Feature

"I saw in their eyes something I was to see over and over - a burning desire to go, to move, to get under way, anyplace, away from any here."
               - John Steinbeck in "The Urge to be Someplace Else"
    
And so it was that I found myself one cold December morning riding at the back of an open pickup truck, the wind on my face, up through the misty mountain trails of Mae Hong Son at the Thai-Burmese border. There we were all seated on a mat spread across the floor of the truck, shivering at every burst of moist wind that got chillier as we climbed our way up the slopes. To shield my face from the cold, I draped it with a shawl that I kept holding on tightly lest it gets blown about by the wind. Yet, after a while, I decided to let go of it gladly, no matter how biting the cold was, and let myself be swept in by the wind and sunshine, and the stirring beauty of mist and green.

COTABATO CITY (MindaNews/09 February) -- It was the brainchild of two great missionaries- Fr. Gerard Mongeau, OMI and Fr. Cuthbert Billman, OMI. Fr. Mongeau fathered it and Fr. Billman named it, "The Mindanao Cross, a little paper with a big cause." This motto has described the paper ever since it emerged from a donated printing press and began to hit the streets 60 years ago on February 6, 1948.

As one enters the City of Tacurong, one can see the simplicity of life in a striving community of about 100,000 souls. Rising from the stereotype portrayed by national and foreign media for many years that it is a very risky place to stay in, visit or do business due to the past reported bombings and other acts of criminality and terrorism, its people are not only resilient but truly resisted the idea of relocating to other “safer” places as an act of defiance to these conscienceless and soulless monsters.

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/19 November) -- It all started with a simple dream. A young boy many years ago dreamt of becoming a teacher and he did become one.

Today, Agapito “Pete” Lubaton, 47, is more than just a teacher. He is also co-owner and administrator of the Marbel Institute of Technical College (MITC), one of the fastest-growing and most promising technical-vocational institutions in Southwestern Mindanao.

SARANGANI (MindaNews/04 November) -- Theirs is a partnership driven not only by expediency but also bonded by familiar background and common passion to serve. 

DIPOLOG CITY (MindaNews/25 October) -- "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

Or so the Chinese proverb says.

But for Dipolog Bishop Jose R. Manguiran, 71, "that's obsolete now.” For the Bishop, it should be updated to something like: "Don't just teach him how to fish; teach him how to take care of the seas and the environment."

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/27 August) – When Mindanao-born Lt. Gen. Alexander B. Yano took over the command of the country’s largest armed forces unit, the Philippine Army, he inherited a military force that has long been viewed as corrupt, inefficient and highly-politicized.

MAITUM, Sarangani  (Sarangani Information Office/25 August) – “Kasi mahirap talaga ang pobre” (Because it’s really difficult to be poor).

This sums up what motivated Tom Balatac, 24, to enroll in Grade I this year. 

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/05 February) -- Travel down Ma-a Road here and you will find a small foundry that time and technology have forgotten.