DAVAO CITY – For showing management skills in fiscal administration, dispute resolution and other local government functions, barangays here were accorded honors by the prestigious civic organization, Junior Chamber International (JCI)-Davao, which announced that they would continue the search for the outstanding barangays after finding inspiration from the excellent work of the rest of those areas which participated..
Barangay Matina Crossing, one of the populated but strategically-located barangays in a southern intersection of the city, bagged the top honors for their outstanding work in several categories, including the top awards for dispute resolution and cleanliness and beautification.
Barangays Calinan Poblacion, about 30 kilometers north of downtown Davao, got the award for its fiscal management; Barangay Wilfredo Aquino, in eastern downtown area, and named after the barangay captain who was killed in the 1980's, was honored for its innovation in peace and order; and Barangay Bucana, for its projects in community development.
Steve Arquiza, executive director of the JCI said that the top-performing barangays showed remarkable efforts in the various categories, and a scan on the scrapbooks that all paraticipating barangay submitted to the JCI indicated big leaps in management of the local government offices.
Barangay Captain Pedrito Angco of Calinan Poblacion, for instance, said that the barangay government “never exceeded in expenditure than what is allotted to us”. The barangay received P2 million in annual allocation.
Arquiza said that many participating barangays also tried to stay within the budget limit to avoid getting themselves into unwanted loans. He said that none of the barangays showed innovation though, in finding sources of funds for emergency expenses, which incidentally, were not also reflected in their declarations.
The scrapbooks on the fiscal management of the barangays were submitted to the Commission on Audit, which the JCI tapped in the search for outstanding barangays.
In the resolution of disputes, Barangay Captain Joel Santes of Matina Crossing, said that an average of only 10 percent to 15 percent “eventually get elevated to the courts in the 600 cases that were lodged before its Katarungang Pambarangay.
The law has mandated all cases to pass through the barangay justice system for mediation and reconciliation. The dispensation of barangay justice has been acknowledged to be the main contributor to the declogging of court cases.
Many cases were about physical injuries and oral defamation, and civil cases, Santes said.
Nominated barangays in the various categories received P10,000. Those which were nominated for the semi finals received P20,000. Barangay Matina Crossing, which bagged the top honors, received another P20,000.
EJ Lim, project manager, said that they would continue their annual search project and encourage the sectors to send their suggestion on improving the conduct of the search. The group has wanted to “highlight the importance of leadership excellence in the barangay level, encourage cooperation and pro-active participation by community members in addressing barangay issues and to recognize the various accomplishments in the barangays”.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Govt not giving up on balancing the budget, sets eyes on 2013
DAVAO CITY – Malacanang has resurrected its ambitious target to balance the budget, originally set to 2010 if not for the global financial crisis that needed capital infusion into the economy, and the Department of Finance said it was setting its eyes on 2013, and getting at par with the developed economies in Southeast Asia by 2016.
“But it would also depend on the superiors of the next administration,” Finance Underscretary Gil Beltran, in a briefing with news reporters on December 17 at the Marco Polo Hotel here.
“We are looking at 2013 to balance the budget,” Beltran said, saying that at prevailing performance of the economic indicators would indicate that by 2012, “we would be growing at five to six percent”.
He said that the external debt situation and the poverty ratio that declined slightly, for instance, would not affect the roll onto a balance budget by 2013, saying that the current economic performance would carry much of the needed boost toward the objective and that many of the economic reform and development requirements would be addressed by financing of the Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC).
Beltran said that the MCC would finance about $500 million of the development projects of the country. The announcement came despite the country's failure to pass the anti-corruption test of the MCC. The MCC measures the policy performance of 93 developing countries that are candidates for grant assistance from the US government’s Millennium Challenge Account (MCA). The Philippines passed only five of the 17 indicators that the MCC examines.
The MCC is a US government corporation designed to work with developing countries, based on the principle that aid is most effective when it reinforces sound political, economic and social policies that promote poverty reduction through economic growth.
In addressing poverty, Beltran said that this would be largely addressed by the big amount allocated to microfinancing, which stood at P6 billion, of which only half was availed. “We still have P3 billion more for this financing.”
A primer released by the government's Investor Relations Office (IRO), showed that the country's economy “continues its growth story as the government's Economic Resiliency Plan (ERP) paired with economic, fiscal and financial reforms continue to deliver positive results”.
“The Philippines is among the few economies in the Asian region that escaped recession even at the height of the global financial crisis,” the primer said, which stressed on the economy's success in posting “uninterrupted growth” for the succeeding 35 quarters since 2001.
The gross domestic product has continued posting positive growth of 0.8 percent in the third quarter thi syear, from 4.6 percent in the same quarter last year. Growth benefitted from the positive performance from finance, private and government services, and the trade sub-sector on the supply side. On the expenditure side, the IRO said that the growth was contributed by government consumption and public construction.
The gross national product grew by 3.5 percent in the third quarter, propped by the increase by 26 percent in the net factor income from abroad.
Foreign remittances by overseas Filipinos reached $12.8 billion as of the end of September, with an increase of 8.6 percent annually.
Foreign direct investment also recorded a net inflow of $1.3 billion in the first eight months, despite the global recession. The number this year represented 35 percent increase compared to the figure last year of only $977 million.
Inflation was also kept low at 1.6 percent on year-on-year basis by end of the October this year. It was 0.7 percent in September, with an increase noted in the aftermath of the devastating typhoons in the third quarter.
Yet, gross international reserve already stood at $43.2 billion, enough to sustain eight months of imports of goods and payments of services and income.
Beltran said that debt payments was also slashed by P10 billion due to smaller interest payments. It stood at P340.8 billion for this year.
“We would expect it to be getting smaller until 2016 when we would hope to be at par already with our developed neighbors in Southeast Asia,” he said.
“But it would also depend on the superiors of the next administration,” Finance Underscretary Gil Beltran, in a briefing with news reporters on December 17 at the Marco Polo Hotel here.
“We are looking at 2013 to balance the budget,” Beltran said, saying that at prevailing performance of the economic indicators would indicate that by 2012, “we would be growing at five to six percent”.
He said that the external debt situation and the poverty ratio that declined slightly, for instance, would not affect the roll onto a balance budget by 2013, saying that the current economic performance would carry much of the needed boost toward the objective and that many of the economic reform and development requirements would be addressed by financing of the Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC).
Beltran said that the MCC would finance about $500 million of the development projects of the country. The announcement came despite the country's failure to pass the anti-corruption test of the MCC. The MCC measures the policy performance of 93 developing countries that are candidates for grant assistance from the US government’s Millennium Challenge Account (MCA). The Philippines passed only five of the 17 indicators that the MCC examines.
The MCC is a US government corporation designed to work with developing countries, based on the principle that aid is most effective when it reinforces sound political, economic and social policies that promote poverty reduction through economic growth.
In addressing poverty, Beltran said that this would be largely addressed by the big amount allocated to microfinancing, which stood at P6 billion, of which only half was availed. “We still have P3 billion more for this financing.”
A primer released by the government's Investor Relations Office (IRO), showed that the country's economy “continues its growth story as the government's Economic Resiliency Plan (ERP) paired with economic, fiscal and financial reforms continue to deliver positive results”.
“The Philippines is among the few economies in the Asian region that escaped recession even at the height of the global financial crisis,” the primer said, which stressed on the economy's success in posting “uninterrupted growth” for the succeeding 35 quarters since 2001.
The gross domestic product has continued posting positive growth of 0.8 percent in the third quarter thi syear, from 4.6 percent in the same quarter last year. Growth benefitted from the positive performance from finance, private and government services, and the trade sub-sector on the supply side. On the expenditure side, the IRO said that the growth was contributed by government consumption and public construction.
The gross national product grew by 3.5 percent in the third quarter, propped by the increase by 26 percent in the net factor income from abroad.
Foreign remittances by overseas Filipinos reached $12.8 billion as of the end of September, with an increase of 8.6 percent annually.
Foreign direct investment also recorded a net inflow of $1.3 billion in the first eight months, despite the global recession. The number this year represented 35 percent increase compared to the figure last year of only $977 million.
