2008 April- Davao Today

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Davao City, Photographs, Top Stories on 04 27th, 2008 | No Comments

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), an alliance of militant organizations, holds a protest outside the office of the Department of Agriculture following the unabated increases in the prices of rice and basic commodities. Bayan says low supply of affordable rice has been the result of the conversion of...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Davao City, Davao Region, Economy, Environment, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Inbox, Latest Posts on 04 27th, 2008 | No Comments

The 39th commemoration of Earth Day is an occasion for Mindanaoans and all patriotic Filipinos to call for the accountability of the Arroyo government and its big business partners for their role in the destruction of the environment and the plunder of our national patrimony. While still a senator, Gloria...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Davao City, Davao Region, Human Rights, Inbox, Insurgency, Latest Posts, Military on 04 27th, 2008 | No Comments

Karapatan-Southern Mindanao said that military operations in the boundary towns of Baganga, Davao Oriental, New Bataan and Compostela, Compostela Valley are displacing farmer-residents in the area. On an April 17 interview, Kelly M. Delgado, secretary-general of Karapatan-Southern Mindanao, said that human...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Davao City, Inbox, Latest Posts on 04 27th, 2008 | No Comments

In these times of increasing prices of rice and other basic commodities, the Filipino people are forced to swallow the bitter pill that is apparently brought about by the government’s failure to establish a genuine comprehensive program for food security. While recognizing that high prices of rice...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Davao Region, Human Rights, Latest Posts on 04 27th, 2008 | No Comments

“On top of the food crisis suffered more severely by the impoverished farmers, militarization is making life much harsher for lumads (indigenous peoples) in the rural areas,” decried Kerlan Fanagel, secretary general of the Pasaka confederation of lumad organizations in Southern Mindanao. The...

Posted by GERMELINA A. LACORTE in Davao City, Latest Posts, Politics, Press Freedom Watch, Top Stories on 04 27th, 2008 | No Comments

By GERMELINA LACORTE and CHERYLL D. FIEL | Davao Today DAVAO CITY — Backing up the case of jailed Davao broadcaster Alexander Adonis, journalist groups questioned the country’s libel laws before the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, saying that jailing a journalist for libel is a...

Posted by CHERYLL D. FIEL in Business, Davao Region, Environment, Latest Posts, Top Stories on 04 27th, 2008 | No Comments

By CHERYLL D. FIEL | Davao Today DAVAO CITY — What happens to a rainforest if you take out its waterfalls? What happens to a mountain if you gouge out its rocks and soil? What happens to indigenous peoples if you take away their lands? Members of environmental groups posed these questions at a picket...

Duterte slams “God’s antiqua...

Posted by MARILOU AGUIRRE-TUBURAN in Children/Youth, Davao City, Gender Issues, Health, Latest Posts, Politics, Poverty, Top Stories on 04 27th, 2008 | 2 Comments

By MARILOU M. AGUIRRE | Davao Today DAVAO CITY — Davao city Mayor Rodrigo Duterte defended the revised Local Development Plan for Children (LDPC) against questions raised by the Catholic Church on its reproductive health and safe pregnancy program. “God’s policy is antiquated and it...

Posted by MARILOU AGUIRRE-TUBURAN in Davao City, Economy, Latest Posts, Poverty, Top Stories on 04 27th, 2008 | No Comments

By MARILOU M. AGUIRRE | Davao Today DAVAO CITY — Beatriz Gaspar, 62, said he has a son in Manila who has 10 children to feed, including a 15-year-old, the eldest. His family consumes five kilos of rice a day. “I am now asking him to return to Davao with his family because life is less...

Posted by CHERYLL D. FIEL in Latest Posts, Mindanao, Top Stories on 04 21st, 2008 | No Comments

By CHERYLL D. FIEL | Davao Today Nepthalie Betito explains the making of a catchment for rainwater they use to water their vegetable garden in the dry summer. (davaotoday.com photo by Cheryll D. Fiel) Growing plants in the summer could be very difficult, especially for farmers in Mindanao more prone to...

Posted by CHERYLL D. FIEL in Latest Posts, Media, Top Stories on 04 21st, 2008 | 1 Comment

By CHERYLL D. FIEL | Davao Today For a country in the tropics surrounded by a belt of the world’s most active volcanoes and regularly visited by typhoons, the need for stories that deal with disasters – how to avoid them and manage the risks – becomes more compelling. Unfortunately, in a...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Davao City, Latest Posts on 04 21st, 2008 | 1 Comment

By Joel G. Virador Bayan Muna national executive vice president Since its foundation in 1999, Bayan Muna remains diligent in making meaningful societal changes through the people’s collective creativity and strength. It embodies the yearnings and aspirations of the most oppressed and the least heard,...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Davao City, Gender Issues, Latest Posts on 04 21st, 2008 | No Comments

