Mindanao Daily
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Nov. 5-11, 2012
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Zamboanga City, Philippines
French yacht drifts to Zamboanga
A French yacht has drifted to the southern Philippine port city of Zamboanga and all three passengers - Gino Wattier, 62; and his African wife Kamaria Nassbia, 45, and daughter Baraka, 8 – are rescued and safe. (Mindanao Examiner Photo – Alvin Lardizabal)
PHILIPPINE soldiers have rescued a Frenchman man and his wife and daughter after their yacht drifted off the southern port city of Zamboanga while sailing to Africa, officials said. Officials said the boat drifting off the coastal village had engine trouble and was of Recodo where soldiers are
manning a detachment. The Frenchman identified himself as Gino Wattier, 62; and his African wife Kamaria Nassbia, 45, and daughter Baraka, 8. “We are
heading back to Africa from a holiday in Tahiti. We had an engine trouble and drifted here,” Wattier told Mindanao Examiner photographer Alvin Lardizabal. Wattier said the boat cannot be controlled and they drifted to Zamboanga on November 4. He did not give additional details.
Officials said no one was reported hurt or injured. Local villagers said they were unaware that a foreign yacht had drifted off Recodo. The yacht, soldiers said, has markings “IROISE II SN.” “They are lucky that their boat drifted here in Recodo and not in other islands which is dangerous,” one soldier
said, adding the stricken vessel was towed into berth alongside a barge in Recodo. It was not immediately known whether the military has informed the Department of Foreign Affairs or the French Embassy about Wattier. (With reports from Alvin Lardizabal and Ely Dumaboc)
Court junks Jalosjos appeal anew ZAMBOANGA CITY – The Regional Trial Court has junked the appeal of former congressman Romeo Jalosjos, Sr. to be included in the permanent list of voters in Zamboanga City where is running for mayor in the 2012 synchronized local and national polls. Judge Reynerio Estacio, in his decision, affirmed the earlier verdict of the Municipal Trial Court which disqualified Jalosjos, who was convicted of statutory rape, from running in Zamboanga. Municipal Trial Court
Judge Nancy Cuaresma, in a 16-page resolution, said Jalosjos cannot exercise the right of suffrage or the right to vote because he is disqualified. “Jalosjos is not qualified to and cannot vote or be voted upon in any national or local elections until his perpetual absolute disqualification s are expressly remitted and restored by pardon,” the judge said. CONVICTED The aging political kingpin, who was convicted in 1997 for raping an 11-year old
girl, was able to register with the Commission on Elections in Zamboanga City, but this was opposed by Congresswoman Maria Isabelle Salazar on the grounds that the former politician is disqualified to register as a new voter here because of his conviction. Jalosjos, who was convicted with two counts of statutory rape and six counts of acts of lasciviousness, insisted his right to suffrage, adding he had served his sentence. Zamboanga City Congresswoman Maria Isabelle
Salazar, who is also running for the mayoralty post, sought Jalosjos’ disqualification, saying the politician was sentenced to suffer “reclusion perpetua” and “reclusion temporal” for each count of his crimes, and is not qualified to run. She said the penalty for reclusion perpetua shall be from 20 years, while reclusion temporal is from 12 years. And Salazar said Jalosjos was granted a mere commutation of sentence by then President Gloria Arroyo in 2007 which resulted in the reduction of his
original sentence. Official records with the Bureau of Corrections also show that Jalosjos was discharged from the National Bilibid Prison only on March 18, 2009, less than the 5-year period prescribed under the Voter’s Registration Act, according to Salazar. The Election Registration Board also ruled in favor of Salazar, a member of President Benigno Aquino’s Liberal Party. ELATED “God guide us. RTC ruled in our favor,” Salazar told the
Rep. Maria Isabelle Salazar and brothers Dominador and Romeo Jalosjos, Sr. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)
ARMM
Northern Mindanao
Davao
Manila
regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner. She said they received the decision of the Regional Trial Court late Wednesday thru their legal counsels. “May I, once again, reiterate that this had been an advocacy for a just and honest pursuit of the laws of this country with its sanctity being kept intact. Being part of legislation, I have seen the importance of these laws and following them judiciously is what is expected of all of us. We continuously pray that all this will come to a peaceful resolution and shall ensure a public service that has the foundations of honesty, sincerity and integrity,” Salazar said. Jalosjos’ camp said they will appeal the decision of the court. The decision also coincided with the ruling of the Supreme Court disqualifying Jalosjos’ younger brother Dominador – who is running for governor in Zamboanga del Sur province – because of his past criminal conviction. The younger Jalosjos, a former mayor in Dapitan City in Zamboanga del Norte, and three others were convicted in 1970 for robbery. (Mindanao Examiner)
Zamboanga Peninsula
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Saudi closes Pinoy Workers’ shelter in Jeddah
MANILA - A Filipino migrants’ rights group called Migrante-Middle East said the Philippines has failed to pay its rental of a villa in Al-Mina Haj Terminal in Saudi Arabia used as temporary shelters by abused and undocumented Filipinos working there. It has stopped operation now. It said Manila owes about P14.5 million in rental fees to Saudi authorities which are running the shelter in Jeddah. John Leonard Monterona, Migrante’s regional coordinator, said they have written Philippine Vice President Jejomar Binay, who is also the presidential adviser on
OFWs concern, over the unpaid rental. In his letter, Monterona said there are at least 7,000 undocumented overseas Filipino workers in Jeddah alone who have listed up to avail the government’s voluntary repatriation program. “The 7,000 undocumented were mostly run away due to various labor malpractices forcing them to abscond from their respective employers and are temporarily seeking refuge from their OFW relatives and friends, noting that harboring an absconder is punishable under Saudi immigration laws,” Monterona said in a statement sent to