Inflation was also kept low at 1.6 percent on year-on-year basis by end of the October this year. It was 0.7 percent in September, with an increase noted in the aftermath of the devastating typhoons in the third quarter.
Yet, gross international reserve already stood at $43.2 billion, enough to sustain eight months of imports of goods and payments of services and income.
Beltran said that debt payments was also slashed by P10 billion due to smaller interest payments. It stood at P340.8 billion for this year.
“We would expect it to be getting smaller until 2016 when we would hope to be at par already with our developed neighbors in Southeast Asia,” he said.
SDAs decline, lending up – BSP
BSP to banks: Relax on stringent borrowing requirements
DAVAO CITY – An executive of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said that money placed on its special deposit accounts (SDA) facility has declined on recent months while money allocated by the banks to lending has inversely climbed up.
Rosabel B. Guerrero, acting deputy director of the BSP's department of economic statistics, did not give figures however. But she said that this new trend was due to the revisions the BSP made on the availment of the facility following its displeasure over the propensity of the banks to park their money at the high-yielding SDA facility than to lend.
“There has been a decline in the SDA and at the same time we are seeing a growth, albeit, small, in the lending by the banks,” she told an economic briefing here on December 17 at the Marco Polo Hotel.
“I am appealing again to the banks to please relax on their stringent requirements now because many of the borrowers have already passed the requirements,” she said.
Finance Underscretary Gil Beltran said conduit banks and outlets of their microfinancing have reported that they have lent P700 million so far to seven million borrowers. He suggested that borrowers who seek less stringent banking requirements should go to the other outlets such as cooperatives.
“We are seeing a robust increase in microlending,” said Beltran, who also guested in the economic briefing.
Throughout most of last year and this year, the BSP has expressed misgivings that the banks preferred to deposit their excess liquidity under the high-yielding SDA facility than to lend under what the banks described as a risky investment.
The BSP has ascribed the robust performance of the banking sector this year to the profitability of their money under the SDA and not derived from the yields on the borrowings to households and businesses.
DAVAO CITY – An executive of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said that money placed on its special deposit accounts (SDA) facility has declined on recent months while money allocated by the banks to lending has inversely climbed up.
Rosabel B. Guerrero, acting deputy director of the BSP's department of economic statistics, did not give figures however. But she said that this new trend was due to the revisions the BSP made on the availment of the facility following its displeasure over the propensity of the banks to park their money at the high-yielding SDA facility than to lend.
“There has been a decline in the SDA and at the same time we are seeing a growth, albeit, small, in the lending by the banks,” she told an economic briefing here on December 17 at the Marco Polo Hotel.
“I am appealing again to the banks to please relax on their stringent requirements now because many of the borrowers have already passed the requirements,” she said.
Finance Underscretary Gil Beltran said conduit banks and outlets of their microfinancing have reported that they have lent P700 million so far to seven million borrowers. He suggested that borrowers who seek less stringent banking requirements should go to the other outlets such as cooperatives.
“We are seeing a robust increase in microlending,” said Beltran, who also guested in the economic briefing.
Throughout most of last year and this year, the BSP has expressed misgivings that the banks preferred to deposit their excess liquidity under the high-yielding SDA facility than to lend under what the banks described as a risky investment.
The BSP has ascribed the robust performance of the banking sector this year to the profitability of their money under the SDA and not derived from the yields on the borrowings to households and businesses.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Ambivalent reactions greet lifting of Martial Law
DAVAO CITY – From concern and anxiety to surprised reaction to feeling to relief, various Mindanao organizations expressed ambivalent reactions to the lifting of Martial Law on night of December 12.
Many members of the civil society, many actively engaged in the peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, said the short-lived Martial Law should not have been declared at all “with little achievements that could have been done even without declaring it”.
“They [Arroyo administration] achieved a lot in declaring Martial Law: they managed to dignify the Ampatuans with rebellion,” said Mary Ann Arnado, chairperson of the Mindanao People’s Caucus, an active participant in the peace process which established the Bantay Ceasefire.
“That’s one question that only God can answer,” said Abita Samudan, a housewife.
Lawyer Ramon Edison Batacan, who was a lawyer for one of the slain lawyers in the November 23 massacre of 57 persons in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, said that he was amenable to the delaration of Martial “if only to put back law and order in Maguindanao”.
“Yes, I am not opposed to it as long as it is necessary,” he said in a texted survey conducted by BusinessMirror.
But critics against the suspicious 12-0 win of a limping administration senatorial slate in the 2007 elections in Maguindanao, has this to say: “Nalinis na siguro nila lahat ebidensya na ma link si GMA [Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo] lalo na sa tikasay nung election [They have probably cleansed any evidence that might linked GMA to the cheating in the last election]”, said Oscar Casaysay, a city government consultant in cultural and theater affairs, who planned to run in next year’s election but backed off.
Senator Kiko Pangilinan, in a statement shortly before the lifting of Martial Law, said that it was doubtful if the administration could declare a wider military rule saying that “it was meant to save GMA’s own skin, and no one else’s”.
The Armed Forces’ Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) assured that “the lifting of Martial Law will not affect our operation in Maguindanao as we have gained the necessary momentum since its declaration on December 4”.
“The arrests, searches, and seizures that we have made will contribute to building an air tight case against the masterminds of the November 23 massacre and that is an essential accomplishment during the short lived Martial Law,” said Maj. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer, Eastmincom commander.
He said his command, given the task to implement and supervise Martial Law, has prevented “the uprising of some armed groups following the arrests of their leaders”.
“We shall, however, continue with our military and police operations against the remaining suspects and strengthen even more our checkpoints to ensure that the people are insulated against hostile acts of the private armed groups that we intend to disarm and dismantle,” he said.
He did not mention the Ampatuan nor did he name any particular group or political figures believed to be maintaining private armies.
Many members of the civil society, many actively engaged in the peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, said the short-lived Martial Law should not have been declared at all “with little achievements that could have been done even without declaring it”.
“They [Arroyo administration] achieved a lot in declaring Martial Law: they managed to dignify the Ampatuans with rebellion,” said Mary Ann Arnado, chairperson of the Mindanao People’s Caucus, an active participant in the peace process which established the Bantay Ceasefire.
“That’s one question that only God can answer,” said Abita Samudan, a housewife.
Lawyer Ramon Edison Batacan, who was a lawyer for one of the slain lawyers in the November 23 massacre of 57 persons in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, said that he was amenable to the delaration of Martial “if only to put back law and order in Maguindanao”.
“Yes, I am not opposed to it as long as it is necessary,” he said in a texted survey conducted by BusinessMirror.
But critics against the suspicious 12-0 win of a limping administration senatorial slate in the 2007 elections in Maguindanao, has this to say: “Nalinis na siguro nila lahat ebidensya na ma link si GMA [Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo] lalo na sa tikasay nung election [They have probably cleansed any evidence that might linked GMA to the cheating in the last election]”, said Oscar Casaysay, a city government consultant in cultural and theater affairs, who planned to run in next year’s election but backed off.
Senator Kiko Pangilinan, in a statement shortly before the lifting of Martial Law, said that it was doubtful if the administration could declare a wider military rule saying that “it was meant to save GMA’s own skin, and no one else’s”.
The Armed Forces’ Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) assured that “the lifting of Martial Law will not affect our operation in Maguindanao as we have gained the necessary momentum since its declaration on December 4”.
“The arrests, searches, and seizures that we have made will contribute to building an air tight case against the masterminds of the November 23 massacre and that is an essential accomplishment during the short lived Martial Law,” said Maj. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer, Eastmincom commander.
He said his command, given the task to implement and supervise Martial Law, has prevented “the uprising of some armed groups following the arrests of their leaders”.
“We shall, however, continue with our military and police operations against the remaining suspects and strengthen even more our checkpoints to ensure that the people are insulated against hostile acts of the private armed groups that we intend to disarm and dismantle,” he said.
He did not mention the Ampatuan nor did he name any particular group or political figures believed to be maintaining private armies.
