“There is no dignity, in policy nor in practice, in the way our indigenous peoples are being treated. Indigenous communities are being displaced and threatened by mining concessions; they are being massacred supposedly in the name of development. There is an ethnocide going on in this country,” Gabriela Rep. Luz Ilagan said.
By COLLETTE CUIZON | Davao Today
The Philippines’s anti-terrorism law could be misused by the military, the groups said, adding that there would be constant disruptions in the lives of children because of the HSA. “Even in places where there is no actual fighting, classrooms are oftentimes transformed into evacuation centers, disrupting school classes. Children bear the trauma when their parents are illegally arrested and detained, or, in worst cases, killed.”
By ANGELA LIBRADO-TRINIDAD
We have hoodlums in robes, we have cheats at the highest echelons of the government, we have crooks in Congress, landgrabbers and killers well-entrenched in state machineries and business, and the irony is, despite the laws available to victims, to the poorest among us, these criminals appear decent and held with high regard in our society. We see the young shoplifter, the young molester or the young drug pusher and, alas, we are immediately agitated to have them removed from our sight and from the streets!
Abu Sayyaf
in Basilan:
A deadly
redux
The New People’s Army in Southern Mindanao, in a statement sent to the media on Monday, said it will release a soldier it captured during an ambush last Aug. 10 in Monkayo town, Compostela Valley province. The soldier, it said, will be freed because he had not committed “crimes against the people.”
By CHERYLL D. FIEL | Davao Today
Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s office will get the biggest chunk — 190 million — of the nearly half a billion supplemental budget, which was passed Tuesday on second reading by the City Council. Much of it (180 million) will go to his “peace and order program.” He also gets to spend an additional 10 million for doleouts to the city’s indigents. On the other hand, the City Social Services and Development Office gets 322,000 pesos.
COMMENTARY | By Amirah Ali Lidasan
Who committed the beheading and why did the perpetrators commit such act is a very controversial and sensitive issue that should have been responded to with discretion rather than warmongering. For weeks, it is as if every Muslim has to answer for it.
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has proven again how she would take extra miles to perpetuate her regime in power. The midnight railroading…
Edgar Ibuyan had served as barangay chairman of a Davao City village for nearly two decades, establishing a sterling public-service record that is not backed by money, power or political pedigree. Now that he is at the City Council, will this trailblazer continue serving the people?
First District Councilor Edgar Ibuyan during the oathtaking ceremonies at the City Council recently. (davaotoday.com photo by Cheryll D. Fiel)
Below are Davao Today’s pictures taken during the protest rally against the State of the Nation Address by President Gloria…