FIRE VICTIMS LINE UP
FIRE VICTIMS LINE UP. Thousands who had lost their houses to the April 4 fire flocked to the Mini-Forest Gym in Barangay 23-C to receive government assistance of P 10,000 each. (Ace Morandante/davaotoday.com)
FIRE VICTIMS LINE UP. Thousands who had lost their houses to the April 4 fire flocked to the Mini-Forest Gym in Barangay 23-C to receive government assistance of P 10,000 each. (Ace Morandante/davaotoday.com)
A HOUSE USED TO STAND. Residents along Boulevared had put up markers like these on the lots where they houses used to stand, anticipating that they will return after local officials announced it would rehabilitate the area following the fire that razed over 1,000 houses. (Ace Morandante/davaotoday.com)
FREE WATER. Residents who lost their houses to the fire at Quezon Boulevard last April 4 avail of free water at their community at Barangay 23-C to bathe and wash clothes. (Ace Morandante/davaotoday.com)
Last week, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization issued its report that the countries, including the Philippines, would not be able to achieve the target as 57 million children “are still failing to learn, simply because they are not in school.”
Around a week ago, when the reports of the Talaingod Manobo exodus first began trickling in, I happened to glance at a copy of a Mindanao regional daily at a local cafe. The front page proudly bannered that two battalions had been brought in from Luzon to add to counter-insurgency operations here in the Davao region. In my gut, I knew that this happy headline had something to do with the misery of my friends and many others in Talaingod.