Politics

In Paquibato, a `Sham’ Public Hearing on Atrocities

What was billed as the City Council’s public hearing to get Paquibato residents to talk about the atrocities in the district turned into a display of official indifference and, according to witnesses and victims, arrogance.

Col. Mirar, Councilor Militar and Col. del Rosario

By Cheryll D. Fiel
davaotoday.com

Photos by Barry Ohaylan

PAQUIBATO, Davao City ? Lenny Nacua wanted officials to hear what happened to her son, and perhaps get some assurance that justice wouldbe done.

So on Wednesday, April 5, Nacua mustered the courage to face the officials onstage ? city councilors, police and military officials, Lumad leaders ? during the City Council’s public hearing here on the killings and violence in Paquibato District allegedly perpetrated by a group of bandits.
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Long Afterward, War Still Devastates Filipinos

The damage caused by World War II, according to historians and sociologists, defines the modern Filipino: poor and lost, perpetually wandering the globe for economic survival, bereft of national pride, forced to suffer, to this day, the indignities of their violation.

By Carlos H. Conde
davaotoday.com

(On the occasion of National Heroes? Day on April 9, we are running this piece, which was originally published in the International Herald Tribune on August 13, 2005.)

MAPANIQUE, Pampanga — On Nov. 23, 1944, Japanese soldiers stormed through this village, burning down houses and killing all the Filipino men they could find. They then herded dozens of women to a red mansion that had been turned into a garrison.

There, the soldiers took turns violating the Filipinas; they raped a mother and her daughter at the same time in one of the many rooms.

To this day, the women of Mapanique — many of those still alive are now in their 70s — talk about their ordeal with chilling clarity.

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Esperon Could Be Blessing or Curse to Arroyo

A major risk-consultancy company says Esperon, if he becomes armed forces chief of staff, ?could be a destabilizing factor in politics?

DAVAO CITY ? President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo may be lucky for having Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., the chief of Philippine Army, by her side. But while he may be a blessing to her, he could also be a curse, according to the U.S. company Pacific Strategies and Assessments (PSA), one of the most respected risk-analysis groups in Southeast Asia with deep sources within the Philippine military.

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Security Guards To Be Trained as Child Protectors

DAVAO CITY — Private security guards, especially those assigned to secure business establishments, will soon carry the additional task as child protectors after undergoing a training on handling children in conflict with law.

The Regional Sub-Committee for the Welfare of? Children (RSCWC) in Southern Mindanao is? bringing security agencies into its fold as child advocates and protectors, in a memorandum of agreement signed on Wednesday.

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Workforce Crisis Endangering Public Health: WHO

At least 1.3 billion people worldwide lack access to the most basic healthcare, often because there is no health worker. The shortage is global, but the burden is greatest in countries overwhelmed by poverty and disease where these health workers are needed most.

MANILA ? A serious shortage of health workers in many countries is impairing the provision of essential life-savings interventions such as childhood immunization, safe pregnancy, and access to treatment for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.? This shortage, combined with a lack of training and knowledge, is also a major obstacle for health systems as they attempt to respond effectively to chronic diseases, avian influenza and other health challenges, according to The World Health Report 2006 – Working Together for Health, published today, April 7, by the World Health Organization (WHO).

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