CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY  (MindaNews/13 May) –  Children should be in school instead of  hauling logs,  the director of the Social Action Center (SAC) of the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro said in reaction to the recent expose on “batang karabaw” or children employed to haul logs on foot in Agusan del Norte. “(It is) [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/12 May) – Residents here have been warned to be extra cautious in dealing with dog bites following the death last week of  a resident in Barangay Balindog due to rabies. Rubber tapper Samson Dayanan, 49, was bitten by one of their puppies sometime in March, his wife Malou said. Malou said the [...]

CAGDIANAO, Claver, Surigao del Norte (MindaNews/11 May) – Mamanwas vowed to continue barricading the mining site of Shen Zhou Mining Group Corporation here until the company shuts down and leaves port. Vilma Coter, a Mamanwa representative told MindaNews on the same day that they won’t budge despite the reported payment of royalty fees on Thursday [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/30 April) – Stakeholders of the Bukidnon sugar industry is scheduled to sign on Labor Day a voluntary code of conduct for the elimination of child labor in the province, one of four provinces in the country where the International Labor Organization (ILO) has focused its campaign against child labor. Hector Tuburan Jr., [...]

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/29 April) – “Heaven and earth.” Adelaida Segumpan, Kilusang Mayong Uno (KMU) regional spokesperson said the disparity between the daily minimum wage rate and the estimated cost of living level in the area is now “heaven and earth” and they will push for a substantial wage hike and the abolition of the regional [...]

BAYOG, Zamboanga del Sur (MindaNews/21 April) –  A support group for indigenous peoples (IPs) is calling for support to “multi-stakeholder action and calls to cease provocations and de-escalate the situation” at the gold-rich Balabag Hill in Barangay Depore, following a spate of incidents that included removal of barricades and firing at truck tires on April [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/19 April) – A team from the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) regional office in Cagayan de Oro is investigating the death of Dao, San Fernando village chief Jimmy Liguyon after the Kalumbay Regional Lumad Center filed a complaint last month. Maria Theresa Neri, CHR-10 senior special investigator, said the role of the [...]

BUTUAN CITY (MindaNews/18 April) – Are the internally displaced persons (IDPs, or “bakwits”) from Agusan del Norte’s hinterland areas who sought refuge in this city to avoid being caught in the crossfire in the military’s operations against rebels just being used by supposed progressive groups like the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) and the Kahugpongan sa [...]

BALABAG, Bayog, Zamboanga del Sur (MindaNews/15 April) — The Municipal Peace and Order Council (MPOC) on Friday passed an “urgent” resolution asking the Provincial Mining Regulatory Board (PMRB) to immediately resolve the conflict between a large-scale mining firm and a small-scale mining group to avoid  a potentially bloody confrontation in this gold-rich area. FORBIDDEN. TVI [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/30 March) – President Aquino should dismantle all state-backed paramilitary groups along with private armies ahead of next year’s elections, the New York-based Human Rights Watch today said. In a statement, HRW said paramilitary forces in the Philippines have a “long and continuing history of serious human rights violations,” and figured in the [...]

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/23 March)—A brewing rift between the military and a tribal community in the coal-rich town of Lake Sebu, South Cotabato was averted after the parties patched things up in a dialogue here Thursday. Present during the dialogue were representatives of the Commission on Human Rights, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, 27th Infantry Battalion, [...]

BUTUAN CITY (MindaNews/22 March) – Some 100 families or 425 evacuees in Agusan del Norte yesterday started a camp-in protest in the provincial capitol to demand a complete stop to the ongoing military operations in their areas. Agusan del Norte provincial administrator Percenita Racho (left) and Bayan-Caraga spokesperson Avelino Javier (right) argue on the presence [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/10 March 2012) — Indigenous People (IP) of the Higaonon tribe from the 13 barangays here and tribal leaders of Bukidnon together with the Manobo tribe from Agusan in Caraga region urged the communities and the local leaders to return to the old ritual practices to ask forgiveness and offerings to [...]

SONGCO, Lantapan, Bukidnon (MindaNews/09 March) – Representatives of eight Moro tribes and most of the Lumad or non-Islamized tribes in Mindanao yesterday signed a five-point kinship covenant in a gathering here filled with festive remembrance of historical relationships and aspirations for peace and unity in the island. Aside from signing the covenant, the participants also [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/24 February) – Authorities filed this week murder complaints against Jimmy Ato, who was arrested almost two months ago in Arakan town in North Cotabato, and three others, after they were tagged as behind the killing in October 2011 of Italian missionary Fr. Fausto Tentorio. Also charged, reports said, were Roberto Ato, Jimmy’s [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/23 February) – The provincial government of South Cotabato has linked up with a local non-government organization to help provide cheaper medicine packages for various surgical and medical needs of poor residents in the area. South Cotabato Gov. Arthur Pingoy Jr. said they forged an agreement with the Dole Philippines-funded Mahintana Foundation [...]

