Mayor Rodrigo Duterte suspected the 12-year-old Mariannet Amper could have been raped, based on the findings bared by the medico legal officer who conducted the autopsy. The mayor, who ordered the girls body exhumed five days after burial, said it was possible that rape could have driven the girl to kill herself. He also said that its also possible that someone could have killed her.
Mayor Rodrigo Duterte vowed to help the Davao broadcaster jailed for libel now that a full blown war has erupted between him and close administration ally Congressman Prospero Nograles over what people perceive as the first salvo of their fight for the 2010 elections.
Members of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) take to the streets of Davao the morning after the blast in Congress, urging vigilance among the people. They call on people to act and demand an investigation into the incident that killed three, wounded several others, including lawmakers. InPeace, the peace advocacy group, said in a statement that the bombing was a smokescreen for something more sinister. (davaotoday.com photo by Barry Ohaylan)
nPeace Mindanao November 13, 2007 STATEMENT on the Batasan Bombing By design or neglect, Batasan bombing a smokescreen for scandal-ridden…
The suicide of the 12-year-old girl has moved a pastor to paint; a childs advocacy group volunteer to write verses, and government and civil society group to press the government for more attention to childrens rights.
The night after he heard about the girls death from the television news, Pastor Jurie Jaime, of the United Christ of the Philippines (UCCP) in Tibungco, stayed up in his parsonage throughout the wee hours in the morning, crying and angrily splashing paint on his canvass.
Representative Luzviminda Ilagan survived the blast that rocked the House of Representatives shortly after the session adjourned Tuesday night. Ilagan was reportedly bleeding due to shrapnel injuries when brought to Malvar hospital. She was declared in stable condition a few hours later. Ilagan was hurt in her right thigh and legs; and part of her hair also got burned.
The youth earlier reported missing after he was held in a checkpoint of Task Force Davao in barangay Malabog surfaced when the Regional Trial Court (RTC) served the writ of amparo to militiamen on Tuesday. But Bebelita Bustamante, the mother, said she still feels uneasy because the militiamen holding his son still refused to release him.
“Roel Sembrano never took my side to [sic] the allegations that he want only broadcasted [sic] over the radio. His pronouncements on radio were all brazen lies and intrigues. People in Compostela valley and in Compostela municipality in particular are aware that Sembrano is not a broadcaster that [sic] reports objective truths, issues and events, but a media practtiioner who is under the wings, [sic] caprices and influences of some local politicians, immoral and corrupt, who are all out to destroy my refutation [sic] as a civil servant and critique [sic] of excesses of other politicians.” — Neri Barte, board member, Compostela Valley Province
The journalists trooped to the office of the Mindanao Ombudsman as Sembrano filed a criminal case of grave coercion, grave threats, physical injury, and an administrative case of grave abuse of authority against against the Compostela Valley provincial board member Neri Barte, who allegedly attacked him inside the announcer’s booth at around 6:15 a.m. of October 23.
On the night of October 27, 22-year-old Luisito Bustamante and his friends and younger sister Libby were on their way to Malabog to distribute handbills for the approaching barangay elections when they were accosted at a checkpoint by elements of the Task Force Davao. Bustamante was held and has not been found since.
