ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews) – This city is celebrating the National Arts Month by pushing indigenous arts more than popular arts and those from other countries. “We need to uphold our beliefs and values to promote our indigenous arts and our homegrown artists to know our distinct identities as Iliganons,” said city councilor Michelle E. Sweet, [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/9 Feb) – The 3rd Cinema Rehiyon kicked off here this morning with its opening ceremonies at the Pinnacle Hotel. Gracing the ceremonies were members of the National Center for Culture and the Arts-Cinema Committee, including its chairperson, Dr. Mike Rapatan. Cinema Rehiyon, flagship activity of the NCCA-Cinema Committee for the Philippine International Arts Festival (PIAF), bears the theme “Forging Philippine CineDiversity.”

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/16 Nov) – The Pulangi V hydro electric project and the claim of a sacred burial site of the Manobo ancestors have divided the lumads in southern Bukidnon and North Cotabato and academics in the anthropological community. Supporters of and oppositors to the dam project held separate press conferences here Monday [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/13 November) – Sheika, a film written and directed by Davao-born Arnel Mardoquio is competing at the  11th Asiatica Film Mediale Festival in Rome, Italy this week. The film premieres on Saturday evening, November 13 (Rome time) at Cinema Capranica but  will be shown to various audiences, including Overseas Filipino Workers there during [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/13 November) —  The National Museum of the Philippines is set to declare the Apu Mamalu burial ground in Misakil, Damulog, Bukidnon  a national cultural treasure, Sen. Juan Miguel  Zubiri said at the opening program of the three-day general assembly of the Mindanao Association of Museums at the Bukidnon State University. Zubiri was [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/09 November) —Through their artworks exhibited in Brussels, the Belgian capital, in September this year, Mindanao artists have sent Europe the message that there’s more to Mindanao than just war, according to Tanaw Mindanaw organizer Mabel Guia Acosta. “What captivated them were the colors,” Acosta said, referring to the European people’s reactions to [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/30 August) –  “How can we promote dialogue and cultural cohesion if in schools we churn out graduates every year who are not used to dialogue?”  Jesuit priest Albert Alejo asked the Philippine Economic Society’s “Regional Conference on the Development Agenda for Mindanao Under P-Noy” at the Ateneo de Davao University last Saturday. [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO (MindaNews/26 August) — The ancestors of Cagayanons could be the sea-faring sub-tribe of the Manobo, the Higaonons. Ethno-historian Dr. Antonio Montalvan, currently the curator of the Museum of Three Cultures in Capitol University said the deeper history of Cagayan de Oro would reflect the story of the marginalization of the indigenous people [...]

VALENCIA CITY(MindaNews/23 August) — For the first time in the parish’s history, the feast of San Agustin in Valencia City will be opened with a mass in Binukid, the language of the indigenous peoples. The 5 a.m. mass in Binukid at the San Agustin Chapel will be the first of five masses to be held [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/19 August) – For the first time since its Metro Manila debut, the first Bangsamoro full-length movie, “Limbunan” by Gutierrez “Teng” Mangansakan, will be shown in Davao City Friday, August 20, for its first Mindanao screening before its presentation as the closing film in the prestigious International Critics Week section of the Venice [...]

DAVAO CITY (DWG/08 August) — In line with the thrust of the National Commission on Literary Arts to help develop creative writing in the regional languages, the Davao Writers Guild is holding a literary contest, the “Fiction-Writing Contest in Bisaya”. The contest is open to all residents of Mindanao. Deadline for submission is September 15, [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/03 August) – The Apu Palamguwan Cultural Education Center or APC launched a book on the Bukidnon Pulangiyen tribe titled “Learning Sustainable Life” in three cities recently. Author Peter Walpole, a Jesuit priest, led launching events at the Asian Center of Management in Makati City on July 23, at the Jesuit Retreat House [...]

DAVAO CITY – Gutierrez “Teng” Mangansakan II’s film, “Limbunan,” the first Moro full-length narrative film has been invited as the closing film in the International Critics’ Week of the Venice International Film Festival next month. No Filipino film has ever been featured in the line-up of Venice Critics’ Week, but the film done by the 33-year old Mangansakan, a Moro from Maguindanao.

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/21 June) – See the world through Moro eyes. Watch Limbunan, the first BangsaMoro full-length narrative film that will have its debut at the sixth edition of Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in Manila on July 9 to 18. Written, produced and directed by Moro filmmaker Gutierrez [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/21 June) – To say that Malaybalay came from “walay balay” (no house) is inaccurate, an old-time Bukidnon ethnographer and cultural scholar said. Malabalay “is the name of a forgotten spring,” Ludivina Opeña or “Nanay Ludi” clarified. Opeña said the city government needs to look at this and many other inaccuracies in Malaybalay’s [...]

MUSUAN, Maramag, Bukidnon (MindaNews/15 May) – Ninety-five public school teachers across the province yesterday ended what organizers said was a groundbreaking initiative in Philippine education with simple graduation rites at the Central Mindanao University here. Dressed in white, pink and green T-shirts, the teachers felt proud to be graduates of CMU’s first ever formal training [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews / 7 May) – A historical monument will rise in the city to mark the creation of Malaybalay as a village under Spain in 1877. The monument’s official name is Erecion de Pueblo or the Creation of the Village. The P6-million monument features nine human figures, one on horseback. The figures will [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/06 April) – This city was bursting at the literary seams when writing luminaries gathered on Monday May 3 at the Lispher Inn to kick off the 2nd Davao Writers Workshop. The panelists for this year include award-winning wordsmiths Ricardo de Ungria, Macario Tiu, Timothy Montes, and Anthony Tan. Rounding out the panel [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/26 April) – The National Museum is set to declare a sacred tribal burial site in Bukidnon a national cultural treasure, a Lumad rights advocacy group today said. In a statement, the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LCR) quoted National Museum curator Angel Bautista as having said the centuries-old Apu Mamalu burial [...]