SURIGAO CITY (MindaNews/1 Feb) – Freelance sex workers are dramatically growing in number in Surigao City, leading to an increase in sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in 2011 compared to the previous year. Despite the campaign to stem the cases of sex-related diseases, cases of gonorrhea and trichomoniasis among commercial sex workers in the city went [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/17 January) — Police whisked off Temogen “Cocoy” Tulawie to the airport around noon yesterday for his flight back to Sulu based on the court order issued by Regional Trial Court Branch 3 Judge Leo Jay Principe in Jolo. Supt. Jose Carumba,spokesperson of the Davao Police Regional Office, said they are just following [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/15 January) – Police and military intelligence operatives arrested early Saturday human rights defender Temogen “Cocoy” Tulawie who was implicated in the May 13, 2009 bombing in Patikul, Sulu that injured 12 persons including Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan. But Tulawie, who has repeatedly denied involvement in the bombing, told reporters from his detention [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/14 January) – Members of the Bukidnon-Tagoloan tribe today held a ritual symbolizing their recovery of a spring along the Sawaga River bank, which their ancestors had used as a traditional sacred site, even if a private hog slaughterhouse stands next to it now. Braving the rains that poured the whole day today, [...]

SURIGAO CITY (MindaNews/13 January) — Break time is protest time. Since Monday, workers of the Pacific Cement Philippines Incorporated have been spending their breaks not in the canteen for snacks but in the front of the administration building, marching around and banging metals to urge management to release their benefits. NOISE BARRAGE. A worker flashes [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews / 3 Jan) – Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) from Northern Mindanao (Region 10) have returned the warrant of arrest to the Regional Trial Court branch 13 in Cotabato City where the case of destructive arson and homicide filed 16 years ago against the suspected killer of the Italian [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/01 January) – Kidapawan Bishop Romulo dela Cruz  is “not prepared to dismiss and make light of the results of the work of the NBI-PNP-Department of Justice Team” in Thursdays’ arrest of  a suspect in the October 17 killing of Italian missionary Fausto Tentorio and welcomed the development as a “key step towards [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

CLAVER, Surigao del Norte (MindaNews/07 December) — Who wouldn’t want to live around rolling hills set against the backdrop of a scenic coastline? Definitely not the Mamanwa tribe residing in Punta Naga Mamanwa Village in this mining town. If given the choice, tribe members said they would rather go back to their nomadic ways, than [...]

MARAMAG, Bukidnon (MindaNews/04 December) – The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) of South Bukidnon believes it can meet its target to distribute the lands covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) before the year ends. But Task Force Mapalad (TFM), a national federation of farmers, farm workers and individuals working for agrarian reform, doubts [...]

MARAMAG, Bukidnon (MindaNews/03 December) – Gonzalo Pinuti held his hammer tight as he detached the barbed wire from a fence of a former cattle ranch amid the blistering heat of the sun. With help from a fellow farmer, it took him about five minutes to detach the barbed wires and put down three wooden posts and let his colleagues enter the ranch with carpentry tools, round timber and tents for their temporary shelter.

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/1 Dec) – The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) will probe anew the extrajudicial killings in the city that linked possible involvement of local officials and the police to further verify the agency’s report during its first investigation two years ago. But this time around, regional director Alberto B. Sipaco will be spearheading [...]

SURIGAO CITY (MindaNews/27 Nov) – Members of the Mamanwa tribe in Agusan del Norte and some parts of Surigao del Norte  appealed to the city government to implement the law mandating local government units to provide a seat for Lumad representation in local councils. The Mamanwas under the Certificate of Ancestral Domain (CADT) claim of [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/11 November) — The embattled junior police officers who claimed they were mauled inside a camp by their own senior non-commissioned officers said they will file administrative charges against “all police commissioned officers who were responsible for the issuance of their Drop from Rolls Orders.” “We believe due process was not [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

FINAL TOUCHES. Workers prepare the plot where Fr. Fausto Tentorio’s remains will be buried Tuesday near another Italian PIME martyr, Tullio Favali who was gunned down on April 11, 1985. MindaNews photo by Carolyn O. Arguillas | Read Related Story

ARAKAN, North Cotabato (MindaNews/24 October) – Three of their colleagues have been killed since 1985 and two others have been kidnapped since 1998 in Mindanao, but the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) missionaries said they will continue their pastoral work in the island. Parishioners and friends of slain missionary Fr. Fausto Tentorio line up [...]

