By GERMELINA LACORTE Davao Today DAVAO CITY—When he left home in Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay to work as a Bahasa interpreter for the US troops, Gregan Cardeno had big dreams for his family. “He was thinking of sending the children to school and putting up a small business at the end of his three-month...

By CJ KUIZON Davao Today DAVAO CITY— After former House Speaker Prospero Nograles lost in the last elections, barangay captains supporting him have stopped recruiting scholars for Nograles’ Oplan Kaalam program. At the University of the Philippines (UP) Mindanao campus alone, the number of Oplan...

By GERMELINA LACORTE Davao Today DAVAO CITY—Groups catering to the financing needs of the poorest of the poor admitted having a hard time bringing their services to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) because of the high risk and the high cost it entails. Jeffrey Ordonez, executive director...

By DAISY C. GONZALES, MARILOU AGUIRRE-TUBURAN & JOSE B. HERNANI Davao Today DIWALWAL, COMPOSTELA VALLEY PROVINCE — Abantero Angelito Velasco, 59, braved Diwalwal two decades ago when he worked as a miner in this contested gold-rush highland known for its killer landslides and murders. But...

By GERMELINA LACORTE Davao Today DAVAO CITY—Davao City’s first woman mayor and the youngest to have been elected to the post finally took her oath of office Monday morning, switching role with her father, the incoming vice mayor, and ushering in another era of the Duterte’s unquestioned rule in the...

By CJ KUIZON Davao Today DAVAO CITY—Pagbabago Mindanao People’s Movement for Change presented a six-point program that they hope incoming President Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III will prioritize during his first 100 days in office. Sister Diane Cabasagan, RGS, Pagbabago convenor, said...

By Dateline Philippines Posted by Davao Today MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court (SC) has granted the petition for writs of amparo and habeas data filed by the family of Gregan Cardeño, a translator for American forces in Mindanao, who was found dead last February 2 inside his room at the Joint...

By GRACE S. UDDIN Davao Today DAVAO CITY—Representatives of both the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) are hoping that the stalled peace talks between the government and the Communist rebels will resume under the new...

By CHERYLL FIEL Davao Today PANABO CITY — It is supposed to be celebration time for members of progressive partylist groups Bayan Muna, Gabriela, Anakpawis, Kabataan, and Act Teachers. After all, they still managed to win seats in Congress in the recent polls despite attempts to prevent them from...

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...

By MARILOU AGUIRRE-TUBURAN Davao Today DAVAO CITY — Members of the peasant group Patulangon Farmers Association (Patufa) cried harassment against the 39th Infantry Battalion and the 72nd Infantry Battalion of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Bernie Marciano, a Patufa member, said 15 to 30...

By GRACE S. UDDIN Davao Today DAVAO CITY— After a three-month workshop, foreign and local artists in Davao City showcase their works in an exhibit at the Matina Town Square. The exhibit entitled, “Painting from the Inner Spirit,” allows the artists to express themselves freely, according to Ega...

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...

By CHERYLL D. FIEL Davao Today DAVAO CITY – The democratic election principle says voting must be kept secret while the counting must be made open and transparent. But with the way things went in the recently-concluded May 10 elections, things happened the other way around. At the Sangguniang...

By GRACE S. UDDIN Davao Today BOSTON, DAVAO ORIENTAL— PO3 Alan Dapitanon said he was very nervous when the NPA held them at gunpoint in the checkpoint the NPA mounted in Pasian village in Monkayo, Davao del Norte. The NPA told them to drop to the ground so that nothing would happen to them. But since May...

By CHERYLL D. FIEL Davao Today DAVAO CITY – Over a week after the May 10 polls, another activist was killed by still unidentified gunmen in Panabo City. Jim Galez, a member of the regional secretariat of partylist group Bayan Muna, was driving his motorcycle on the road to Barangay Little Panay in Panabo...

By CJ KUIZON Davao Today DAVAO CITY—  “I had certain expectations (of the presence of election irregularities) but I was blown away by the level of irregularities I’ve seen,” said American civil rights lawyer Radhika Sainath after observing the conduct of the recently-concluded May 10...

By CHERYLL D. FIEL Davao Today DAVAO CITY – The proclamation of winners was stalled here on May 11, pending the arrival of results from the remaining seven polling clusters in the districts of Paquibato, Tugbok and Agdao. But as of 6 pm on May 12, while still awaiting the election results from the last...

By GRACE S. UDDIN Davao Today DAVAO CITY– A poll watcher, two soldiers and two members of paramilitary groups were killed in a May 11 ambush by members of New People’s Army in Maragusan town, the 10th Infantry Division of the Armed Forces of the Philippines said. Captain Emmanuel Garcia,...

By GRACE S. UDDIN Davao Today DAVAO CITY—A supporter of House Speaker Prospero Nograles was detained at the Sta. Ana police station for alleged vote buying on the day of the elections. Antonio Maglonzo, a barangay tanod, said they caught Efren Noval, 59, at around 2 pm, giving “poll...

By MARILOU AGUIRRE-TUBURAN Davao Today DAVAO CITY – In Buhangin area, a voter saw the name of a dead relative while others look for the name of a living family member. Denmark Del Mundo, 30, a chemical engineer, said his aunt who already passed away was still on the list of registered voters while Remegio...

By GERMELINA LACORTE Davao Today DAVAO CITY–The country’s first automated elections has left most voters feeling angry and disappointed seven hours after the opening of the polling places here. Carmen Gultiano, a voter in one of the precinct clusters at the Daniel Aguinaldo National High School,...

By JETTY AYOP-OHAYLAN AND MARIETTA BASTE-HERNANI Davao Today DAVAO CITY — Voters in Marahan and Sasa endured waiting in long queues to cast their vote. Others gave up and went home without voting. In Marahan Central Elementary School in the city’s third district, the voting pace was slow, and...

By CHERYLL D. FIEL Davao Today DAVAO CITY – It was not the machine glitches that many people were worried about but the poll clerk’s hunt for names of registered voters and other verification procedures that slowed down the voting process in the recently-concluded elections. At Cluster 208 of the...

By GERMELINA LACORTE Davao Today DAVAO CITY–Foreign observers said they’re aware that Filipinos will be braving bullets and bribes in today’s first ever automated elections but hope that their presence will deter electoral fraud. “I am here to observe, to monitor and to report what I see,” said...