the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner. He said the Philippine consulate started renting the shelter in October 2012 when it started the mass repatriation of undocumented OFWs who had camped out under the Khandera Bridge in Jeddah. “Because of this unpaid lease rental and due to the demand for payment of the lease rental by the Saudi immigration authorities that manage the Al-Mina hajj terminal, the Philippine consulate was forced to stop since July 2011 renting the villa-type building that serves as temporary shelter for undocumented OFWs who have opted to
A Cebu Pacific plane flies over a busy road in Zamboanga City.(Mindanao Examiner Photo)
avail voluntary repatriation while the Consulate is processing the formalities of OFWs repatriation,” Monterona said.
He said undocumented OFWs who opted for voluntary repatriation are now having problem where to stay. He said he raised this
concern to Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis, who claimed that they are now working on the problem.
Exodus of OFW continues, deaths abroad mounting too PAGADIAN CITY – The lack of jobs and poor economic conditions in the Philippines have forced millions of Filipinos to work abroad to help alleviate their families from pov-
erty, but thousands also die in foreign countries each year due to various causes and all these in the face of grim realities of intensified forced migration, the Migrante-Middle East.
“The grim reality is there were thousands Filipino families lost their beloved breadwinners working in far, far away land as overseas workers since the birth of the Philippine government’s labor export program in 1972,” said John Leonard Monterona, the group’s regional coordinator. He said that in 2006 alone, at least 5 cadavers of overseas Filipino workers who died from various causes, were sent back home almost on a daily basis. “In a year, there were about 1,850 OFWs cadavers repatriated. In ten years time, from 2006 to 2015, the figure will reach to an estimate of 18,500 cadavers,” Monterona said. But he said latest monitoring reports showed an alarming increase in the number of cadavers being sent home. “Now, OFWs remains repatriated on a daily basis landing in various Philippine international airports range from 7 to 10,” Monterona said, but he quickly added that the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration-Repatriation Unit has yet to con-
firm this report. “Since the beginning of the Philippine government labor export program in 1972 until this date, our estimate of OFWs remains repatriated to the Philippines reached between 35,000 to close 40,000,” he said. “A considerable percentage of this figure, let’s say about 40% were due to natural deaths and accidents.” Monterona explained that the figure is in proportion to the surging numbers of OFWs cases involving labor malpractices and abuses that lead to deaths, some in mysterious ways, not only in the Middle East but also in other OFWs countries of destination around the world. “This is part of the grim realities of intensified forced migration, and it’s no joke. Is the incumbent Aquino administration aware of this? And I say certainly, yes. But the government keeps on peddling million of unemployed Filipinos every year as it continues to look for labor markets abroad amid its poor performance in local jobs generation,” he said. (Mindanao Examiner)
JUST SAY
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Militar y sa ys MNLF gunmen Military says holding 3 ffor or eign hosta ges oreign hostag ZAMBOANGA CITY – The Philippine military have implicated former Muslim rebels, whose group had signed a peace deal with Manila, to the kidnappings of two European wildlife photographers and a Jordanian television reporter and his two Filipino cameramen now being held captive in Sulu province. This after the Moro National Liberation Front accused the military of attacking its forces under Tahir Usman in Sulu’s Patikul town late last month, sparking a five-hour gun battle that left at least 17 soldiers dead and wounded. Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang, a spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command, said Abu Sayyaf and MNLF forces attacked troops sent to investigate the reported presence of Ewold Horn, 52, from Holland; and Lorenzo Vinciguerre, 47, from Switzerland, who were kidnapped this year in Tawi-Tawi province; and Baker Atyani, 43, of
Al Arabiya News Channel, and his crew Rolando Letrero, 22, and Ramelito Vela, 39. “As far as we are concerned, government troops clashed with the group of Abu Sayyaf and MNLF forces in Patikul and they are holding the three foreign kidnapped victims, who are the center of our operations in Sulu,” Cabangbang told the Mindanao Examiner, adding troops are still searching for the trio. There was no report about the fate of the Filipino hostages, who were hired by Atyani in Manila, to film his clandestine interview with Abu Sayyaf and MNLF rebels in Sulu. The Abu Sayyaf is also holding a Japanese treasure hunter Katayama Mamaito, 64, who was kidnapped in 2010 in Sulu, and an Australian adventurer Warren Rodwell, 57, taken last year from his seaside home in Zamboanga Sibugay province. There were also no re-
ports about the Mamaito and Rodwell. The fighting in Sulu came a day after the Muslim celebration of the Eid’l Adha. Senior Supt. Antonio Freyra, the Sulu police chief, said they put up checkpoints and road blocks in key areas to ensure protection of civilians. He said the military operation was not coordinated with the local police, but he was told by a military commander that troops were on a routine change of tour of duty when Abu Sayyaf gunmen attacked them. “We were not informed about the military operation and I was only told that it’s a routine change of tour of duty among troops when the Abu Sayyaf attacked them in Patikul,” Freyra said in a separate interview. It was not immediately known how many people have fled from their homes due to the fighting, he said. (Mindanao Examiner)
RP to fetch OFW body
Ewold Horn, Lorenzo Vinciguerre, and Baker Atyani.
