Datu Guibang Apoga, the chieftain of the Ata-Manobo tribe in the hinterlands of Talaingod, has been in hiding for a decade now.
The workers and their families held a silent picket in front of the Panabo City Council to solicit support. They were retrenched after DITFI-Dole Stanfilco arbitrarily announced ?closure? on Oct. 8. But no help came from any of the councilors, prompting the workers to go back to the picket line at the entrance of the container yard. There, soldiers confronted them.
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."
The Patriotic Officers Union ? Southeastern Mindanao section, a clandestine organization of progressive bloc within the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), is denouncing the statements of Major Medel Aguilar of the 10th Infantry Division blaming the protesting workers of Davao Integrated Transport Facilities, Inc. (DITFI) for the company's "closure".
?How much talent fee is DOLE-Stanfilco paying the Armed Forces of the Philippines to become its foul mouthpiece against the legitimate demands of retrenched workers of DITFI?? This was the question of Kilusang Mayo Uno-Southern Mindanao Region Chair Romualdo Basilio following the accusations of Major Medel Aguilar of the 5th Civil Relations Group that the labor center was behind the ?closure? of Davao International Transport Facilities, Inc (DITFI).