Media practitioners marked the World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) with a forum last Monday.
Thousands gathered in Rizal Park, this city, Sunday to join a Mindanao-wide activity to call on Congress to pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law.
“Since the start of power blackouts here, we have less customers because they prefer to go to internet cafés in malls where there are power generators,” lamented businesswoman Rhodora Khadil.
“WORLD PRESS Freedom Day has for many years been an occasion for mourning rather than celebration in the Philippines, where, since 1986, 140 journalists and media workers have been killed for their work, among them the 32 killed on November 23, 2009 in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao province. This year’s commemoration is no different,” the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) said in a statement Friday.
The Environmental department has declared a sharp drop in lumber yards, or wood-processing plants, operating in the Davao Region, as it also announced it has planted 16.5 million seedlings in denuded areas.
The state weather bureau PAG-ASA warned that the dry spell episode will likely to be felt in June, bringing drier conditions and decreased rainfall in the country.
Union members who participated for the first time in a Labor Day demonstration call on other workers to “form your unions to protect your rights.”
Moro leaders said their communities raised concern about possible Palace maneuver to foist the recently signed Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) to the international business community rather than address pestering issues like human rights abuses in Moro areas.
As the sun rose from the dark side of the earth on this first Friday of May, the streak of rays also send dawn-breaking and blazing new hope for the Lumads, already set to go home to their place.
Expect longer brownouts that would last from four to six hours in a day.
