2006 December- Davao Today

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Latest Posts on 12 31st, 2006 | No Comments

Internet denizens can’t seem to get enough of the video showing Saddam Hussein being executed. The video is now the most searched item on the web. The first video we’re showing here is composed of clips of Saddam Hussein and his execution yesterday. It was made more interesting (and artistic) by...

Davao’s Silent Night...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Health, Latest Posts, Politics on 12 31st, 2006 | No Comments

Davao City prides itself with, among other things, perhaps being the only city in the Philippines that successfully implements a ban on firecrackers and pyrotechnics during the Christmas and the New Year. Although many think of this policy as “KJ” (kill joy), many support it because it reduces...

Smith Transfer ‘Another Meiring...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Gender Issues, Latest Posts, Military on 12 30th, 2006 | 9 Comments

The move by the Arroyo administration to turn over US Marine Lance Corporal Daniel Smith, who has been convicted of raping “Nicole,” to the custody of the US embassy has the makings of another Meiring, according to the human-rights group Karapatan, referring to Michael Terrence Meiring, an...

Davao Oriental�s Slice of Paradise...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Environment, Latest Posts, Politics, Travel & Leisure on 12 28th, 2006 | 7 Comments

Former �Mutya ng Dabaw� and Davao Today columnist Joan Mae Soco has always dreamed of enjoying the beaches of Phuket, Thailand. Little did she know that, only six hours away by land, in Baganga, Davao Oriental, is a paradise that is just as lovely. She filed this report about a recent trip there. ...

Rituals at the Longhouse...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Arts & Culture, Environment, Latest Posts, Travel & Leisure on 12 26th, 2006 | 1 Comment

The indigenous peoples of the Malaysian state of Sarawak have to contend with forces of tradition and development that often clash. The resultant cultural, economic and political stirrings are not unlike what the Lumads in Mindanao go through. Davao Today associate editor Germelina A. Lacorte, who spent...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Extrajudicial Killings, Human Rights, Insurgency, Latest Posts, Military on 12 24th, 2006 | 1 Comment

TORTURED. A piece of Ruel Marcial�s scalp was scraped during his torture — and he was made to eat it. Using pliers, the soldiers also pulled out his toenails. (Photo courtesy of Health Action for Human Rights) In this series of investigative reports, Bulatlat, the country’s premier source of...

A Season of Begging...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Children/Youth, Davao City, Economy, Photographs, Poverty on 12 23rd, 2006 | No Comments

These children roaming the streets of Davao City are a common sight during the holidays, asking strangers for money or Christmas presents. While officials say Davao’s economy has improved over the years, poverty is still common in the city, with thousands of residents — like these children...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Business, Davao City, Education, Labor, Latest Posts, Mindanao on 12 23rd, 2006 | 3 Comments

A call-center company based in Davao says it plans to tap the call-center and business-outsourcing potentials of provinces in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Germelina A. Lacorte reports. ...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Business, Latest Posts, Travel & Leisure on 12 23rd, 2006 | 1 Comment

Davao�s exporters complain of longer travel time for their goods to reach Japanese cities. According to them, this problem has affected the competitiveness of Davao exports. Germelina A. Lacorte reports. ...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Crime & Public Safety, Davao City, Latest Posts, Mindanao, Terrorism on 12 22nd, 2006 | No Comments

Australia has warned its citizens against traveling to certain areas in the Philippines, particularly in Mindanao,”because of the very high threat of terrorist attack, including kidnapping, and related counter-terrorism operations.” The advisory, which is a re-issue of an earlier advisory, said...

Davao’s New Traffic System Goes Ha...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Davao City, Latest Posts on 12 22nd, 2006 | No Comments

The new traffic light system implemented in Davao City this week has created monstrous traffic jams, according to a report in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. The new system, which synchronizes the traffic lights in intersections, has resulted in longer travel time, according to the report. “If this...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Latest Posts, Military on 12 22nd, 2006 | No Comments

The United States has decided to suspend military aid to the Philippines, much of it going to military and civic programs in Mindanao, because of the conviction of a US Marine and the subsequent refusal by a Philippine court to turn the convict over to US authorities. �I�m not the judge of the guilt or...

