Politics

A Davao Mountaineer?s Final Adventure


Ian’s Last Climb. Ian Caasi on the peak of Mount Apo on April 5. A few hours after this photo was taken, he drowned in Lake Venado. (Photo courtesy of Alexander Caasi)

The beauty and majesty of Mount Apo, the country’s highest peak, have a way of enchanting young people like 23-year-old Alexandrous Ian Caasi. On Maundy Thursday, hours after reaching the peak, Ian went for a swim in the mountain’s freezing but beguiling lake. Minutes later, he was dead.

By Angely Pamila M. Chi
davaotoday.com

DAVAO CITY — The skies were beginning to dim over Lake Venado at past five that afternoon of Maundy Thursday. Inside their tent, MJ Lapi?a and Alexandrous Ian Caasi were sipping coffee.

(more…)

Continue ReadingA Davao Mountaineer?s Final Adventure

Comelec should not stand by as Philippines’s party-list system is manipulated, bastardized — Beltran

MANILA — Anakpawis Representative and political detainee Crispin Beltran today said that the Commission on Elections is being bureaucratic when it justifies its refusal to investigate the allegations that the Arroyo government is funding several party-lists running in the May 14 elections by saying that no one has filed any official complaint.

(more…)

Continue ReadingComelec should not stand by as Philippines’s party-list system is manipulated, bastardized — Beltran

In Philippines, Mother Buries 4th and Last Son Killed by Davao Death Squad

Taken. Clarita Alia is hysterical as her son, Fernando, is laid to rest in Davao City today. Fernando was the fourth and last son of Alia who was killed in the last five years. “I no longer have anybody with me. They took all my children,” Alia wailed during the burial. She believes that the so-called Davao Death Squad was behind the murders of her sons, as well as countless other people, many of them minors who had trouble with the law. The extrajudicial killings, which Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has tacitly approved, are seen as the city’s way of dealing with crime. Government and tourism officials have praised the city for its low crime rate, which is ironically attributed to these killings. Duterte has likewise earned kudos for his toughness on crime and for his statements warning people that they would be killed if they commit crimes in his city. (davaotoday.com photos by Barry Ohaylan)

(more…)

Continue ReadingIn Philippines, Mother Buries 4th and Last Son Killed by Davao Death Squad

Army Bombs Panabo Villages, Residents Outraged


Outraged. Manay residents Josephine Rebante (right) and Antonia Ayko (second from right) rail against the military’s bombings. (davaotoday.com photo by Barry Ohaylan)

In an effort to save face after Communist guerrillas raided the Davao Prison and Penal Farm, the military dropped more than a dozen bombs on villages in Panabo. When the smoke cleared, only a chicken and a tukmo were found dead. But the residents were furious at the army?s ?grossly wrong and irresponsible? action that put their lives in danger.

(more…)

Continue ReadingArmy Bombs Panabo Villages, Residents Outraged

Destruction of Palm Oil Plantation in Monkayo a Punishment, NPA Says

April 18, 2007

Alejandro Lanaja Command
Front 3 Operations Command
New People’s Army-Southern Mindanao

Palm Oil Destruction a Punishment for Monkayo Mayor Brillantes’ Despotism

The tree palm oil plantation in San Isidro, Monkayo destroyed by the New People’s Army last April 15, 2007 is a sabotage operation meant as a punitive action against Monkayo Mayor Manuel Brillantes. Brillantes is a despotic bureaucrat aggressively pushing for his palm oil plantation interests in the area amid fierce resistance and growing complaints from local residents and leaders. Brillantes kills, harasses and intimidates the residents employing his death squads supported by the fascists 28th Infantry Battalion of the AFP.

(more…)

Continue ReadingDestruction of Palm Oil Plantation in Monkayo a Punishment, NPA Says