Politics

Davao’s Nograles Taking Heat for Role in ‘Tyrannical’ Cha-Cha Attempt

Rep. Prospero Nograles Sneaky Boy: Nograles plays a key role in “the massacre of the Constitution.” (photo from www.nograles.net)

House majority floorleader Rep. Prospero Nograles of Davao City has been getting a lot of flak (here, here, here, and here) for his key role in the push for charter change and what has been routinely described this week as a “massacre of the Constitution” in the Philippine Congress, which Nograles and his partymates did — tyrannically, according to many — even while the country was still shell-shocked by the effects of typhoon Reming and other concerns. As the country hosts the 12th Asean Summit in Cebu, and as the people’s attention is focused on the event, Arroyo’s men in Congress have vowed that they will not stop the Cha-cha train.

Activists protesting in front of Nograles's office in Davao Activists protest in front of Nograles’s office in Davao City on Friday.

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Last Son Alive

Fernando Alia Fernando Alia at the Davao Medical Center, the last of the Alia boys. (davaotoday.com photo by Cheryll D. Fiel)

Last week, Fernando Alia was near his home when somebody plunged an ice pick twice in his back. Although he survived, he doesn?t feel a bit lucky. Three other brothers had been stabbed to death in and around the Bankerohan public market, where butchers not only kill livestock. Their mother, Clarita Alia, is at her wit?s end dealing with these tragedies. Worse, they blame her for their misfortunes. Davao Today?s Cheryll D. Fiel reports.

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‘2006 Worst Year for Human Rights in Davao Regions’

The Southern Mindanao office of the human-rights group Karapatan released today “The 2006 Human Rights Situation of Southern Mindanao.” The report detailed abuses, mainly by state security forces in the region, against civilians, activists, peasants and workers. This year, it said, “is the worst for human rights since the toppling of the Marcos fascist dictatorship in 1986.”

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