The Philippines said it is working to bring home the body of a Filipino truck driver killed in a fuel tanker explosion in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. At least a dozen other Filipinos were also injured in the recent blast that killed at least 21 people. Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said the lone Filipino casualty Florentino Santiago was inside a parked vehicle when the tanker slammed on a bridge. The explosion triggered a huge fire that destroyed several buildings and engulfed cars nearby. Santiago’s family said all they wanted now is for his body to be flown back home, and was worried more about the children left behind by the Filipino. Santiago was the sole provider for the family. (Mindanao Examiner)
Wanted Palparan appeals criminal case MANILA – One of the Philippines’ most wanted fugitive, retired army commander Jovito Palparan, has asked the asked the Court of Appeals to stop the Bulacan Regional Trial Court from proceeding with his trial in connection with his alleged involvement in the disappearance of two University of the Philippines students in 2006, state media said. It said Palparan, a former army major general, and his co-accused retired army sergeant Rizal Hilario, asked the CA through their legal counsels, to issue a temporary restraining order against the Bulacan RTC. They questioned the April 2012 arrest order by Judge Teodora Gonzales. The court also issued a hold departure order against the two in connection to the charges of kidnapping and serious illegal detention of
political activists Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno. Palparan and Hilario insisted the order should be nullified and for the CA to ask the Department of Justice to conduct another preliminary investigation. They said the DOJ did not investigate the allegations. The families of the missing students also accused Palparan of raping the two women, aside from serious physical injuries, arbitrary detention, and grave threats based on the testimony of a witness. The government has put up a P2 million rewards for the capture of Palparan. Others who were implicated in the case – Sergeant Edgardo Osorio and Lt. Col. Felipe Anotado - have surrendered already surrendered. (Perfecto Raymundo)
COTABATO CITY – Blangko pa rin ang pulisya sa motibo ng pagpatay sa pamangkin ni massacre suspect at ex-Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan sa kanilang lalawigan. Ngunit sinisipat ng mga awtoridad ang angulong away-pamilya at paghihiganti sa pagbaril kay Norton Ampatuan sa labas ng isang karaoke bar sa bayan ng Ampatuan kamakailan lamang. Ayon sa ulat ng pulisya ay nagkaroon ng kaguluhan sa loob ng isang karaoke bar at tumakbong palabas si Norton na kung saan ito ay
pinagbabaril. Sugatan rin ang barkada ni Norton na si Juhail Unting sa pamamaril. Hindi naman agad mabatid kung nagbigay ng pahayag o nakilala ba ni Juhail ang tumira sa kanila. Ang pagpatay kay Norton ay nagmistulang patunay naman na nawawala na ang impluwensya ng mga Ampatuan sa Maguindanao at kahit sa mismong bayan nila ay inupakan ang isa sa mga itinuturing na tagapagmana ng pamilya. Si Norton ay anak ni Sarip Ampatuan na tumatakbo sa pagka-alkalde sa halalan sa susunod na taon. At si Andal Ampatuan – na ama ni dating ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan – ay isinabit sa brutal na pagpatay sa 58 katao, kabilang ang 32 mamamahayag, sa Maguindanao nuong 2009. (Mindanao Examiner)
Ampa tuan tig ok Ampatuan tigok sa pamamaril
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Nov. 5-11, 2012
TVIRD CLOSES ZAMBOANGA MINING AREA TO PUBLIC
Sites of illegal mining operations in Zamboanga del Sur's Balabag Hill. (Mindanao Examiner Photos)
PAGADIAN CITY - TVI Resource Development (Phils.) Inc. said it is limiting the entry of civilians to its Mineral Production Sharing Agreement area in the town of Bayog in Zamboanga del Sur province. It made the announcement after citing intelligence reports from authorities about the possibility that an undisclosed number of high-pow-
ered firearms, explosives, and regulated chemicals are still being concealed by illegal mining operators in the area. “The entry restriction to Balabag is a precautionary measure that the company is taking to protect the safety of the community,” Yulo Perez, TVIRD’s Vice President for Operations, said in a statement sent to the Mindanao
Examiner. He said earlier geological studies conducted by TVIRD geologists likewise revealed that Balabag has become a geo-hazard area due to the proliferation of illegal miners’ un-engineered underground mine tunnels. Bayog Mayor Leonardo Babasa Jr. also said that Balabag has become a danger zone and poses both
health safety and security risks to people. Aside from polluting the area with their chemical-laden mine wastes, illegal miners are likewise maintaining armed personnel who are being blamed for lawlessness and rising criminality, including a number of unresolved deaths in the area. The information was confirmed by locals who said
