More than 300 Moro residents here and elsewhere in the region spill into the streets and a public park here and hang green streamers and buntings in a festive mood to celebrate what they say is "historic" day for the Bangsamoro communities here, as Malacanang and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) signed the peace pact today.
A village chieftain here lambasted the military for forcing residents to sign a document that would portray them as “NPA (New People’s Army) surrenderees.”
Balong can now join his batchmates after his family and child's rights groups rescued him from state forces who presented him to the media as a “child soldier, informer and collector” for the New People’s Army.
Marbel Bishop Dinualdo D. Gutierrez told DavaoToday that "the prelates of Mindanao are hoping that President Aquino will now heed our calls to stop the Tampakan project, discerning on the protection and preservation of the environment and the life of the Lumad inhabitants in South Cotabato."
The Department of Education plans to provide a subsidy called the expanded voucher program to finance students enrolling at senior high school (Grades 11 and 12).