(Hango sa datos ni Councilor Angela Librado-Trinidad) By MALOU TIANGCO Member, Gabriela-Southern Mindanao Tunay nga me mga naisulong na programa Para sa kapakanan, kaunlaran ng mga kababaihan sa lungsod Nataguyod ang kampanya ng pagpapasuso sa gatas ng ina Panawagan sa istruktura ng kababaihan sa barangay...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Crime & Public Safety, Davao City, Latest Posts on 04 21st, 2008 | No Comments

By JAIME MORENTE Director, Davao City Police Office Davao City remains peaceful despite the threats posed by terrorist and criminal elements. DCPO, in tandem with TF Davao, continues to address these threats 24/7 and has been very successful with the strong political leadership provided by City Mayor...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Business, Davao City, Latest Posts on 04 21st, 2008 | No Comments

By Simeon P. Marfori President , Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. Greetings! A wonderful Araw ng Dabaw to all of you! It is a pleasure and honor for the Davao business community to be a part of this celebration of the 71st anniversary of the birth of Davao city. The business community of...

Posted by GRACE S. UDDIN in Davao Region, Human Rights, Insurgency, Latest Posts, Military, Top Stories on 04 21st, 2008 | No Comments

By GRACE S. UDDIN | Davao Today Talaingod, Davao del Norte� Ablino Olod, 45, had a hard time getting out of his house for days in January this year, unable to look for food in his farm to feed his family. Military soldiers were conducting operations in their community and he feared that if he goes out to his...

The State of the City...

Posted by MARILOU AGUIRRE-TUBURAN in Davao City, Latest Posts, Top Stories on 04 21st, 2008 | No Comments

By MARILOU M. AGUIRRE | Davao Today On the 71st Araw ng Dabaw, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte refrained from giving the state of the city address, usually done by mayors in the past to apprise the citizens of the state of the city. Instead, he gave the opportunity to leaders and personalities representing the...

Posted by BARRY OHAYLAN in Davao City, Human Rights, Latest Posts, Military, Photographs on 04 13th, 2008 | 1 Comment

Angelic Hernandez still grieves over the loss of her eldest sister, Benjaline Hernandez, who was killed by the Cafgu and military in Sitio Bukatol, Barangay Kinawayan, Arakan, North Cotabato on April 5, six years ago. Hernandez was in the area doing documentation work on the killing of peasant members of...

Run, vendor, run!...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Davao City, Latest Posts, Photographs on 04 13th, 2008 | No Comments

A vendor chases a taxi along F. Torres street to sell his garlands of flowers to students about to graduate that day. Each garland costs about 15 to 20 pesos apiece. Garlands, boutonnieres and corsages sell like hot cakes on graduation days. (davaotoday.com photos by Jonald...

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Posted by BARRY OHAYLAN in Davao City, Economy, Latest Posts, Top Stories on 04 13th, 2008 | No Comments

Planting Rice Is Never Fun. Now that rice prices almost double and rice supply continue to dwindle, militant farmers group Kilusang Magbubukid sa Pilipinas in Southern Mindanao agitate for increased NFA procurement of local rice and for government to dismantle existing rice cartel. More pictures here. ...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Davao City, Economy, Latest Posts, Photographs on 04 13th, 2008 | 2 Comments

A young woman frowns at the sight of surging prices of rice, a kilo of which costs only 24 pesos, as of March 18, when this picture is taken. NFA rice costs only 18 pesos. Now, prices of commercial rice already reaches P30. Davao city Mayor Rodrigo Duterte blamed the conversion of former riceland to...

Davao athletes gear up for Beijing...

Posted by GRACE S. UDDIN in Davao City, Latest Posts, Sports, Top Stories on 04 13th, 2008 | No Comments

By GRACE S. UDDIN | Davao Today Two Davao athletes who bagged the gold in the 24th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Thailand in December last year will fight it out for the qualifying rounds in Shenzhen, China, for the 2008 Beijing Olympics slated in August. Shiela Mae Perez, 22, earlier made the city proud by...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Education, Latest Posts, Media, Mindanao on 04 6th, 2008 | No Comments

Public Trust Media Group, publisher of Newsbreak, and the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), are inviting interested students to apply for limited slots in the Journalism Internship Program for Mindanao Students that will run from May 1 to 31, 2008. Three incoming senior or...

Posted by DAVAO TODAY in Insurgency, Latest Posts, Top Stories on 04 1st, 2008 | No Comments

By BONG SARMIENTO | Davao Today GENERAL SANTOS CITY — The New People’s Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, renewed its warning against foreign-backed Sagittarius Mines, Inc., telling the mining firm over the weekend to abandon its huge copper and gold project or brace...

Posted by BARRY OHAYLAN in Davao City, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Latest Posts, Politics, Poverty, Top Stories on 04 1st, 2008 | No Comments

Teresita Edir, a pushcart vendor in Agdao market, and her children join a recent march organized by urban poor group Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) demanding for the ouster of President Arroyo. Edir complains that her earnings could hardly buy a kilo of rice from the National Food Authority...