REUNION. Two months after their abduction, New People’s Army members Catherine Cacdac (second from left) and Ruel Cabales (right) surface in Palo, Leyte, where they are reunited with their families in the provincial jail. They were captured on January 26 in Compostela Valley province by members of the 66th Infantry Battalion and the Scout Rangers.
Karapatan Eastern Visayas informed Karapatan Southern Mindanao about the multiple murder charges the two are facing in Leyte. Cacdac and Cabales recounted in their affidavits how they were transferred from Camp Panacan in Davao City to Bukidnon, Guingoog City, Digos City, Surigao City before reaching Leyte. Karapatan is still trying to trace the third missing NPA member captured with Cacdac and Cabales. Nelson Carbajosa has reportedly been kept in Digos City. (contributed photo)
READ ALONG. This read along activity wish to impart to the children the importance of reading. Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro reads a story before 73 children inside the Eastern Mindanao Command in Davao City during the Philippine Daily Inquirers read along session in Davao City. (davaotoday.com photo by Barry Ohaylan)
DWINDLING HARVEST. Farmers in Carmen, Davao del Norte these days harvest only 40 sacks of palay for every two hectares of land, a yield that could not even compensate for their backbreaking work in the farm. (davaotoday.com photo by Jonald Mahinay)
SLEEPING DINOSAUR. Bus travellers to Mati, Davao Oriental can easily miss the sight, visible only for a short while on the right side as the bus navigates a curb a few kilometers before the town of Mati. For those who are alert enough, it is a view worthy of a conversation and some snapshots. (davaotoday.com photo by Jonald Mahinay)
HOMECOMING. Fleeing villagers return to their sitios in barangay Batiano, Baganga, Davao Oriental after spending the night with friends and relatives in town. They fled their homes following the March 10 aerial bombing by the 67th Infantry Battalion in the area, after an earlier encounter with NPA rebels. (davaotoday.com photo by Jonald Mahinay)
Sayawan sa Daan 2009. A glimpse of the street dance performances during the 72nd Araw ng Dabaw celebration.More…(photos by Barry Ohaylan/ davaotoday.com)
PROBE. City Councilors probe police and military officials on the alleged human rights violations suffered by farmers in Paquibato district in Davao City. (davaotoday.com photo by Jonald Mahinay)
CHILD-FRIENDLY? Children sleeping soundly along the alley near a mall in Davao city while waiting for passersby to drop a few coins onto their plastic cups. Davao has been cited among the country’s most child friendly cities several times in the past. (davaotoday.com photo by Jonald Mahinay)
CONFRONTATION. Davao city human rights workers and members of peoples groups troop to New Bataan, Compostela Valley province to protest against militarization. Protesters blamed the military for the rampant extra-judicial killings in the area and called on soldiers to respect human rights and the International Humanitarian Law. They also asked the military to surface the three members of the New Peoples Army recently captured. (davaotoday.com photo by Jonald Mahinay)
WANTED. A poster showing the faces of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) commanders Ameril Ombra Kato and Abdullah Macapaar alias Bravo and offering prize money for their capture, is displayed in this passenger jeepney plying the Maa to downtown Davao route. Kato, who heads the MILF 105th Base Command; and Bravo, who heads the MILF 102nd Base Command, led the fighting in Maguindanao and Lanao del Norte after the failed signing of the memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain between the government and the Moro rebel group in August. (davaotoday.com photo by CJ Kuizon)