MANILA – The Philippines welcomed news of hike in salaries of foreign household service workers in Hong Kong where many Filipinos are working as domestic helpers in the former British colony. “This is a welcome development for our HSWs because the Hong Kong government has always been protective and considerate in looking after the welfare of expatriate workers,” Philippine Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is in-
creasing the monthly minimum allowable wage of foreign household service workers by HK$180, or 4.8% from HK$3,740 to HK$3,920, and the monthly food allowance by HK$100, or 12.9% from HK$775 to HK$875. The report said the new minimum wage and allowance will apply to employment contracts signed by parties starting September 20 this year and does not apply or affect prevailing contracts or contracts signed until September 19 which will bear the previous rates.
Hong Kong’s standard employment contract for hiring foreign HSWs requires employers to provide foreign workers with free food. Employers may also opt to pay their workers food allowance in lieu of free food. However, most employers in Hong Kong pay the food allowance in cash. Baldoz has ordered the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Hong Kong to closely coordinate with the Hong Kong Immigration to implement this new wage policy in accordance to the timeline set. (Susan de Leon)
Security officials say preparation is underway for the coming Christmas holiday to ensure peaceful celebration in Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)
DH g ets pa y incr ease gets pay increase ong in Hong K Kong
The Mindanao Examiner Media, Film and Television Productions Maritess Fernandez Publisher/Executive Producer (On Leave) Al Jacinto Editor-in-Chief/Producer (OIC) Gregorri Leaño Joanna Valerie Wee Video Editor Mindanao Examiner Productions Web Master REGIONAL PARTNERS Mindanao Daily Business Week NEWS/ADVERTISING OFFICES Mark Navales ARMM
Giovanni Solmerano Eastern Mindanao
Merlyn Manos Iligan City
Geonarri Solmerano Southern Mindanao
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Asa Madale Lanao Provinces Ely Dumaboc Zamboanga Sibugay/Zamboanga del Sur/Zamboanga del Norte John Shinn III California The Mindanao Examiner Newspaper/Business Week/Mindanao Daily is published weekly/daily in Zamboanga City and Cagayan de Oro City in Mindanao, Philippines. The Mindanao Examiner Television is broadcast in Skycable 54 in Zamboanga; Lupah Sug Cable in Sulu province and Basilan Cable in Basilan province. Our business and editorial offices are located at Units 15, 3rd Floor, Fair Land Bldg., Nuñez St., Zamboanga City Phone & fax: +63 62 9925480 Mobile: +63 9152756606 URL: mindanaoexaminer.com E-mail: mindanaoexaminer@gmail.com
COMELEC stops issuance of registration forms ZAMBOANGA CITY – Hundreds of residents in the southern port city of Zamboanga blamed the Commission on Elections for their failure to register as voters on Oct. 31, the deadline set by the poll body for new registrants. Locals said they were told to wait outside the office of the Commission on Elections for hours only to be told that they cannot be accommodated anymore. Officials of the Commission on Elections said they stopped issuing registration forms to allow the processing of papers for those who registered on Tuesday. Thousands have waited outside the office of the Commission on Elections at the Joaquin Enriquez Memorial Sports Complex and many of them were ferried from villages by followers of politicians. It was not immediately known from the central office of the Commission on Elections whether the non-issuance of registration forms to voters in Zamboanga was illegal. But one voter said the general rule is to accommodate everyone who wants to register “If indeed, forms were released Tuesday to those who failed to register that day, which is contrary to their
own rule (that day) that they will only release application forms to those inside the office,” he told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner. He said the poll body should have distributed application forms on Wednesday and continues the registration beyond the 3 p.m. cut-off time for as long as they are within the 30 meter radius of the office. “They can continue to register beyond that time even up to midnight or even up to the following day. This is similar to the rule that on election day, the election committee should accommodate all voters for as long as they are within the 30 meter radius from the precinct, just so all the voters will be able to vote, even if that will be beyond closing of the precinct time. But no, they were in a hurry to stop working after 5 p.m. and those who want to register after that time–can go to hell,” he said. “There is this naughty rumor that somebody called some Commission on Elections officials at the grandstand for them to stop registering these voters because they were ferried there by supporters of a rival candidate,” he added. (Mindanao Examiner)
