By CHERYLL D. FIEL
The thought that they are working for justice, and that they are not alone in the fight, gave the surviving families of the Ampatuan massacre the courage to deal with their loss.
Author Archives: CHERYLL D. FIEL
By CHERYLL D. FIEL
This coastal town in northeastern Mindanao would have been as humdrum and sleepy as any ordinary day but the red letters on the railing of a bridge along the national highway broke the monotony: “Mabuhay ang ika-41 nga anibersaryo sa Partido Komunista sa Pilipinas! (Long live the 41st anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines).”
By CHERYLL D. FIEL
Bai Ali Indayla, secretary-general of the Moro human rights group Kawagib, pointed out how slow administration officials moved against the Ampatuans, President Arroyo’s close political ally suspected of the carnage of 57 unarmed people that included lawyers and journalists, in Maguindanao.
By CHERYLL D. FIEL
Journalists were out to cover the filing of candidacy of a politician who will challenge the reigning clan of the Ampatuans—a close ally of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo—when the convoy made up of the politicians’ relatives and supporters were blocked and massacred along the way.
By CHERYLL FIEL
As voting will be automated for the first time in 2010, the public policy watchdog Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) foresees the elections as a more difficult process than an easier one.
By CHERYLL FIEL
Six months into the probe, and three public inquiries so far, the Commission on Human Rights is nowhere near proving the existence of the Davao Death Squad, let alone, establish a connection with Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.
By CHERYLL FIEL
The image of a soldier shooting a villager clambering upon the back of an open truck is still fresh in the minds of the Manobos when they left their homes in Barangay Diatagon in Lianga, Surigao del Sur in July this year.
By CHERYLL FIEL
After one month and 13 days at the evacuation camp, the Manobo evacuees finally went home to Lianga on August 30. Aboard a convoy of 40 trucks to barangay Diatagon, the lumads left the grounds of the Diocese of Tandag that served as their evacuation camp. But barely a month after coming home, the soldiers are back again, recruiting them to the Task Force Gantangan, a paramilitary group to fight the government�s war against the insurgents.
By CHERYLL FIEL
Twenty members of lumad support groups, including a Davao Today reporter, went inside Talaingod�s sitio Dulyan in barangay Palma Gil to verify reports that soldiers have been occupying some houses in the village, a violation of the International Humanitarian Law that bans soldiers from civilian areas.
DAVAO CITY – – A lumad farmer survived a slay attempt in Baganga town of Davao Oriental on June 26 this year.
I was lucky to have noticed the triggerman drew a gun as their motorcycle pulled alongside us. I heard three shots. They were so close, I could almost see the bullets whizzing by my head,” Gonzales told Davao Today. Read on.