Human Rights

Davao journalists troop to Ombudsman to support beaten colleague

By GERMELINA A. LACORTE | Davao Today

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.

Show of Support. Colleagues demand justice for Radyo Natin Compostela Broadcaster Roel Sembrano. (davaotoday.com photo by Barry Ohaylan)


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Mother of missing youth files amparo petition

By GERMELINA A. LACORTE | Davao Today

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.

Taken. Bebilita Bustamante, mother of the missing Luisito Bustamante, and Kelly Delgado, secretary general of Karapatan Southern Mindanao, show the petition for the writ of amparo that they filed at the sala of Judge Isaac G. Robillo Jr., Regional Trial Court Branch 13 in Davao City. (davaotoday.com photo by Barry Ohaylan)


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Davao broadcaster jailed for libel is depressed, thinks of suicide


Silenced and Abandoned. Lex Adonis inside the Ma-a city jail in June. (davaotoday.com photo)

By GERMELINA A. LACORTE | Davao Today

Gladys Adonis, the wife of jailed Davao Alexander "Lex" Adonis, said her husband has been admitted to the prison hospital in early October. She said Adonis, an anchorman of Bombo Radio-Davao sentenced to four and a half years in prison early this year, had been feeling utterly "abandoned and depressed," and is thinking of ending his life.

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Read more about the article The fugitive of Talaingod
Man on the Run. Datu Guibang Apoga, shown here in an interview with Davao Today in the mountains of Talaingod in 2006, promises to keep fighting for his dispossessed people. (davaotoday.com photo)

The fugitive of Talaingod

Datu Guibang Apoga, the chieftain of the Ata-Manobo tribe in the hinterlands of Talaingod, has been in hiding for a decade now.

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Read more about the article In Mindanao, war shatters the Ramadan
Muslims in Davao City start their observation of the fasting month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, today. (Ace R. Morandante/davaotoday.com)

In Mindanao, war shatters the Ramadan

The military continued attacking Muslim communities even during the Ramadan, according to human-rights and Moro groups. "When entire communities get displaced by war, how are you going to celebrate Ramadan?" one of them asked. "Ramadan completely loses its meaning. Foremost in your mind, when you're in an evacuation center, is how to survive, where to look for food, or to keep yourself from being harassed, or get hit by a bomb."

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