that they have seen other high-powered weapons in Balabag despite last week’s raid by police authorities in the area. Just last month, members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, led by Senior Superintendent Edgar Danao, raided several illegal mine processing facilities in Balabag and confiscated a cache of weapons and muni-
tions, and hazardous chemicals used by illegal miners in gold processing. Police filed charges against 16 suspected illegal miners, including Bayog town councilor Julieto Monding, who is believed to be one of the financiers or operator of illegal mining activities in Balabag. (Mindanao Examiner)
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Philippine Human Rights Violations Condemned An Open Letter To His Excellency Benigno Simeon Aquino III
Mr. President: The Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights (CPSHR) joins Filipino human rights defenders, indigenous rights leaders, environmental advocates, church clergy, people’s organizations, and international rights groups in strongly condemning the current military and foreign mining aggression against the people of Mindanao. We are outraged at the deliberate killing of a B’laan mother and her children by members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’s 27th Infantry Battalion under the command of Col. Alexis Bravo. According to the factfinding mission conducted by the Social Action Center of the Diocese of Marbel, soldiers massacred a pregnant Juvy Capion, 27, and her two sons Jordan, 13, and John 8, inside their farm house in the morning of October 18. Vicky, the young daughter aged 4, was wounded. According to witnesses, Juvy pleaded that they stop
firing as she was already wounded, to which the soldiers replied with more bullets. To a relative’s plea that they spare the children, a soldier answered, “Better to finish off the children, so there are no witnesses.” The corpses were then left under the sun for almost a day and their relatives prevented from claiming their bodies. A few hours after the incident, Col. Bravo called a press conference to announce that the victims were killed in an encounter with armed rebels. What were the Capion family’s transgressions that they were cold-bloodily murdered by your soldiers? It is a well-known fact in the community that Daguil Capion, the father and husband, and a leader of the B’laan tribal community actively oppose the entry of Xstrata-Sagittarius Mines, Inc. (SMI). His wife, Juvy, was a member of KALGAD, an organization opposed too, to the entry of the mega gold and copper project that will displace about 30,000 B’laan people from
their ancestral lands with its entry and operation. SMI is touted to be the biggest mining investor in the country with the US$5.9 billion investment largely in Tampakan, South Cotabato. The SMI is owned by the Australia-based Xstrata Copper, believed to be the fourth largest global copper producer. The Capion family joins the growing list of extrajudicial killing victims among who are Gerry Ortega, Eliezer Billanes, Gilbert Paborada, and Fr. Fausto Tentorio, who were murdered for their human rights and environmental advocacy work by persons believed to be agents and members of state security forces. Mr. President, as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, we ask that you order an immediate pull-out of the 27th Infantry Battalion and a stop to Operation Plan Bayanihan, your counter-insurgency program that is in truth, an allout war against the people. Disband all militia forces like the Citizens Armed Force
Geographical Unit (CAFGU), Special Civilian Armed Auxiliary and other paramilitary formations used to protect the interests of despotic landlords, transnational and mining corporations like Xstrata-SMI that plunder our forests and destroy the environment. We further urge you to: 1. Cancel the mining permits of Xstrata-SMI Company as its presence in the area has caused considerable violence and bloodshed among our people. 2. That a prompt, thorough and impartial investigation of the massacre be done by government agencies such as the Commission on Human Rights and the Department of Justice. We seek justice for the Capion family and for other victims of state-sanctioned violence legitimized by Oplan Bayanihan. Finally we call on your administration and all its institutions to uphold the basic human rights of the citizens whom you have sworn to serve. The Canada Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights
ARMM Bureau Chief Mark Navales hosts Mindanao Examienr Tele-Radyo episode.
Filipino favorite- lechon - in Zamboanga del Norte province. (Midnanao Examienr Photo)
Tilapia remains one of Pinoy’s favorite. (Mindanao Examner Photo - Geo Solmerano)
All Saints’ Day, All Souls’ Day peaceful in Mindanao PAGADIAN CITY – Police authorities said the observance of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day was peaceful in the entire southern Philippines with no reports of violence. It said the peaceful holiday was largely attributed to the safety contingency it implemented in the region, including the strict enforcement of
Members of the PICE-Davao City pose during the handover of the rainwater collector and trash bins to a local school.