Arms cache found anew in two more sites in Andal Ampatuan cement drier factory
Arroyo govt laying grounds for whitewash with rebellion charges - lawyers
DAVAO CITY – Operatives found again arms cache in two sites inside the cement drier factory of Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., in the capital town of Shariff Aguak, after several finds in different places the past week.
Maj. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer, commander of the Armed Forces' Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) and Director Felizardo Serapio of the Western Mindanao's Directorate for Integrated Police Operations (Dipo) were there at the area to oversee the extraction of the arms cache in six suspected sites within the compound.
Maj. Randolph Cabangbang, Eastmincom spokesman, said that Army and police operatives have marked six sites in the cement factory and have seized the arms cache from two sites.
The first site was yielded two caliber .30 machine gun, six cal. .50 barrel guns, 200 rounds for cal. 30 machine gun, 230 rounds for cal. 60, 250 rounds cal 30, 50 rounds cal. 50 linked, cal. 45 pistol, boots, bandoliers, a Canon 350D camera, and gun parts.
The second site was an arms cache also dumped with garbage and contained one cal. 50 machine gun, one cal. 30 machine gun, assorted ammunition in wooden boxes, assorted uniforms of Civilian Armed Auxiliary and National Police, and a dismantled truck believed to be an armor vehicle.
Cabangbang said operatives have yet to inventory the cache in four other sites inside the compound.
Meanwhile, about 1,500 ralliers, including journalists and lawyers, joined the national indignation on December 10 over the turn of the investigation over the Ampatuan massacre in Maguindanao last November 23, warning that the filing of rebellion charges indicated that the “Arroyo government was laying the grounds for a whitewash”.
Lawyers have warned that the surprising filing of rebellion charges against the suspects in the massacre “are indeed calculated and preemptive plans by the Arroyo administration for a cover-up to also free the regime, including several of its generals, of any culpability in the rise of ruthless warlords, like the Ampatuans of Maguindanao”.
“Specifically, it will not be surprising that in the coming days, the Ampatuan camp will exploit the government's deceitful scheme by seeking the absorption of the multiple murder charges in the rebellion charge,” said the Union of Peoples' Lawyers in Mindanao.
The UPLM said that “considering the gravely flawed factual basis cited to justify Proclamation 1959, the difficulty of proving the crime of rebellion, then, is almost certain. And with it follows the eventual acquittal of the accused, particularly the suspected masterminds, who are all members of the Ampatuan clan.”
Speakers from various groups which joined the march and rally to commemorate the International Human Rights Day yesterday said that “while the government was always bent on pushing for common criminal charges than rebellion against insurgents to ensure that they get jailed for life, here the administration has filed rebellion charges that subsume all crimes like murder under it”.
DAVAO CITY – Operatives found again arms cache in two sites inside the cement drier factory of Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., in the capital town of Shariff Aguak, after several finds in different places the past week.
Maj. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer, commander of the Armed Forces' Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) and Director Felizardo Serapio of the Western Mindanao's Directorate for Integrated Police Operations (Dipo) were there at the area to oversee the extraction of the arms cache in six suspected sites within the compound.
Maj. Randolph Cabangbang, Eastmincom spokesman, said that Army and police operatives have marked six sites in the cement factory and have seized the arms cache from two sites.
The first site was yielded two caliber .30 machine gun, six cal. .50 barrel guns, 200 rounds for cal. 30 machine gun, 230 rounds for cal. 60, 250 rounds cal 30, 50 rounds cal. 50 linked, cal. 45 pistol, boots, bandoliers, a Canon 350D camera, and gun parts.
The second site was an arms cache also dumped with garbage and contained one cal. 50 machine gun, one cal. 30 machine gun, assorted ammunition in wooden boxes, assorted uniforms of Civilian Armed Auxiliary and National Police, and a dismantled truck believed to be an armor vehicle.
Cabangbang said operatives have yet to inventory the cache in four other sites inside the compound.
Meanwhile, about 1,500 ralliers, including journalists and lawyers, joined the national indignation on December 10 over the turn of the investigation over the Ampatuan massacre in Maguindanao last November 23, warning that the filing of rebellion charges indicated that the “Arroyo government was laying the grounds for a whitewash”.
Lawyers have warned that the surprising filing of rebellion charges against the suspects in the massacre “are indeed calculated and preemptive plans by the Arroyo administration for a cover-up to also free the regime, including several of its generals, of any culpability in the rise of ruthless warlords, like the Ampatuans of Maguindanao”.
“Specifically, it will not be surprising that in the coming days, the Ampatuan camp will exploit the government's deceitful scheme by seeking the absorption of the multiple murder charges in the rebellion charge,” said the Union of Peoples' Lawyers in Mindanao.
The UPLM said that “considering the gravely flawed factual basis cited to justify Proclamation 1959, the difficulty of proving the crime of rebellion, then, is almost certain. And with it follows the eventual acquittal of the accused, particularly the suspected masterminds, who are all members of the Ampatuan clan.”
Speakers from various groups which joined the march and rally to commemorate the International Human Rights Day yesterday said that “while the government was always bent on pushing for common criminal charges than rebellion against insurgents to ensure that they get jailed for life, here the administration has filed rebellion charges that subsume all crimes like murder under it”.
Bad publicity on Mindanao casts dark shadow over tourism
Business to meet on December 10 to assess effect of Maguindanao
DAVAO CITY – Hotels and airline companies posted negative figures immediately after the November 23 massacre of civilians in Maguindanao despite the distance of the area to this most progressive city in the South and having one of the best security blanket anywhere else in the country.
With reported losses also expected to hit the other sectors, the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (DCCCII) conducted its own survey of members on the extent of the effect of the incident on their business.
Simeon P. Marfori II, DCCCII president, said the two sectors absorbed the immedaite impact of the incident in remote Ampatuan town in Maguindanao, which was placed under Martial Law on December 4 to contain what the government claimed was a threat of rebellion to be mounted by the followers of the powerful Ampatuan clan.
“Hotels lost 200 room nights since the news broke out,” he told reporters here December 9, saying that the figure was estimated from the cancellation of bookings.
Airlines also reported a drop in booking of flights going into the city and nearby provinces although Marfori said that the figures were still unavailable from the other businesses in the city.
Maguindanao is more than 250 kilometers to west of here and part of the Central Mindanao region, where clans with armed members or links to the guerrilla groups have traditionally exerted powerful influence on several areas. These powerful clans manifest their political and armed influence especially during the elections or in occasional instances of rido, the traditional practice of exacting vengeance.
On November 23, armed men now being linked to the Ampatuans stopped a convoy of vehicles and killed the members of the rival Mangudadatu clan who intended to register the candidacies of their members at the Comelec. They were accompanied by two women lawyers and 30 members of the local media. Some of the 57 victims happened to pass by the highway linking Maguindanao with Sultan Kudarat province, the bailiwick of the Mangudadatu.
Marfori would not disclose the result of the survey yet, but said that it would be presented to the business owners or their representatives during a meeting he called for on Thursday.
The survey was conducted last week and questions revolved around the inquiry on whether or not their businesses were affected and how, what was the status of their business before and after the November 23 massacre and to give statistics.
The meeting would try to assess the general impact of business, at least in Davao City, and Marfori said the meeting may forward some recommendations.
He said that the DCCCII would adapt a wait-and-see attitude on the Palace's declaration of Martial Law in Maguindanao saying that “we would allow the measure to develop onto something that the government has claimed to achieve”.
“We would see the declaration of Martial Law within the purview of the powers vested on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as the Chief Executive”.
“And why not allow the Chief Executive to do it? She is answerable anyway,” he added. Marfori said that “if the President would always be stymied by every [contrary] opinion, she can't do or accomplish anything”.
“Let her have the rope to hang herself, if the move she is implementing would create bigger mistakes,” he said.
DAVAO CITY – Hotels and airline companies posted negative figures immediately after the November 23 massacre of civilians in Maguindanao despite the distance of the area to this most progressive city in the South and having one of the best security blanket anywhere else in the country.
With reported losses also expected to hit the other sectors, the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (DCCCII) conducted its own survey of members on the extent of the effect of the incident on their business.
