Although blessed with abundant and clean water, Davao’s residents should be prepared for the possibility that their city will suffer from inadequate supply, knowing how the watersheds of the city are slowly being encroached into by plantations that use environmentally hazardous chemicals.
Clarita Gragasin, 61, traveled to the Koronadal market on May 10, 2003. She was sitting in a rickshaw tricycle when a bomb detonated about five meters from her. Shrapnel from the bomb killed her instantly. 2006 John Sifton/Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch: Since January 2000, radical armed Islamist groups in the Philippines have carried out over 40 major bombings against civilians and civilian property, mostly in the south of the country. They have killed civilians indiscriminately — Christians and Muslims, men and women, parents and children — and left behind orphans, widows, and widowers. Hundreds of other victims have suffered severe wounds, burns, and lost limbs. In all, the bombings and other attacks have caused over 1,700 casualties in the last seven years, more than the number of people killed and injured in bombing attacks during the same period in neighboring Indonesia (including the 2002 Bali bombings), and considerably more than the number of those killed and injured in bombings in Morocco, Spain, Turkey, or Britain.
Edgar Ibuyan had served as barangay chairman of a Davao City village for nearly two decades, establishing a sterling public-service record that is not backed by money, power or political pedigree. Now that he is at the City Council, will this trailblazer continue serving the people?
First District Councilor Edgar Ibuyan during the oathtaking ceremonies at the City Council recently. (davaotoday.com photo by Cheryll D. Fiel)
Activists in Davao City burn the effigy of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo during her State of the Nation Address on July 23. According to the activists, Arroyo’s promises mean nothing as they protest rampant human-rights violations and the implementation of the Human Security Act, which, they said, will worsen political repression in the Philippines. (Davao Today photos by Cheryll Fiel and Jon Mahinay) MORE ANTI-SONA PHOTOS HERE.
Below are Davao Today’s pictures taken during the protest rally against the State of the Nation Address by President Gloria…
White Rabbit candy
By TYRONE A. VELEZ | Davao Today
Health authorities, however, do not have a list of the 180 food companies in mainland China that Beijing closed down recently, after determining that products from these companies were contaminated. “There was no list provided of the closed establishments and their products, so we cannot pinpoint which particular products we are going after,” an official said.
Davao residents join a signature drive calling for the release of kidnapped Italian priest Fr. Giancarlo Bossi at the NCCC mall in Davao City. The 57-year-old missionary from Milan, Italy, was kidnapped by gunmen on June 10 in Zamboanga Sibugay province. Rome-based artist Tomas Concepcion returned to the Philippines on Thursday with his latest masterpiece meant for a unique cause: to bring together Muslims and Christians toward the common call for the release of Bossi. Along with the signature campaign is the exhibit of Concepcion’s paintings at the ground of the mall. (Photo by Keith Bacongco)
Sherad Anthony Sanchez, a young filmmaker from Davao City, has won the “First Film” award at the 18th Festival International du Documentaire de Marseille in France for his film Huling Balyan ng Buhi: O Ang Sinalirap Nga Asoy Nila. Another Filipino, Raya Martin, won a “special mention” for the film Autohystoria. Only 21, Sanchez has won other accolades for his first film.
Activists led by Bayan and its allied groups have been mounting protest actions against the Human Security Act, the Philippines’s anti-terrorism law that is set to take effect tomorrow, July 15. Critics said the law is the most repressive piece of legislation ever crafted by the Philippine congress. (Photo by Arkibong Bayan, www.arkibongbayan.org)
Following the Supreme Court decision this week junking with finality the rebellion charge against him and five other colleagues, Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran walks out of the hospital where he had been imprisoned for 16 months. Beltran’s arrest and incarceration has drawn widespread condemnation here and abroad. (Photo by Arkibong Bayan, www.arkibongbayan.org)
