More troops from Luzon arrive in Davao... By CJ KUIZON Davao Today DAVAO CITY—Philippine Army soldiers landed on the shores of Hijo beach in Madaum, Tagum City on the first Friday of June, ferried by Navy ships straight from Luzon. These soldiers from the 84th Infantry Battalion (IB) are the second batch under the 10th Infantry Division (ID) to...

Teachers question the random manual audi... By CJ KUIZON Davao Today DAVAO CITY—The day after the elections, teachers belonging to the random manual audit team (RMAT) assigned to check the ballot count of selected precincts in Davao City were in an uproar. They complained that they had been made to wait since the Saturday before the elections for...

Three of five religious groups deny endo... By CJ KUIZON Davao Today DAVAO CITY—Three of the five religious groups earlier reported to have been backing the mayoralty bid of House Speaker Prospero Nograles in Davao City denied making such an endorsement. “It is against pastoral ethics,” said Bishop Constante Claro, head of the Southeastern...

SPECIAL REPORT: Justice for the Children... By CJ KUIZON Davao Today DAVAO CITY – In April 2007, the remote town of New Bataan in the province of Compostela Valley–some three to four hours from downtown Davao City–hogged the headlines when a nine year old girl was killed and soldiers identified her as a New Peoples Army (NPA) child...

Pagbabago: Palparan battalion engages in... By CJ KUIZON Davao Today DAVAO CITY—Members of the 69th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army have been found campaigning against progressive partylist groups inside one of the colleges in the city. Sr. Diane Cabasagan, Pagbabago convenor and member of the Sisters’ Association in Mindanao...

Ondoy opens new market for Davao vegetab... By CJ KUIZON Davao Today DAVAO CITY (davaotoday.com) � The onset of typhoons in Metro Manila, which choked up major roads from surrounding provinces, had temporarily opened up a market for Davao�s vegetables. Shortly after the tropical storm Ondoy (international name Ketsana) and super typhoon Pepeng...

Gold in Lumad Literature... By CJ KUIZON Davao Today In one of their stories of long ago, the Mansaka, an indigenous tribe from the provinces of Davao del Norte and Compostela Valley, once possessed a golden guitar, which they played when they sang their songs of longing, aspirations and victory. But as time went by, they realized...

EU calls for the resumption of talks... By CJ KUIZON Davao Today DAVAO CITY — A European Union (EU) envoy urged both the government and armed insurgent groups to look for more options to get the stalled peace negotiations back on track. “It (peace negotiations) didn’t work, so far; so, they need to do more,” said Johan...

Celebrities want a better President... By CJ Kuizon Davao City DAVAO CITY � Even celebrities recently in town for the Western Union-sponsored concert here wanted the “right” President elected in 2010. “Please, let’s choose the right President,” pop singer Christian Bautista suddenly blurted out in the middle of the...

Amid global crisis, Davao condos sell li... By CJ KUIZON Davao Today A miniature of the Birmingham building, Camella Northpoint’s second building within the condominium complex. (davaotoday.com photo) DAVAO CITY — Even before actual construction could begin, Camella Homes has already sold 90 percent of all its units in the first building...

Nograles� scholars pushing Karlo to run?... By CJ KUIZON Davao Today DAVAO CITY — Scholars of House Speaker Prospero Nograles, the Davao City first district Representative, are worried. When the congressman steps down after his last term in 2010, they fear that funds for the scholarship program “Oplan Kaalam” will also end. So,...

Land Bank borrowings to finance Davao ci... By CJ Kuizon Davao Today DAVAO CITY � The city government is borrowing money from the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) to finance its �stimulus� package supposedly to cushion the impact of the global economic crisis on the local economy. Lawyer Wendell Avisado, city administrator, said the 2.8 billion...

DOH to train more birth attendants... By CJ KUIZON Davao Today Davao City — The health department hopes to decrease by 75 percent the number of mothers who die during childbirth by increasing its pool of skilled birth attendants in the region. The Department of Health (DOH) has secured national funding for the Maternal Newborn, Child...

Cha Cha means more wage cuts and lay-off... By CJ KUIZON Davao Today DAVAO CITY � The Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) in Southern Mindanao is wary of the proposal to amend the Constitution to open up the country�s resources to foreign companies, saying such proposal will only result to unfair working conditions for workers. Arman Blas�, KMU-Southern Mindanao...

Former logging community in Compostela w... By CJ KUIZON | Davao Today Sitio Valma of Barangay Ngan in the municipality of Compostela used to be a thriving logging community in the 1970s up to the 1990s. When the company’s timber logging agreement (TLA) expired, Consuelo Valderrama, its owner, chose not to renew the contract, signalling the...

Davao farmers do not welcome CARP extens... By CJ KUIZON | Davao Today Davao City — Farmers groups here are dismayed over the extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) until December 31. In an interview, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas – southern Mindanao vice chairperson Pedro Arnado called for the scrapping of CARP...

For Davao folk, Havaianas are not just f... By CJ KUIZON | Davao Today DAVAO CITY — A favorite anecdote of those in the business of selling Havaianas was the story of how a fisherman fell in love with these Brazilian flip-flops when it officially arrived in Mindanao, wearing his first pair while hauling fish at the Cagayan de Oro public...

Lanikai Resort: Tagum’s heaven by ... By CJ KUIZON | Davao Today Nestled along the coastline of Barangay Madaum, a mere 15 minutes away from the center of Tagum City, is Lanikai Resort. Lanikai is Hawaiian for ‘heaven by the sea’. Indeed, many think that the place is just this side of the garden of Eden, the biblical home of Adam...