Simeon P. Marfori II, DCCCII president, said the two sectors absorbed the immedaite impact of the incident in remote Ampatuan town in Maguindanao, which was placed under Martial Law on December 4 to contain what the government claimed was a threat of rebellion to be mounted by the followers of the powerful Ampatuan clan.
“Hotels lost 200 room nights since the news broke out,” he told reporters here December 9, saying that the figure was estimated from the cancellation of bookings.
Airlines also reported a drop in booking of flights going into the city and nearby provinces although Marfori said that the figures were still unavailable from the other businesses in the city.
Maguindanao is more than 250 kilometers to west of here and part of the Central Mindanao region, where clans with armed members or links to the guerrilla groups have traditionally exerted powerful influence on several areas. These powerful clans manifest their political and armed influence especially during the elections or in occasional instances of rido, the traditional practice of exacting vengeance.
On November 23, armed men now being linked to the Ampatuans stopped a convoy of vehicles and killed the members of the rival Mangudadatu clan who intended to register the candidacies of their members at the Comelec. They were accompanied by two women lawyers and 30 members of the local media. Some of the 57 victims happened to pass by the highway linking Maguindanao with Sultan Kudarat province, the bailiwick of the Mangudadatu.
Marfori would not disclose the result of the survey yet, but said that it would be presented to the business owners or their representatives during a meeting he called for on Thursday.
The survey was conducted last week and questions revolved around the inquiry on whether or not their businesses were affected and how, what was the status of their business before and after the November 23 massacre and to give statistics.
The meeting would try to assess the general impact of business, at least in Davao City, and Marfori said the meeting may forward some recommendations.
He said that the DCCCII would adapt a wait-and-see attitude on the Palace's declaration of Martial Law in Maguindanao saying that “we would allow the measure to develop onto something that the government has claimed to achieve”.
“We would see the declaration of Martial Law within the purview of the powers vested on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as the Chief Executive”.
“And why not allow the Chief Executive to do it? She is answerable anyway,” he added. Marfori said that “if the President would always be stymied by every [contrary] opinion, she can't do or accomplish anything”.
“Let her have the rope to hang herself, if the move she is implementing would create bigger mistakes,” he said.
Ampatuan Sr. recuperating at Army brigade camp in Davao City
DAVAO CITY – The Ampatuan patriarch, Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., has been moved secretly on Sunday night, December 6, to his new refuge at the headquarters here of the Army's 10th Infantry Division.
Maj. Gen. Carlos Holganza, 10th ID commander confirmed to BusinessMirror that the elder Ampatuan has been moved to their headquarters in Camp Panacan, about 18 kilometers northeast of downtown Davao City, after he was treated of his hypertension at the Davao Doctors' Hospital here since early Saturday morning.
“We are just using the camp as temporary facility for his custody, [but] he is under the custody of the CIDG [Criminal Investigation and Detection Group],” Holganza said in his text message on December 7.
News photographers have been keeping a vigil outside the hospital on Sunday night to get snapshots of the Ampatuan patriarch when he would be moved to the military camp. But photographers said they were tricked into believing that he was the man wrapped in blanket and hedged in by a phalanx of soldiers from the military's anti-terror unit, Task Force Davao.
“We were made to believe that he was. Ampatuan may have been sneaked outside at the other exits of the hospital simultaneous with that decoy,” Edgar Arro, photographer for the Davao newspaper, Mindanao Times, told BusinessMirror.
Ampatuan was airlifted at dawn Saturday to the hospital from his residence in Shariff Aguak, the capital town of Maguindanao, which was declared under Martial Law on Sunday. At least four arms cache have been unearthed from shallow pits or found stacked in a warehouse and the residence of Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. of Datu Unsay municipality. The younger Ampatuan was held as the principal suspect in the massacre.
Ampatuan Sr, along with his other sons and nephews, has been indicted in the murder of 57 persons on November 23 in Ampatuan town. The victims were members of the political rival, Mangudadatu clan, mostly women, and accompanied by two women lawyers and 30 journalists. Another journalists was believed to have been included in the massacre but who was not officially included in the list of the victims, the HongKong-based Asian Human Rights Council said in its posting last week.
Maj. Randolph Cabangbang, spokesman of the Armed Forces' Eastern Mindanao Command, said that the elder Ampatuan was in good condition at the camp.
On Sunday, government operatives raided the unfinished palatial home of the Ampatuans in Juna Subdivision and reporters and photographers covering the raid reported in their respective papers of the purported “lavish” lifestyle of the owner.
In the Mindanao Daily Mirror, the banner story of the paper was about the Ampatuan home.
“The main house—if such a structure can still be called one—is testimony to the high-rolling lifestyle the Ampatuans. It puts to shame some of the major hotels here in the city. It was a page cut out from Architectural Digest’s top ten French villas.”
Maj. Gen. Carlos Holganza, 10th ID commander confirmed to BusinessMirror that the elder Ampatuan has been moved to their headquarters in Camp Panacan, about 18 kilometers northeast of downtown Davao City, after he was treated of his hypertension at the Davao Doctors' Hospital here since early Saturday morning.
“We are just using the camp as temporary facility for his custody, [but] he is under the custody of the CIDG [Criminal Investigation and Detection Group],” Holganza said in his text message on December 7.
News photographers have been keeping a vigil outside the hospital on Sunday night to get snapshots of the Ampatuan patriarch when he would be moved to the military camp. But photographers said they were tricked into believing that he was the man wrapped in blanket and hedged in by a phalanx of soldiers from the military's anti-terror unit, Task Force Davao.
“We were made to believe that he was. Ampatuan may have been sneaked outside at the other exits of the hospital simultaneous with that decoy,” Edgar Arro, photographer for the Davao newspaper, Mindanao Times, told BusinessMirror.
Ampatuan was airlifted at dawn Saturday to the hospital from his residence in Shariff Aguak, the capital town of Maguindanao, which was declared under Martial Law on Sunday. At least four arms cache have been unearthed from shallow pits or found stacked in a warehouse and the residence of Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. of Datu Unsay municipality. The younger Ampatuan was held as the principal suspect in the massacre.
Ampatuan Sr, along with his other sons and nephews, has been indicted in the murder of 57 persons on November 23 in Ampatuan town. The victims were members of the political rival, Mangudadatu clan, mostly women, and accompanied by two women lawyers and 30 journalists. Another journalists was believed to have been included in the massacre but who was not officially included in the list of the victims, the HongKong-based Asian Human Rights Council said in its posting last week.
Maj. Randolph Cabangbang, spokesman of the Armed Forces' Eastern Mindanao Command, said that the elder Ampatuan was in good condition at the camp.
On Sunday, government operatives raided the unfinished palatial home of the Ampatuans in Juna Subdivision and reporters and photographers covering the raid reported in their respective papers of the purported “lavish” lifestyle of the owner.
In the Mindanao Daily Mirror, the banner story of the paper was about the Ampatuan home.
“The main house—if such a structure can still be called one—is testimony to the high-rolling lifestyle the Ampatuans. It puts to shame some of the major hotels here in the city. It was a page cut out from Architectural Digest’s top ten French villas.”
Sunday, December 6, 2009
More firearms seized in Maguindanao
DAVAO CITY – More high-caliber firearms were seized in Maguindanao, this time, the fourth arms cache was found in Datu Hoffer on Sunday morning, December 6, the Armed Forces’ Eastern Mindanao Command based here said.
Maj. Randolph Cabangbang, Eastmincom spokesman, said that the assorted type of weapons, including foreign-made rifles, and boxes of ammunition, were seized from various sources in Barangay Puting Bato, Datu Hoffer town at 10:50 am Sunday.
Government forces include Army and police operatives.
The firearms were 12 M16, 12 M14, 3 Garand, 2 FAL, 1 M203 rifles, 2 M60, 1 caliber .50 GP, and 1 caliber .30 light machine guns, 2 carbine, 1 AK, 1 Galil and 1Ultimax rifles.