ARAKAN, North Cotabato (MindaNews/24 October) – In the last five years, slain Italian missionary Fr. Fausto Tentorio had been consistently writing emails to his family back in Leco, Italy every week. His elder brother Felici, who arrived in this town on Saturday, told Mindanews that he usually wrote emails to Fr. Tentorio on Fridays or Saturdays. And the priest would usually reply on Mondays. But when Felici checked his emails on October 17, Monday, he was wondering why there was none from his brother.

KIDAPAWAN CATHEDRAL. Kidapawan Bishop Romulo dela Cruz officiates the “rite of welcome for the deceased priest to the church” at the Our Lady of the Mediatrix Cathedral in Kidapawan City Monday noon. A procession will accompany Fr. Fausto Tentorio to the cemetery in the Bishop’s compound in Balindog, after the 9:30 a.m. mass Tuesday, October [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/24 October) –  As it was for slain Italian missionary Tullio Favali 26 years ago, thousands of parishioners, sympathizers and protesters will walk the four-kilometer stretch from the  Our Lady of the Mediatrix Cathedral to the Queen of Prophets cemetery in the Bishop’s Compound in Balindog to bring Italian missionary Fr. Fausto Tentorio [...]

ARAKAN, North Cotabato – Some 500 farmers, Lumads (indigenous peoples), students and churchworkers marched five kilometers from the Our Mother of Perpetual Parish in the poblacion to the Notre Dame of Doroluman Sunday, to bring the remains of  Italian missionary Fr.  Fausto Tentorio for the  final wake in the town he served for at least [...]

ARAKAN, North Cotabato (MindaNews/23 October) — The Davao-based Kaliwat Theatre Collective on Saturday paid tribute to Fr. Fausto Tentorio at the Our Mother of Perpetual Help parish here, as mourners – mostly farmers and Lumads, shed tears while listening to songs reflecting the plight of the farmers and indigenous peoples. Upon the invitation of Fr. [...]

ARAKAN, North Cotabato (MindaNews/22 October)  –  When he joined the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME),  Father Fausto Tentorio signed a declaration that in gratitude to God for the “great gift of a missionary vocation,” he was “aware that it involves the possibility of finding myself in situations of serious risk for my health and [...]

ARAKAN, North Cotabato (MindaNews/22 October) — October 17 as I was travelling from Columbio to Kidapawan a close friend called “Fr. Pops was shot!” I thought he was still alive but soon a nurse from the hospital texted” Fr.Pops is already dead, DOA, dead on arrival.” I rushed to the funeraria in Arakan and saw [...]

QUEZON CITY (MindaNews/21 October) — Government prosecutors have entertained the possibility that state agents were behind the killing of Italian missionary Fr. Fausto Tentorio, in Arakan, North Cotabato. The Department of Justice is now looking into this angle with the identification of two suspects, Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan said in a media conference on extrajudicial [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/21 October) – Militant church leaders and organizations have pointed accusing fingers at the Armed Forces of the Philippines for the murder of Italian priest Fausto “Pops” Tentorio, PIME, who was killed by a lone gunman inside the compound of his convent in Arakan, Cotabato last Monday. The militant groups have also blamed [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/20 Oct) – Health officials in Sarangani have warned residents in a diarrhea-stricken village in Maasim town against drinking from all water sources in the area due to coliform bacteria contamination. “All sources of water within Barangay Tinoto are not fit for drinking purposes,” Dr. Antonio Yasana, provincial health officer, said in [...]

DAVAO CITY  (MindaNews/19 October) — Results of the autopsy conducted on the slain Italian missionary Fr. Fausto Tentorio, showed two kinds of bullets were used to kill Fr. Fausto Tentorio, raising questions two guns may have been used, Fr. Peter Geremia, an Italian missionary like Tentorio, said. Citing the autopsy report, Geremia told MinadNews the [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/19 October) —  He was about to enter his vehicle in the garage of his convent in Arakan, North Cotabato, to drive to the Bishops’s Residence in Balindog, Kidapawan City, 52 kilometers away for the  monthly Presbyterium of the Diocese of Kidapawan on Monday, October 17. He never made it to Balindog. A [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/19 October) – His anti-mining advocacy and  active defense of indigenous peoples’ rights could be the “possible, if not probable, cause” for the murder of Italian missionary, Fr. Fausto Tentorio, two groups today said. Tentorio, parish priest of Our Mother of Perpetual Help Parish in Arakan, North Cotabato and a member of the [...]

Underscoring the culture of impunity sweeping the rural areas of Mindanao, Fr. Faustino “Father Pops” Tenorio, an Italian PIME priest, was gunned down this morning in his convent. Fr. Pops has been an active advocate for the rights of the indigenous peoples. Serving in  the Tribal Filipinos Apostolate of the Diocese of Kidapawan, he is [...]