) – The national government, through the National Housing Authority (NHA), is constructing houses for some 390 families in Sulu under the Bangsamoro Pabahay project. The Bangsa Moro Pabahay Project is being undertaken by the NHA, the Department of Social and Welfare and Development (DSWD)-national, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindadNews/28 January) — Riches breed ambition for power fanned by the fame riches naturally brings. Yielding to this ambition, Pacquiao emerges in a new person with a new story.

(First of Four Parts) GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 27 January) – Manny Pacquiao, the multi-titled world boxing champion, and Emmanuel D. Pacquiao, the representative of the lone congressional district of Sarangani, are two persons in one man. As boxing champion Manny Pacquiao is super; as congressional representative, Emmanuel D. Pacquiao has still to prove [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/27 January) – Some readers had reacted to my previous piece titled “Technical foul” (MindaNews, January 26, 2012). In a nutshell, it’s about the efforts of the defense panel in the impeachment case against Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona to bar the prosecution from linking the income tax returns and statements of [...]

Si Corona lang ba ang naa sa condition nga sobra pa sa cholera? Gamay ra ang suweldo pero kabtangan ug kabalayan usa ka dosena ang kadaghan Gi-unsa man intawon Hesus pastilan! kadakong katingalahan Pag-angkon nila sa posisyon ning 10-times ang komisyon? ka-level na nila si Lucio Tan kung mansion ang hisgotan ganyan sila ka-yaman maong [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/27 January) —  The two-day International Conference on Mining in Mindanao ended Friday with calls to repeal the 1995 Mining Act, enact a pro-Filipino, pro-environment alternative mining law and declare a mining moratorium. The “Mindanao Declaration: Defending the Dignity of Life, Securing our Future” called for the “promotion of sustainable, responsible and equitable [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/27 January) – Contributions of the mining industry to Mindanao’s economy are meager, compared with agriculture from 2001 to 2009, Margarita “Maita” Gomez, Coordinator of Bantay Kita Action for Economic Reforms, said at the first day of the two-day International Conference of Mining on Thursday. Gomez said that based on her research culled [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews / 27 January) – At least 10 owners of vast tracts of lands leased to a banana firm in North Cotabato have set up roadblocks that prevented plantation workers from harvesting the company’s produce Thursday morning. The landowners, led by Fernando Brizuela, had already sent Sumifru Philippines Corporation notice of termination of the [...]

ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews/27 January) – Vice President Jejomar Binay, who is also chair of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), announced that another government housing agency is extending a loan moratorium for its member-borrowers who were affected by tropical storm “Sendong.” Binay, in an emailed statement Friday, said the National Home Mortgage Finance [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/27 January) – The Department of Education in Bukidnon plans to open alternative delivery mode (ADM) classes to address the high dropout rate in selected schools in Bukidnon in June 2012. Dr. Ingrid Racoma, DepEd-Bukidnon chief, told MindaNews that in an agricultural province like Bukidnon, a lot of high school students, for example, [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/27 January) – The provincial government of Sarangani has finally unveiled its P80-million housing venture in the capital town of Alabel, opening its doors earlier this week to the first 11 local government workers who availed of the initiative. Sarangani Gov. Miguel Rene Dominguez said they formally turned over the initial 11 [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/27 January) – Two war-torn villages in Kabacan town in North Cotabato are the newest additions to the beneficiaries of the core shelter program of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) under its project Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA), a local official said. Buenaventura Pacania, of the Municipal Planning and [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/27 January) – The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency reported that about P199.734-million worth of illegal drugs were confiscated and eradicated in Bukidnon in 2011. A total of P183.346 million is attributed to marijuana eradication, referring to the output of three operations, while P16.387 million is estimated for the 15 operations yielding shabu, PDEA’s [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/27 January) – A zarzuela depicting the journey of Panay Island natives to the fertile valleys of South Cotabato province will take centerstage later this year through a landmark theater production being organized by a culture and arts group in the area. Juanito Butch Ferrer Jr., South Cotabato Culture and Arts Foundation [...]

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/27 January) – Despite the debacle on its application for an environmental compliance certificate (ECC), foreign-backed Sagittarius Mines, Inc. has released a new study showing a significant increase in the volume of copper and gold deposits in the mines site, a mining executive said on Friday Richard Laufmann, Indophil Resources NL, said the [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/26 January) –  Against the backdrop of Mindanao hosting what experts refer to as “the most dangerous mines anywhere in the world” and “the biggest time bomb Mindanao has ever seen,”  participants to the International Conference of Mining in Mindanao are calling for a moratorium on mining activities. Organized by the Ateneo de [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/26 January) – More than 7,000 residents here gathered on top of the Kagay-an Bridge Wednesday night lighting candles and listening to the tales of the survivors of the flood that killed hundreds and wiped out entire villages December 17 last year. It was a very emotional night for most of [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/26 January) – The government is relying on a Japanese technology called Sabo dams to prevent future disasters similar to the Dec. 17, 2011 flood that destroyed entire villages in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities. In his talk at the Xavier Ecoville, the resettlement site in Barangay Lumbia, President Benigno [...]

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/26 January) – Mining industry players under the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP) castigated Thursday the 2012 International Conference of Mining in Mindanao for apparently excluding them from the event. Organized by the Ateneo de Davao University (AdDU) and the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines, the mining conference kicked off [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/26 January) – Hawaii-based Filipino-American investor Jorge Disuanco, president of Macnut Philippines, Inc., has eyed at least 10,000 hectares of Arabica coffee plantation in Sinuda, Kitaotao, Bukidnon. Disuanco said his company is planning to put up a joint venture with the Federation of Matigsalog Manobo Tribal Councils (Femmatrics). He told MindaNews recently they [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/26 January) – The Department of Science and Technology (DOST), in a joint study with a German non-profit organization, has discovered that most of the samples taken from the street foods sold here in the urban center are unsafe. Dietmar Speckmaier, food safety consultant of Centre for International Migration and Development (CIM), said [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/26 January) – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Region 12 or the Soccsksargen region has delisted some 11,367 households from the beneficiary database of the national government’s conditional cash transfer program due to inclusion errors, fraud and other eligibility problems. Bai Zorahayda Taha, DSWD Region 12 director, said [...]

Students form a big “HEAL CDO” using candles on top of Kagay-an Bridge in Cagayan de Oro Wednesday night, Jan. 25, 2012, to mark the 40th day after storm Sendong devastated the city and nearby Iligan. Thousands of residents came to pray and light candles during the ecumenical Mass for the 670 people who died [...]

A family goes emotional during a Mass for Sendong victims held at Sitio Cala-cala in Barangay Macasandig, Cagayan de Oro City Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. Thousands came to pray and light candles during the ecumenical Mass held at the Kagay-an Bridge Wednesday night for the 670 who died during the flood brought about by Typhoon [...]