There were 39 other assorted firearms, 23 ammunition for 40mm mortar, 5 boxes of link ammunition and 12 boxes of ball for cal. 7.62 gun and 4 boxes of link ammunition for a cal. 50 machine gun.
Cabangbang said the seized weapons were brought to the Maguindanao provincial police office for disposition.
Maj. Randolph Cabangbang, Eastmincom spokesman, said that the assorted type of weapons, including foreign-made rifles, and boxes of ammunition, were seized from various sources in Barangay Puting Bato, Datu Hoffer town at 10:50 am Sunday.
Government forces include Army and police operatives.
The firearms were 12 M16, 12 M14, 3 Garand, 2 FAL, 1 M203 rifles, 2 M60, 1 caliber .50 GP, and 1 caliber .30 light machine guns, 2 carbine, 1 AK, 1 Galil and 1Ultimax rifles.
There were 39 other assorted firearms, 23 ammunition for 40mm mortar, 5 boxes of link ammunition and 12 boxes of ball for cal. 7.62 gun and 4 boxes of link ammunition for a cal. 50 machine gun.
Cabangbang said the seized weapons were brought to the Maguindanao provincial police office for disposition.
Eastmincom assures Maguindanao of proper Martial Law enforcement
3rd arms cache found at warehouse of Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr.
DAVAO CITY – The commander of the Armed Forces’ Eastern Mindanao Command assured residents of Maguindanao of proper administration of the enforcement of military rule, as government forces found a third arms cache on Saturday stacked at the warehouse owned by the father of the detained mayor accused in the massacre of civilians last month.
Lt. Gen. Raymundo B. Ferrer, commander of the Eastmincom said on December 6 that that “the military administering the rule of Martial Law in Maguindanao assures everyone that there will be no indiscriminate searches and arrests and only those having to do with the massacre will be arrested and their house searched”.
“I advise you to stay put and be calm or go about your daily chores,” he said.
He said that should our soldiers commit abuses, they will be relieved, investigated and punished. I will not tolerate abuses.”
The assurance came after Leila de Lima, chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights urged Filipinos to pressure Congress against granting Malacanang the authority to continue enforcing Martial Law in Maguindanao, saying that this second move to declare a province under Martial Law was ominous”.
“Baka kakalat na iyan. Never again to Martial Law,” she assured the 2nd Mindanao Human Rights Summit held here Saturday.
On Saturday, December 5, meantime, Army and police agents searched a warehouse of Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr. located near the provincial jail in Shariff Kabungsuan after being tipped of possible firearms being hidden there.
At 3:15 pm, operatives found one military humvee, one improvised armoured vehicle and several luxury vehicles. Shortly after, they found at the back of the warehouse three Elisco M16 rifles and three bandoliers. At 4:45 pm, they also discovered ammunitions placed in one of the trucks parked inside. The vehicle yielded a total of 330 boxes of ammunition for a caliber 5.56 firearm with a marking of Arms Corp. of the Philippines (Armscor)
The stack of weapons and vehicles was the third arms cache discovered within three days. On Thursday, an arms cache as found in two shallow pits covered by piles of gravel at Barrio Tres, Poblacion, Sharif Aguak, the capital town.
Found were powerful weapons such as two anti tank bazookas, four 60mm mortar, two 81mm mortar, one 90 recoilless rifle, or bazooka and other foreign-made weapons. One of the weapons, ammunitions still in several boxes for M16 rifles have Armscor markings on them.
The third set of arms were found at the residence of the detailed Mayor Andal Amputan Jr., and have markings of the DND, initials of the Department of National Defense.
DAVAO CITY – The commander of the Armed Forces’ Eastern Mindanao Command assured residents of Maguindanao of proper administration of the enforcement of military rule, as government forces found a third arms cache on Saturday stacked at the warehouse owned by the father of the detained mayor accused in the massacre of civilians last month.
Lt. Gen. Raymundo B. Ferrer, commander of the Eastmincom said on December 6 that that “the military administering the rule of Martial Law in Maguindanao assures everyone that there will be no indiscriminate searches and arrests and only those having to do with the massacre will be arrested and their house searched”.
“I advise you to stay put and be calm or go about your daily chores,” he said.
He said that should our soldiers commit abuses, they will be relieved, investigated and punished. I will not tolerate abuses.”
The assurance came after Leila de Lima, chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights urged Filipinos to pressure Congress against granting Malacanang the authority to continue enforcing Martial Law in Maguindanao, saying that this second move to declare a province under Martial Law was ominous”.
“Baka kakalat na iyan. Never again to Martial Law,” she assured the 2nd Mindanao Human Rights Summit held here Saturday.
On Saturday, December 5, meantime, Army and police agents searched a warehouse of Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr. located near the provincial jail in Shariff Kabungsuan after being tipped of possible firearms being hidden there.
At 3:15 pm, operatives found one military humvee, one improvised armoured vehicle and several luxury vehicles. Shortly after, they found at the back of the warehouse three Elisco M16 rifles and three bandoliers. At 4:45 pm, they also discovered ammunitions placed in one of the trucks parked inside. The vehicle yielded a total of 330 boxes of ammunition for a caliber 5.56 firearm with a marking of Arms Corp. of the Philippines (Armscor)
The stack of weapons and vehicles was the third arms cache discovered within three days. On Thursday, an arms cache as found in two shallow pits covered by piles of gravel at Barrio Tres, Poblacion, Sharif Aguak, the capital town.
Found were powerful weapons such as two anti tank bazookas, four 60mm mortar, two 81mm mortar, one 90 recoilless rifle, or bazooka and other foreign-made weapons. One of the weapons, ammunitions still in several boxes for M16 rifles have Armscor markings on them.
The third set of arms were found at the residence of the detailed Mayor Andal Amputan Jr., and have markings of the DND, initials of the Department of National Defense.
Never again to Martial Law – Delima
DAVAO CITY – Never again to Martial Law.
This was the strongly worded statement of Leila De Lima, chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights, who also urged for a nationwide pressure on Congress to nullify the declaration of Martial Law, warning that the declaration was “ominous”.
“Baka kakalat na iyan (It might spread),” De Lima told the forum with human rights advocates gathered here December 5 on the 2nd Mindanao Human Rights Summit. “There are already two provinces under Martial Law, the other one in Sulu”.
De Lima said the CHR would like Malacanang to explain “its basis for the declaration” saying that if what it claimed to say that Martial Law was declared due to the presence of armed men and that there was a clamor to serve justice to the victims, “then why not declare the entire country under Martial Law because there are a lot of armed groups in the country, and a lot of people who are seeking justice”.
She said that Maguindanao was already teeming with military personnel that their number would be adequate enough to contain any threat to deliver justice. “Bakit, kailangan pa bang i-declare ang Martial Law para ipaharap at ipanagot ang mga perpetrators? Kailangan ba talaga ang Martial Law para arestuhin ang mga murderers na iyan?”.
“Never again to Martial Law. Iyan ang dapat sagot natin,” she said.
She said that Martial Law was declared due to reports that armed men were massing up near the massacre site and guerrilla forces were also seen converging. “I think this was a preemptive move. But I don't thinkt that these are justified reasons to declare Martial Law.”
She also urged a nationwide pressure on Congress to nullify the declaration, and “to ensure that the members of Congress would really scrutinize it”. She said that Congress was expected to convene within 48 hours to discuss and act on the declaration.
“This is a serious matter,” she said.
“We would be expecting again further threats and harassments of civilians. Ang palaging lugi, ang kawawa ang mga civilians.”
She said that the CHR would issue a statement anytime yesterday that would say that “we are not convince of Malacanang's reasons”.
“We want a rule of law, and the full force of the law. Not Martial Law,” she said.
De Lima later joined human rights advocates in a photo session displaying bond-sized papers with the inscriptions “No to Martial Law” and “Lift Martial Law in Maguindanao”. De Lima carried the letter “M” in the word “No to Martial Law”, alongside Karapatan chairperson Marie Hilao Enriquez and Philippine Independent Church Bishop Felixberto Calang.