Civil engineers donate rainwater collector, trash bins to Davao school DAVAO CITY - Civil engineers in Davao City in the southern Philippines have donated one rainwater collector and 10 garbage bins to an elementary school as part of its community greening program. The donation to elementary school of Manambulan in Piedad district in Tugbok was made through the efforts of the local chapter of the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers under its Project Green Engineering Philippines–Greening Existing Schools. It was the 7th time in the past months that the PICE under the leadership of its national president and current Public Works Undersecretary Romeo Momo and 1st vice
president and project chairman Engineer David Sanchez - donated garbage bins and rainwater collectors to local schools. Engineer Erdsan Rene Suero, president of the local PICE chapter, said the project would still run through December as supporters pledged to help them in their greening program. The other recipient schools of the project were Diego Silang Elementary School of Matina Aplaya, New Carmen Elementary School of Tugbok district, Gatungan Elementary School of Bunawan district, Nawan Primary School of Malita north district, Davao del Sur;
Ladian Elementary School of Marilog district and Aledia Elementary School of Paquibato ditrict. “The project aims to promote the level of awareness of pupils, students, teachers and the community on water preservation, proper waste disposal and waste management,” Suero said in a statement sent to the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner. PICE is also constructing a one-classroom school building at the New Carmen elementary school and the project is expected to be completed by November in time for the group’s 75th year celebration.
local government ordinances that prohibited deadly weapons, firearms and liquors to cemeteries. Police said the cooperation of civilians was also critical to the peace and order during the All Saints’ Day. In Manila, Philippine police chief Nicanor Bartolome said it was also peaceful in other ar-
eas, saying the advance preparations laid out by the police ensured safety for motorists, commuters and the public as well. The Philippine News Agency also quoted Bartolome as saying: “The traditional national observance of All Saints’ Day was generally peaceful. I am satisfied with the overall outcome of our security operations for Undas 2012.”
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‘Unwor thy’
MANILA - Not for his distinguished legislative record— he practically had none—was Benigno S. Aquino III elected to the Philippine Presidency in 2010, but for his presumed libertarian and human rights heritage. Benigno Aquino Jr. was an authentic hero for daring to return home in 1983 despite the certainty of either arrest or assassination. A turning point in the decade-long resistance against dictatorship, the outrage that followed his death accelerated the collapse of the Marcos terror regime by finally galvanizing the middle class into, if not armed resistance, at least massing at EDSA in 1986. To Corazon Aquino fell the task of dismantling the apparatus of dictatorship and restoring the institutions of the pre-1972 democracy that, flawed as it had been, nevertheless provided citizens the trappings if not the substance of choosing their leaders. She was not entirely successful, primarily because, as the main support of dictatorship and one of its worst and most tenacious legacies, the military had become a major power and power broker. Besieged by numerous coup attempts calculated to undermine any attempt at reform, Corazon Aquino meant well, but left Malacañang with human rights still being violated and under threat. In 2010, Aquino III rode to power on the assumption that, for his parents’ legacies, he was committed to human rights. As if to validate that assumption, Aquino III campaigned on, among others, a promise to stop extrajudicial killings, support the Freedom of Information bill, and address the culture of impunity that encourages the killing of journalists. Those who took Aquino at his word assumed that he understood that at the heart of the imperative to stop human rights violations is the right to free expression as a necessary condition for democratic discourse. Human rights and journalists’ groups have since been slowly but surely disappointed. Last September, Mr. Aquino quickly signed the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, which among other assaults on free expression not only makes the already problematic, 82-year old libel law applicable online. It also raises the penalty of imprisonment from the already ex-
cessive six months to four years to six years to twelve. His spokespersons earlier denied his responsibility for RA 10175, despite his having signed it. When pressed, Mr. Aquino categorically declared that he was for it, and what’s more, favored the retention of libel—and the increased penalties for it—in the law if and when it was amended. But during a press conference last October 17 with the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP), Mr. Aquino said he favored the decriminalization of libel. No one at this point believes Mr. Aquino’s latest take on RA 10175. It was obvious that Mr. Aquino was pandering to the foreign press when he said he was for the decriminalization of libel. But it wasn’t only his earlier statements that made his FOCAP statement of dubious sincerity. There is also the outstanding fact that, despite a promise to work for a Freedom of Information Act, once elected he displayed such an antipathy for it Malacañang’s first versions were distinguished for their emphasis on exemptions and a mindset focused on regulation and control rather than on citizen access to government-held information as a matter of right. Mr. Aquino’s latest statement on human rights is no less indicative of the same authoritarian, unthinking, and self-serving outlook. Interviewed over radio in New Zealand about his administration’s human rights record, he described human rights violations as the product of leftist propaganda, arguing in the same breath that the members of state security forces like the police and the military have rights too but that human rights organizations pay no attention to their plight. If the widespread belief that human rights are being violated until now is indeed the product of leftist propaganda, it would mean that leftists have unquestioned access to the dominant organizations of print and broadcast. Any content analysis of the reporting and commentary by radio, TV, and the major broadsheets will establish that leftists—I do not mean those who belong to those rightwing organizations that for some reason the media persist in describing as “left”—not only have the most limited access to these media organizations.
