Stranded in Davao, 33 Zambo debaters anxious to go home

“It’s frustrating how the government has handled the security, why the coasts weren’t secured and could not prevent the MNLF from entering, and how they are handling the situation right now. We don’t know what areas are safe, which roads are secured and which establishments are open,” a debater from the Ateneo de Zamboanga team said.

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Read more about the article Zamboanga siege displaces 62,000 civilians
With 44,000 people crowded at Joaquin Enriquez Sports Complex, some tents have reached the edge of the ground. (davaotoday.com photo by John Rizle L. Saligumba)

Zamboanga siege displaces 62,000 civilians

by JOHN RIZLE. L. SALIGUMBA Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman said 62,000 people have fled from barangays affected with the standoff between government troops and the Moro National Liberation…

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Leader of Agusanon Manobos killed, hacked in front of children

Benjie Planos, a Bisaya settler living among the Manobos, and other leaders of KASAKA had been receiving death threats from the Philippine Army’s 26th Infantry Battalion and the paramilitary group Bagani. the militarization, KASAKA leaders said, is linked with the entry of New Britain Palm Oil Ltd, which is eyeing KASAKA’s ancestral domain.

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Read more about the article “It can happen to any of us” says “convicted” editor
SunStar Davao editor-in-chief Stella Estremera

“It can happen to any of us” says “convicted” editor

“It can happen to any of us. Even because of a mere police story. As long as someone wants to silence you.” So says multi-awarded journalist and editor-in-chief Stella Estremera after a trial court found her and former publisher Antonio Ajero guilty of libel for publishing an alleged one-sided news article 10 years ago.

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Read more about the article Oil palm company rehires ‘unjustly’ axed 293 union workers
(photo courtesy of http://www.niccep.dti.gov.ph)

Oil palm company rehires ‘unjustly’ axed 293 union workers

The country’s largest oil palm plantation based in Agusan del Sur rehired its 293 workers who were ‘unjustly’ terminated last year after a 62-day strike, the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) reported.

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