Meanwhile, De Lima said that the team of CHR investigators, Department of Justice prosecutors and the two Peruvian forensic experts were stranded in Cotabato City awaiting the official statement of the military clearing the way for their exhumation of the grave sites for more suspected bodies.
“With Martial Law, we are now getting conflicting advices from the military. Some said that we should not go because of the armed men. The others say that it's now safe,” she said.
She confirmed reports that government agencies and even private companies in Maguindanao have refused to lend their back hoe equipment to exhume the grave sites in Ampatuan town. “The only agency that eventually allowed us to borrow their back hose was the provincial government of Sultan Kudarat,” she said.
“But we can not proceed because we are awaiting the clearance from the military,” she said.
This was the strongly worded statement of Leila De Lima, chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights, who also urged for a nationwide pressure on Congress to nullify the declaration of Martial Law, warning that the declaration was “ominous”.
“Baka kakalat na iyan (It might spread),” De Lima told the forum with human rights advocates gathered here December 5 on the 2nd Mindanao Human Rights Summit. “There are already two provinces under Martial Law, the other one in Sulu”.
De Lima said the CHR would like Malacanang to explain “its basis for the declaration” saying that if what it claimed to say that Martial Law was declared due to the presence of armed men and that there was a clamor to serve justice to the victims, “then why not declare the entire country under Martial Law because there are a lot of armed groups in the country, and a lot of people who are seeking justice”.
She said that Maguindanao was already teeming with military personnel that their number would be adequate enough to contain any threat to deliver justice. “Bakit, kailangan pa bang i-declare ang Martial Law para ipaharap at ipanagot ang mga perpetrators? Kailangan ba talaga ang Martial Law para arestuhin ang mga murderers na iyan?”.
“Never again to Martial Law. Iyan ang dapat sagot natin,” she said.
She said that Martial Law was declared due to reports that armed men were massing up near the massacre site and guerrilla forces were also seen converging. “I think this was a preemptive move. But I don't thinkt that these are justified reasons to declare Martial Law.”
She also urged a nationwide pressure on Congress to nullify the declaration, and “to ensure that the members of Congress would really scrutinize it”. She said that Congress was expected to convene within 48 hours to discuss and act on the declaration.
“This is a serious matter,” she said.
“We would be expecting again further threats and harassments of civilians. Ang palaging lugi, ang kawawa ang mga civilians.”
She said that the CHR would issue a statement anytime yesterday that would say that “we are not convince of Malacanang's reasons”.
“We want a rule of law, and the full force of the law. Not Martial Law,” she said.
De Lima later joined human rights advocates in a photo session displaying bond-sized papers with the inscriptions “No to Martial Law” and “Lift Martial Law in Maguindanao”. De Lima carried the letter “M” in the word “No to Martial Law”, alongside Karapatan chairperson Marie Hilao Enriquez and Philippine Independent Church Bishop Felixberto Calang.
Meanwhile, De Lima said that the team of CHR investigators, Department of Justice prosecutors and the two Peruvian forensic experts were stranded in Cotabato City awaiting the official statement of the military clearing the way for their exhumation of the grave sites for more suspected bodies.
“With Martial Law, we are now getting conflicting advices from the military. Some said that we should not go because of the armed men. The others say that it's now safe,” she said.
She confirmed reports that government agencies and even private companies in Maguindanao have refused to lend their back hoe equipment to exhume the grave sites in Ampatuan town. “The only agency that eventually allowed us to borrow their back hose was the provincial government of Sultan Kudarat,” she said.
“But we can not proceed because we are awaiting the clearance from the military,” she said.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Arms cache found in covered pits in Maguindanao
DAVAO CITY – Government soldiers and the National Police securng the Maguindanao province in Central Mindanao discovered a cache of powerful weapons arsenal in the capital town of Shariff Aguak in Maguidanao, whose one town was the scene of the gory massacres of unarmed civilians.
A statement released December 4 by the Army's 73rd Infantry Battalion based in Sarangani Province, said that the arms cache was discovered buried at the open lot near Poblacion Shariff Aguak on the 11th day after the Maguindanao massacre of not less than 57 persons.
2LT Angela Friga R Cinco, Public Affairs officer of the 73rd IB, said that initial report “states that high-powered firearms and thousands of ammunitions suspected to be among those being kept by the Ampatuans were discovered and retrieved in two shallow pits covered by piles of gravel at Barrio Tres, Poblacion, Sharif Aguak, Maguindanao late afternoon of Dec 3”.
Found were two anti tank bazookas, four 60mm mortar, two 81mm mortar, one 90 recoilless rifle, or bazooka, three M60 machine gun, one 57rr (baby bazooka), one Barret rifle, two BAR, one cal. 50 HMG, one 9mm pistol, seven cal. 45 pistol, one Ultimax, one Bushmaster, one HK 11 and hundreds of thousands of ammunitions for M16 still in boxes marked Arms Corporation of the Philippines with date of manufacture stamped October 2008”.
The search for the arms cache was led by Col Leo Cresente Ferrer, commander of the Army's 601st Brigade, and together with Lt. Col. Edgardo De Leon, commander of the 73rd IB of the 10th Infantry Division and intelligence agents.
“The items from the discovered arms cache prove the proliferation of loose firearms and ammunitions in Maguindanao,” Lt. Cinco said. She added that military and PNP troops were still scouring the area for other hideaways of arms cache.
A statement released December 4 by the Army's 73rd Infantry Battalion based in Sarangani Province, said that the arms cache was discovered buried at the open lot near Poblacion Shariff Aguak on the 11th day after the Maguindanao massacre of not less than 57 persons.
2LT Angela Friga R Cinco, Public Affairs officer of the 73rd IB, said that initial report “states that high-powered firearms and thousands of ammunitions suspected to be among those being kept by the Ampatuans were discovered and retrieved in two shallow pits covered by piles of gravel at Barrio Tres, Poblacion, Sharif Aguak, Maguindanao late afternoon of Dec 3”.
Found were two anti tank bazookas, four 60mm mortar, two 81mm mortar, one 90 recoilless rifle, or bazooka, three M60 machine gun, one 57rr (baby bazooka), one Barret rifle, two BAR, one cal. 50 HMG, one 9mm pistol, seven cal. 45 pistol, one Ultimax, one Bushmaster, one HK 11 and hundreds of thousands of ammunitions for M16 still in boxes marked Arms Corporation of the Philippines with date of manufacture stamped October 2008”.
The search for the arms cache was led by Col Leo Cresente Ferrer, commander of the Army's 601st Brigade, and together with Lt. Col. Edgardo De Leon, commander of the 73rd IB of the 10th Infantry Division and intelligence agents.
“The items from the discovered arms cache prove the proliferation of loose firearms and ammunitions in Maguindanao,” Lt. Cinco said. She added that military and PNP troops were still scouring the area for other hideaways of arms cache.
How will ARMM execs discharge duties, info chief asks
DAVAO CITY – Public officials in the Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao (ARMM) have not discharged of their routinary duties as
government officials since the time government placed two provinces
and one city in Central Mindanao under a state of emergency, posting
military security in the houses of the Ampatuans, whose members hold
key positions in the local government and one of them detained as the
prime suspect in killing of not less than 57 persons.
Samson Gogo, executive director of the ARMM’s Bureau of Public
Information, told BusinessMirror on December 3 that the
military has disallowed ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan from leaving his
residence in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao since that week in late
November that the Army placed this province, along with Sultan Kudarat
and Cotabato City in a state of emergency.
“The governor has been restricted to move around and has just stayed
in his residence since then, and this is our dilemma on how to
discharge our functions as officials of the ARMM,” he said, when
contacted through his mobile phone from the Ampatuan residence.
He said that that the problem was compounded by the restriction
imposed also on other ARMM officials from visiting the governor in his
residence. “The governor can not talk with them, the officials can not
confer on the governor on how to discharge their duties,” he said.
Gogo declined to say if the governor has received any subpoena from
the special panel of prosecutors formed by the Department of Justice,
which issued a resolution on November 27 to issue a subpoena against
the other Ampatuans.
Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. of the town of Datu Unsay, has been detained
in the national office of the National Bureau of Investigation to face
several counts of murder charges as the prime suspect in the November
23 killing of members of political rival Mangudadatu clan, mostly
women, two lawyers and 31 journalists.
On November 27, the subpoena would be issued to the mayor's
father, Datu Andal Ampatuan, Sr., the clan’s patriarch and the
incumbent Maguindanao governor, the mayor’s brothers Datu Zaldy, and
Sajid Islam, the ARMM vice governor; the mayor’s first cousins Nords
and Akmad; his brother in law and second cousin Akmad “Tato” Ampatuan,
Sr., and Tato's sons Saudi Jr. and Bahnarin.
The Davao City-based online news agency, Mindanews, in its November 30
dispatch datelined Cotabato City, said that the respondents would be
asked “to submit their respective counter-affidavits and controverting
evidence”.
“That’s for the lawyers of the governor [Zaldy] to say because it’s a
legal matter,” he said. He also declined to comment on the health
situation of the ARMM governor beyond saying that the latter appeared
hale and healthy.
He cut short his conversation with BusinessMirror saying he would not
comment anymore. He confirmed that he was in the Ampatuan residence
too, and has been also restricted. He would not say if the other ARMM
officials were placed on similar terms of restriction.
He said he could not understand “why we are restricted”.
The MindaNews dispatch also said that similar restriction was imposed
on the Ampatuan patriarch.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has declared a state of emergency in
the two provinces and Cotabato City only a few days after the killings
to avoid the tension from worsening into a clan vendetta killing,
locally called rido. The Ampatuans were known to reign over
Maguindanao and the Mangudadatus, the neighboring province of Sultan
Kudarat.
Mindanao (ARMM) have not discharged of their routinary duties as
government officials since the time government placed two provinces
and one city in Central Mindanao under a state of emergency, posting
military security in the houses of the Ampatuans, whose members hold
key positions in the local government and one of them detained as the
prime suspect in killing of not less than 57 persons.
Samson Gogo, executive director of the ARMM’s Bureau of Public
Information, told BusinessMirror on December 3 that the
military has disallowed ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan from leaving his
residence in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao since that week in late
November that the Army placed this province, along with Sultan Kudarat
and Cotabato City in a state of emergency.
“The governor has been restricted to move around and has just stayed
in his residence since then, and this is our dilemma on how to
discharge our functions as officials of the ARMM,” he said, when
contacted through his mobile phone from the Ampatuan residence.
He said that that the problem was compounded by the restriction
imposed also on other ARMM officials from visiting the governor in his
residence. “The governor can not talk with them, the officials can not
confer on the governor on how to discharge their duties,” he said.
Gogo declined to say if the governor has received any subpoena from
the special panel of prosecutors formed by the Department of Justice,
which issued a resolution on November 27 to issue a subpoena against
the other Ampatuans.
Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. of the town of Datu Unsay, has been detained
in the national office of the National Bureau of Investigation to face
several counts of murder charges as the prime suspect in the November
23 killing of members of political rival Mangudadatu clan, mostly
women, two lawyers and 31 journalists.
On November 27, the subpoena would be issued to the mayor's
father, Datu Andal Ampatuan, Sr., the clan’s patriarch and the
incumbent Maguindanao governor, the mayor’s brothers Datu Zaldy, and
Sajid Islam, the ARMM vice governor; the mayor’s first cousins Nords
and Akmad; his brother in law and second cousin Akmad “Tato” Ampatuan,
Sr., and Tato's sons Saudi Jr. and Bahnarin.
The Davao City-based online news agency, Mindanews, in its November 30
dispatch datelined Cotabato City, said that the respondents would be
asked “to submit their respective counter-affidavits and controverting
evidence”.
“That’s for the lawyers of the governor [Zaldy] to say because it’s a
legal matter,” he said. He also declined to comment on the health
situation of the ARMM governor beyond saying that the latter appeared
hale and healthy.
He cut short his conversation with BusinessMirror saying he would not
comment anymore. He confirmed that he was in the Ampatuan residence
too, and has been also restricted. He would not say if the other ARMM
officials were placed on similar terms of restriction.
He said he could not understand “why we are restricted”.
The MindaNews dispatch also said that similar restriction was imposed
on the Ampatuan patriarch.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has declared a state of emergency in
the two provinces and Cotabato City only a few days after the killings
to avoid the tension from worsening into a clan vendetta killing,
locally called rido. The Ampatuans were known to reign over
Maguindanao and the Mangudadatus, the neighboring province of Sultan
Kudarat.
More groups all on disarmament of government militia
This summary is not available. Please
click here to view the post.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Early rigodon, personality-based candidacies noted
DAVAO CITY – Police officer Cesar Mancao is gunning for a congressional seat in Compostela Valley, and in nearby Davao del Norte, former Miss Universe, Margarita Moran-Floirendo gave up the gubernatorial plans to give way to the incumbent and uncle of her husband.
Here, Speaker Prospero Nograles officially filed his mayoralty candidacy in tandem with former Mayor Benjamin de Guzman, incidentally the then vice mayor of last termer, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.
But Nograles and Duterte, whose bitter political bickering became a public flavour immediately after the 2007 elections, would have no chance to square it off in next year’s Presidential and local elections. Duterte slid down to the vice mayoral post to square it off with De Guzman, who lost to Duterte in the mayoral contest in the 2001 elections.
The rigodon is noted in many places, with last term politicians also fielding their children and spouses in apparent effort to cling on to the sweet political pie.
Floirendo’s sacrifice on her political plan in favour of Gov. Rodolfo del Rosario defused the tension between the Floirendos and the Del Rosarios, whose bitter showdown in the 2007 elections led to a break in their joint business relations covering real estate, plantation crop exports, transportation and consultancy.
The two families were interlinked through marriage, and the former Miss Universe found herself in the powerful Floirendo family when she married the scion. But she proved more than an international beauty icon; she figured prominently in tourism, philantrophy and environmentatl crusade and showed her fine mettle at handling and managing organizations.
In conceding to the incumbent governor, Moran-Floirendo did not shut down her political dream entirely, stressing that in her prepared speech read over the weekend.
Mancao, on the other hand, went straight with filing his Congressional candidacy for the province’s first district, banking on the benefit of the national spotlight accorded him in the controversial Dacer-Corbito murder case that was dragging the name of former President Joseph Estrada and Senator Panfilo Lacson.
Estrada is running for the same post that he was forced to abandon at the strength of a national outrage over corruption charges, including the murder case that Mancao was extradited from the US to be the government’s state witness. Lacson himself cooled down on what many in the political circles suspected was his perceived Presidential plans next year.
The bitter political rift between the Dutertes and the Nograleses would be Davao City’s major and interesting political showdown with Speaker Nograles to square it off with the mayor’s daughter, Vice Mayor Sara Duterte, who was frequently allowed to handle the affairs of the mayor’s office in the many times that the older Duterte filed leaves of absences for either politically obvious reason to train and groom her for the post, and medical treatment of his aching back and gall bladder stone operation.
Nograles’s son, Atty. Karlo, who ran but failed for the partylist Kalahi in the 2007 elections, is currently lodged for the first district congressional post, to slug it out with the consistent top vote-earner, Councilor Mabel Acosta. Duterte’s name is squarely embedded in Acosta’s candidacy, a move that many Duterte followers hoped would carry her through the campaign.
Training and grooming family members for posts vacated by political figures have also been typically Philippine political tradition. Former Compostela Valley Gov. Jose Caballero has already a daughter in the Provincial Board, Maricar Apsay, and who would try to snatch the gubernatorial position.
In 2007, Sec. Silvestre Bello III has already a son in the Davao City Council, and Councilor Leonardo Avila III has sent his son to a City Council bid, also banking on an environmental platform that his father has consistently carried the advocacy through his nine-year stint. Fellow Councilor Peter Laviña has okayed the Council bid of his wife, Evelyn, who has figured in business management affairs in the city’s business chamber.
Elsewhere the same political circus were already showing as the filing of candidacy closed on December 1.
