Author Archives: GERMELINA A. LACORTE

By GERMELINA LACORTE
COLUMBIO, SULTAN KUDARAT — B’laan farmer Tolyano Dalumatan had to go back to their old house in sitio Talambato in Matanao town of Davao del Sur to cut some bamboos for the walling of their new house in Columbio. “He didn�t even get to cut bamboos,� said a relative.

(Second of three parts)
First Part : A Pattern to Madness
AT LEAST three people whose names and groups were on the reported military list that Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo leaked to the media in May, were killed in the last two years. The picture of Pojas, killed on May 15 last year, appeared in one of the slides.

(first of three parts)

Killed on the feast of San Isidro, the patron saint of peasants, Celso Pojas fell just a few steps from the gate of the KMP office in Maa. (contributed photo)

First, their groups have been tagged as the legal fronts of the Communist New People’s Army. Then, top military officials make public statements suggesting they’re enemies of the state. Finally, before anyone could stop to consider, they are killed.

This pattern emerges in the extrajudicial killings of activists in the country, which have become more pronounced in Davao City and neighboring provinces of Compostela Valley as the government’s 2010 deadline to wipe out the Communist insurgency looms.

After Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo exposed the existence of a military document linking some individuals and civil society groups to the Communist movement, Davao Today finds it urgent to look into the pattern of the killings of activists in this part of the country. Read on.

Pe�era’s name was not in the reported military list earlier leaked by Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo to the media. But groups like the United Integrated Health Services Foundation Incorporated (UIHSFI), where Pe�era used to sit as Board member, and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), where he was a council member, were.

Dr. Jean Lindo, chair of the doctor’s group Rx for Peace, said the killing of Pe�era has raised the concern of their colleagues over the safety of six other physicians identified in the military Order of Battle (OB) list. They included Dr. Ruben Robillo, Dr. Jose Lacuesta, Dr. Shalom Lorezana, Dr. Eugene Nalian, Dr. Rey Lasaka. The Philippine Medical Association (PMA) plans to call a meeting with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to clarify what�s on the document. Read on.

Alan Codizar�s family noticed the smell after two months inside their house in Catalunan Grande, a village about five kilometers from downtown Davao. �We thought it was the dog,� recalled Codizar�s wife Lourdes, �So, we moved the doghouse somewhere else but still the smell lingered.�

Later, they opened the sewage at the back of the house and noticed that the pipes were leaking.

The house was one of the low cost housing units of the South Villa Heights 2 awarded to them in 1994 under the Unified Home Lending Program (UHLP). But they only assumed it two years ago because the area did not have an access road and it was very far from their place of work.

When they took over, the one-room 90-sq. meter house looked like an empty matchbox. They put up jalousies on the windows, installed the doors and the tiles on the floors and later, the sewage pipes. �There were cracks even at the ceiling,� Lourdes said, �We can�t even nail something on the wall without feeling that the house would crumble.� Read on

Commission on Human Rights Chair Leila De Lima in an inquiry on extrajudicial killings in Davao city. (davaotoday.com photo by Jonald Mahinay)

DAVAO CITY—The Commission on Human Rights is thinking of inviting New People�s Army (NPA) leader Kumander Parago in a public inquiry to help shed light on the abduction and killing of his daughter Rebelyn Pitao.
But will Parago appear in a public hearing?
�We considered calling him (Parago),� Leila De Lima, CHR chair, told reporters at the end of the hearing on the Rebelyn case on the third day of the inquiry on extrajudicial killings. �We were already trying to make that a reality, kaya lang ang kausap ko, nag-back-out sa (but the one I talked to had backed out at the) last minute,� said De Lima. She vowed to take stronger actions against the three personnel of the military intelligence group (MIG) who failed to show up in the inquiry. Read on.

Various designs of the dagmay(davaotoday.com photo)

By Germelina A. Lacorte
Davao Today
Among the Mandayas, the dagmay has been worn as women�s skirts but it is also used as blankets and to wrap the dead. Each design, however, carries with it a certain story. Most of the traditional designs, which can easily date back to over a hundred years, have come to them in dreams.

By GERMELINA A. LACORTE | Davao Today

The early warning system is part of the contingency plan initiated by Dole to deal with the projected increase in unemployment if companies will have a hard time dealing with the crisis. It will allow the government to draw up possible employment and livelihood options to workers affected, said Lawyer Jalilo dela Torre, Dole regional director.

By GERMELINA A. LACORTE | Davao Today

According to the report from the Mindanao Economic Development Council (Medco), the island�s biggest importation last year consisted of US$138.28 million rice from Vietnam, making up 12 per cent of Mindanao�s total imports.

By GERMELINA A. LACORTE | Davao Today DAVAO CITY�Amidst reports of civilian casualties in the recent fighting in Mindanao, Moro…