They are also habitually demonized and ridiculed, the most common epithet of demonization being the phrase “extreme left,” to distinguish authentic left groups from the respectably conventional but hardly leftwing organizations with which the Aquino administration is in cozy alliance. As for human rights violations, hasn’t Mr. Aquino heard about the killing of environmentalist Leonard Co in November 2010 or of journalists like Gerry Ortega in January 2011? What of the killing of Italian Priest Fr. Fausto Tentorio, and of the Dutch volunteer Willem Geertman? Or, for that matter, the beatings to which suspected criminals are routinely subjected in practically every police station in the land? What of the continuing killing of workers and farmers fighting for their rights, or of human rights workers and defenders? Or the impunity with which the police and military detain, harass, and even kill ordinary citizens, including students in practicum in the communities? Are these mere products of “leftist propaganda”? And what of the supposed rights of state actors? Do these rights supersede those of citizens who’re defending themselves? Does not state actors’ (e.g., the police and military) monopoly over the use of legal force, and their obligations under the law, make them accountable? If Mr. Aquino thought that anyone in his right mind believed his statement about human rights violations’ being the mere product of leftist propaganda, he has another thing coming. Everyone else except Mr. Aquino and his administration knows what’s going on in the human rights arena in the Philippines. I am not solely referring to such non-governmental organizations as Human Rights Watch, which has been asking Mr. Aquino to do something about human rights violations; Amnesty International; or the Asian Human Rights Council. I am also referring to the United Nations Human Rights Committee and the governments of the United States and New Zealand, among others. The US State Department human rights report has documented numerous human rights violations under the Aquino administration—this year it placed them at a con-
servative 20 incidents in 2011—and what’s more has noted that the Philippine government investigated and prosecuted only a handful of those cases. It’s a record of impunity that includes the Aquino administration’s continuing failure to prosecute the killers of journalists, and certainly not the creation of “leftist propaganda.” Mr. Aquino revealed himself an enemy of free expression when he signed RA 10175 while the FOI bill was languishing in Congress and its principal advocate was removed from the Liberal Party’s roster of senatorial candidates for 2013. He has also revealed a level of cynicism and insensitivity to the plight of the kin of the forcibly disappeared, the murdered, the tortured, and the falsely imprisoned equal to that of the worst thugs resident in the police and military. He has thereby established that he, his allies, and his administration are unworthy of the support of anyone truly human, and who understand how the persistent violations of human rights in the Philippines and the assault on free expression have made this country so much the lesser in the community of nations. (By Luis V. Teodoro. The author is a former dean of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication, where he teaches journalism. He is the deputy director of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility. He writes a weekly column for the BusinessWorld.)
‘Tiktik’ inaswang sa Zamboanga! ZAMBOANGA – Inireklamo ng ilang mga moviegoers sa Zamboanga ang napanood na pelikulang ‘Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles’ matapos na umano’y mapuna ang kakaibang quality nito. Madilim umano ang nasabing pelikula at mistulang gumagalaw ito habang ipinalalabas sa screen. “Madilim ang quality ng film at hindi maganda ang audio at gumagalaw ang palabas sa screen ng sinehan na parang sa loob ito nai-record at parang pirated ang dating,” ani Jeng, na isa sa mga nakapanood sa Tiktik. Sa katunayan umano ay hindi na nito tinapos ang pelikula at sa halip ay lumabas na lamang ng sinehan kasama ang isa pang kaibigan na si Elen. “Sayang lang ibinayad namin sa sinehan at hindi maganda ang quality ng pelikula, pero sa trailer sa telebisyon ay maganda. Hindi namin alam kung saan ang diperensya – sa pelikula ba o sa sinehan,” ani Jeng sa reklamo nito sa pahayagang
Mindanao Examiner. Hindi naman agad makunan ng pahayag ang pamunuan ng sinehan ukol sa reklamo sa pelukula na itinuturing na isa sa mga pinakamagandang horror movies ngayon taon. Karamihan sa mga scenes sa pelikula ay may chroma o green screen upang mailagay ang mga kakaibang back ground para sa ibatibang eksena. Halos isang taon rin umanong ginawa ang pelikula. Si Erik Matti ang naturang writer at director ng Tiktik na pinondohan naman nina Ronald Stephen Monteverde, Jose ‘DingDong” Dantes III at Annette Abrogar. May budget itong P70 milyon, ngunit tumabo naman sa takilya ng P180 million sa ilang araw pa lamang ng palabas. Pinangungunahan nina Ding-Dong Dantes at Lovi Poe ang nasabing pelikula na kung saan ay kasama rin sina Joey Marquez, Janice de Belen, Ramon Bautista at LJ Reyes. (Mindanao Examiner)
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The Mindanao Examiner