Davao Economy to Improve in ‘07 &#...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Business, Economy, Latest Posts, Travel & Leisure on 12 21st, 2006 | No Comments

Business leaders in Davao City are optimistic that the city’s economy will improve next year. They cite expected growth in the information communication technology and tourism sectors, as well as an increase in small and medium enterprises. ...

Davao-Tokyo Flight Pushed...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Business, Davao City, Travel & Leisure on 12 21st, 2006 | No Comments

Tuna exporters are lobbying for a direct flight between Davao City and Tokyo, in order to ensure, according to them the fresh delivery of produce from the...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Human Rights, Latest Posts, Military, Terrorism on 12 21st, 2006 | No Comments

WHERE’S OUR BROTHER? Relatives of Rahman Camili, the Moro who was shot and abducted — allegedly by military agents — last week in Tagum City, held a demonstration on Wednesday outside Camp Panacan, the military headquarters in Davao City, to demand his release. The human-rights group...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Economy, Mindanao, Poverty on 12 21st, 2006 | No Comments

In its latest survey on hunger, the Social Weather Stations said hunger has reached a new record high throughout the country. �The proportion of families experiencing involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months reached a new record-high of 19.0%, or an estimated 3.3 million households,...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Human Rights, Insurgency, Military on 12 21st, 2006 | No Comments

The human-rights group Karapatan in the Caraga region reports that a 26-year-old woman who is eight months pregnant has been detained by the military since early this month and allegedly deprived of medical care. The woman, Analyn Jania, was taken by the military after attending a meeting on a land dispute...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Human Rights, Latest Posts on 12 21st, 2006 | No Comments

Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr., the lone member of the Senate from Mindanao, has proposed the creation of �human rights resource centers� through the country that would �integrate the promotion and protection of human rights in the implementation of the criminal justice system.� Read this...

Christmas Is in the Air in Davao...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Latest Posts, Photographs on 12 20th, 2006 | No Comments

The Victoria Plaza mall put up this giant Christmas tree along Bajada, one of the many visual delights in the city these days. (davaotoday.com photo by Keith Bacongco) [tags]Christmas, Davao, Mindanao, Christmas Tree,...

Where Will the Children Go?...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Business, Children/Youth, Environment, Human Rights on 12 19th, 2006 | 1 Comment

The Bagobo-Tagabawas, a tribe in Santa Cruz, Davao del Sur, fear not only their displacement if an Aboitiz-owned power company succeeded in building a power plant in Tudaya. Ultimately, their leaders say, the children will pay the price. Text and photos by Davao Today�s Germelina A. Lacorte. Related...

Suspected Gov’t Agents Shoot, Abdu...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Human Rights, Latest Posts on 12 18th, 2006 | 1 Comment

Karapatan, the human-rights group, has reported that a member of the party-list group Suara Bangsamoro was shot and kidnapped by hooded armed men believed to be government agents at 2 in the morning today. According to Karapatan, this was the second time that Camili was abducted. In April 2003, he was taken...

‘Fake Slay Plot Vs Davao Solon Ush...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Commentary, Crime & Public Safety, Latest Posts, Politics on 12 18th, 2006 | 2 Comments

What possible good did the “disclosure” — that Congressman Prospero Nograles was being hunted by assassins — do to Davao City? If the authorities were convinced that they had suspects (they even had police sketches of them; in this country, apparently all one has to do to make a...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Extrajudicial Killings, Human Rights, Labor, Latest Posts on 12 17th, 2006 | 1 Comment

Jerson Lastimoso, one of the four banana-plantation workers and union members from Compostela Valley province who were ambushed by unidentified men on Friday, died at 12:45 p.m. today, said Omar Bantayan, the secretary-general of the Kilusang Mayon Uno in Southern Mindanao. Click here to read Davao...

PCIJ Podcasts on Davao’s Sources o...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Latest Posts, Podcasts on 12 17th, 2006 | No Comments

The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism has a collection of short audio features about Davao. Among the subjects of the podcasts are the durian, the Philippine eagle and other “achievements that are a source of pride for Dabawenyos.” Click here to listen to the...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Extrajudicial Killings, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Human Rights, Insurgency, Latest Posts, Military on 12 16th, 2006 | 1 Comment

In the past year, human-rights abuses have been exemplified by extrajudicial killings, intimidation and harassments targeting not just activists, lawyers, peasants, workers and poor Filipinos but those who try to protect them as well. And in Mindanao particularly, this campaign, which is supposedly part...