A couple walk arm in arm after attending the first "Simbang Gabi" (night mass) on Friday, Dec. 16 at the San Pedro Cathedral in Davao City. (Paulo C. Rizal/davaotoday.com)
Hundreds of Catholic devotees flock to San Pedro Cathedral in Davao City for the first mass of Simbang Gabi (night mass) on Friday, Dec. 16. For nine days, Filipinos hear mass at dawn as part of the Christmas tradition. (Paulo C. Rizal/davaotoday.com)
Lawyer Leilani Espejo, legal counsel for the Lapanday Foods Corporation says they have not yet received the cease and desist order issued by the Department of Agrarian Reform over the land dispute inside the reclaimed area by a group of agrarian reform beneficiaries in Madaum, Tagum City as of Friday morning, Dec. 16, 2016. Lapanday is asserting their management rights over the land because of the compromise agreement entered by the Hijo Employees Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Cooperative-1, from which the protesting farmers bolted out. (Robby Joy Salveron/davaotoday.com)
On Thursday, Dec. 15 Antonio Flores, chairperson of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas take part on the two-day National Fact Finding and Solidarity Mission to probe the shooting incident in Madaum, Tagum City as conflict between members of the Madaum Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Association and Lapanday Foods Corporation escalate because of the disputed land. (Earl O. Condeza/davaotoday.com)
Lapanday Foods Corporation Chief Finance Officer Manolito Dagatan says the total damage of the estimated 15 hectares of banana crops cut down by protesting farmers inside the plantation in Barangay Madaum, Tagum City costs $120,000. Dagatan says the 150-hectare occupied by members of the Madaum Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Association Inc. comprise three percent of the total volume of production of Lapanday. (Maricar Emata/davaotoday.com)