Nov. 5-11, 2012
Mindanao environmentalist shot PAGADIAN CITY – Authorities have not released any progress report on the shooting of an environmentalist known for his advocacy in the southern Philippines. A gunman shot and wounded Dr. Isidro Olan, executive director of the Lovers of Nature Foundation, while driving home in the town of Carmen in Surigao del Sur, according to Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment. “Dr. Olan was a passionate environment defender who opposed destructive and large-scale mining as well as illegal logging activities in Cantilan and other areas of Surigao del Sur. We ask for everyone’s prayers for Dr. Olan’s immediate recovery, and for justice to be swiftly exacted upon the assassins and their clients as well,” Fr. Oliver Castor, spokesperson for the Task Force Justice for Environment Defenders, said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner. The motive of the attack is still unknown, but Castor said there could be no other motivation to assassinate Olan than his staunch opposition to ecologically destruc-
tive projects in their areas. “If the Aquino government claims to be hard workers for the protection of human rights, we demand to hear about their work on Dr. Olan’s case now. In fact, we would like to hear what about what they have done now about the 61 extrajudicial killings of environment defenders we recorded since 2001 that remains languishing in court up to the present,” the priest said. Clemente Bautista, convener of the Defend Patrimony Alliance, said the failed assassination of Olan sent a chilling effect to environmental advocates. “It’s not even Halloween and yet this latest attack on Dr. Olan already produces a chilling effect to environmental advocates. The year 2012 is already the bloodiest year for environmental advocates in this new millennium, and it infuriates us to remember that President Benigno Aquino dismissed the ever mounting cases of human rights violations in the country is dismissed as just propaganda of the Left. Is the attempt to take the life of Dr. Olan for his defense of the en-
vironment not real enough for Aquino?” Bautista asked. Both groups demanded for an immediate and independent investigation of the attempted assassination of Olan. No individuals or groups claimed responsibility for the attack. In September, gunmen ambushed a Subanen tribal leader Timuay Locenio Manda and his son Jordan in Zamboanga del Sur province. His son was killed in the attack. Manda, who is fighting for their ancestral lands, was heading to school to bring his son when gunmen attacked them in the town of Bayog. Two of the 5 attackers, were arrested days later. “In my effort to assert our rights and to protect our people and ancestral domain, my beloved son was sacrificed. It is very painful and I thirst for justice,” he said. “I vow to continue my struggle in order not to make my son’s death in vain. I need your support in this most trying time of my life as a father and a leader.” Manda’s group – representing the 3,000-strong Council of Pigsalabukan Guhom de Bayog - is claiming some 23,800 hectares of lands in the town where several mining companies are operating. Government authorities recently shut down illegal mining activities in Bayog and charged at least 16 people, including a town councilor, accused as one of the mining financiers. (Mindanao Examiner)
An old woman and a child beg outisde a mall in Zamboanga City. Poverty remains the bioggest problem in the country.(Mindanao Examiner Photo)
OFW suffers stroke in Saudi, appeals for help MANILA – A Philippine woman in Saudi Arabia has appealed to Manila to help her return home after a suffering a stroke and lost her eyesight. The 47-year old woman, Virgina Gabiling, a native of Negros Occidental, ran away from her employer due to verbal abuses and other labor violations and was working illegally when she had a stroke, said Migrante, a Filipino migrants’ group, after learning about her plight. “Sana tulungan naman nila akong maka-uwi kahit mamatay ako doon; basta doon lang sa Pilipinas,” said Gabiling. Gabiling’s friend informed Migrante-Jeddah
chairman Marlon Gatdula about her condition in an effort to help the woman return to the Philippines while she is still alive. Migrante said the woman, on her own admission, was a victim of illegal recruitment. “We’ve found out that OFW Gabiling was a victim of an illegal recruiter, but she managed to sneak her out of the country and was deployed in Saudi Arabia in 2004,” Gatdula said. John Leonard Monterona, Migrante’s regional coordinator, said they spoke to the woman -who is temporarily being sheltered by a friend - and recorded her appeal. Gabiling said she
sought assistance from the Philippine Consulate, but was scolded instead for running away from her abusive employer. “Her friend and fellow OFW Jackie went to the Philippine Consulate twice to seek assistant for Gabiling, but until now no assistance was provided to her,” said Beng Medina, chairperson of the women’s rights group Gabriela in Jeddah. Migrante and Gabriela have provided a copy of Gabiling’s recorded interview to the Philippine consulate recently. There was no immediate statement from the Philippine government about Gabiling’s appeal.