- 30 -
Here, Speaker Prospero Nograles officially filed his mayoralty candidacy in tandem with former Mayor Benjamin de Guzman, incidentally the then vice mayor of last termer, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.
But Nograles and Duterte, whose bitter political bickering became a public flavour immediately after the 2007 elections, would have no chance to square it off in next year’s Presidential and local elections. Duterte slid down to the vice mayoral post to square it off with De Guzman, who lost to Duterte in the mayoral contest in the 2001 elections.
The rigodon is noted in many places, with last term politicians also fielding their children and spouses in apparent effort to cling on to the sweet political pie.
Floirendo’s sacrifice on her political plan in favour of Gov. Rodolfo del Rosario defused the tension between the Floirendos and the Del Rosarios, whose bitter showdown in the 2007 elections led to a break in their joint business relations covering real estate, plantation crop exports, transportation and consultancy.
The two families were interlinked through marriage, and the former Miss Universe found herself in the powerful Floirendo family when she married the scion. But she proved more than an international beauty icon; she figured prominently in tourism, philantrophy and environmentatl crusade and showed her fine mettle at handling and managing organizations.
In conceding to the incumbent governor, Moran-Floirendo did not shut down her political dream entirely, stressing that in her prepared speech read over the weekend.
Mancao, on the other hand, went straight with filing his Congressional candidacy for the province’s first district, banking on the benefit of the national spotlight accorded him in the controversial Dacer-Corbito murder case that was dragging the name of former President Joseph Estrada and Senator Panfilo Lacson.
Estrada is running for the same post that he was forced to abandon at the strength of a national outrage over corruption charges, including the murder case that Mancao was extradited from the US to be the government’s state witness. Lacson himself cooled down on what many in the political circles suspected was his perceived Presidential plans next year.
The bitter political rift between the Dutertes and the Nograleses would be Davao City’s major and interesting political showdown with Speaker Nograles to square it off with the mayor’s daughter, Vice Mayor Sara Duterte, who was frequently allowed to handle the affairs of the mayor’s office in the many times that the older Duterte filed leaves of absences for either politically obvious reason to train and groom her for the post, and medical treatment of his aching back and gall bladder stone operation.
Nograles’s son, Atty. Karlo, who ran but failed for the partylist Kalahi in the 2007 elections, is currently lodged for the first district congressional post, to slug it out with the consistent top vote-earner, Councilor Mabel Acosta. Duterte’s name is squarely embedded in Acosta’s candidacy, a move that many Duterte followers hoped would carry her through the campaign.
Training and grooming family members for posts vacated by political figures have also been typically Philippine political tradition. Former Compostela Valley Gov. Jose Caballero has already a daughter in the Provincial Board, Maricar Apsay, and who would try to snatch the gubernatorial position.
In 2007, Sec. Silvestre Bello III has already a son in the Davao City Council, and Councilor Leonardo Avila III has sent his son to a City Council bid, also banking on an environmental platform that his father has consistently carried the advocacy through his nine-year stint. Fellow Councilor Peter Laviña has okayed the Council bid of his wife, Evelyn, who has figured in business management affairs in the city’s business chamber.
Elsewhere the same political circus were already showing as the filing of candidacy closed on December 1.
- 30 -
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Filipinos’ insatiability on techno gadgets shows in sales of mobile phones, gadgets
DAVAO CITY – The consistently increasing sales of mobile phones and other handy entertainment and multi-media gadgets show the insatiable propensity of Filipinos to spend on technology, a mobile phone maker executive said on Friday.
Patrick Larica, Sony Ericsson marketing manager, said that sales of mobile phones alone have shown a consistent climb through the years for all phone-makers.
“Compared to five years ago? It’s already way far from the total number of units sold,” he told reporters after launching at SM Davao its donation program for mobile education program of the United Nations Children Fund (Unicef).
Industry-wide, studies show that sales reached between 400,000 to as many as 500,000 units per month across the country, he said.
“There’s not even a specific market segment that we can say are the heavy spender. They have become younger, and many older persons are acquiring phones too,” he said.
He said the cheaper mobile phones, those with fewer multi-media features, were the fast-selling units. “It’s the units in the P4,000 or P5,000 price range,” he said, saying that certain segments, like the older persons, and those with busy lifestyles, “would not need those other media features”.
“But this still mainly reflect the status of our economy,” he said.
Production of high-end units was often targeted for a specific market segment or clientele, he said, though market could sustain the fast introduction of new models and innovation of previous versions.
In the case of Sony Ericsson, the introduction of its three high-end phones in October this year came only 12 months after its introduction of the Xperia phone, its banner phone last year. “In fact, we have a new Xperia coming up in December.”
The new phones it introducerd were: the Satio, whose powerful camera was complemented with a high-definition 3.5-inch widespread screen format; the Aino, with capabilities to access applications from the personal computer wirelss through wi-fi; and the Kita, which the company said debutted in the mobile phones the latest gesture gaming, where the player gets into the middle of the game by making the moves in front of the screen.
The Satio is currently priced P32,600, the Aino, P25,000 and the Kita, at P13,800.
Larica said that the “The market should be fairly active, especially that we are coming into the retail season,” he said.
Globally, he said, “[economic] signs are improving and in the Philippines, signs also indicate that the economy is picking up”.
“It’s exciting,” he said.
Patrick Larica, Sony Ericsson marketing manager, said that sales of mobile phones alone have shown a consistent climb through the years for all phone-makers.
“Compared to five years ago? It’s already way far from the total number of units sold,” he told reporters after launching at SM Davao its donation program for mobile education program of the United Nations Children Fund (Unicef).
Industry-wide, studies show that sales reached between 400,000 to as many as 500,000 units per month across the country, he said.
“There’s not even a specific market segment that we can say are the heavy spender. They have become younger, and many older persons are acquiring phones too,” he said.
He said the cheaper mobile phones, those with fewer multi-media features, were the fast-selling units. “It’s the units in the P4,000 or P5,000 price range,” he said, saying that certain segments, like the older persons, and those with busy lifestyles, “would not need those other media features”.
“But this still mainly reflect the status of our economy,” he said.
Production of high-end units was often targeted for a specific market segment or clientele, he said, though market could sustain the fast introduction of new models and innovation of previous versions.
In the case of Sony Ericsson, the introduction of its three high-end phones in October this year came only 12 months after its introduction of the Xperia phone, its banner phone last year. “In fact, we have a new Xperia coming up in December.”
The new phones it introducerd were: the Satio, whose powerful camera was complemented with a high-definition 3.5-inch widespread screen format; the Aino, with capabilities to access applications from the personal computer wirelss through wi-fi; and the Kita, which the company said debutted in the mobile phones the latest gesture gaming, where the player gets into the middle of the game by making the moves in front of the screen.
The Satio is currently priced P32,600, the Aino, P25,000 and the Kita, at P13,800.
Larica said that the “The market should be fairly active, especially that we are coming into the retail season,” he said.
Globally, he said, “[economic] signs are improving and in the Philippines, signs also indicate that the economy is picking up”.
“It’s exciting,” he said.
Presidentiables dared: Make Mindanao your national agenda
DAVAO CITY – Make Mindanao your national agenda.
This was the challenge to Presidential aspirants in the 2010 elections if they want to get the nod and possible support and endorsement of peace advocates currently organizing several activities in the Mindanao Week of Peace.
Tom Villarin, executive director of the German-funded SIAD Initiatives in Mindanao Convergence for Asset Reform and Regional Development (SIMCARRD), said bringing the issue of Mindanao to the national audience was the main objective of this year’s commemoration of the week of peace.
The annual Mindanao Week of Peace is observed on the last Thursday of November to the first Wednesday of December.
“It’s just unfortunate that the violence in Maguindanao preceded the celebration of the Mindanao Week of Peace. In the eyes of the national populace, the celebration is gloomy,” he said. He spoke during the regular MOnday (November 30) press conference of the Davao Press Club at the SM City Mall here.
The Maguindanao massacre notwithstanding, Villarin said “we want to make Mindanao the national priority” of the national administration as they also wanted to ensure that the next administration would adapt it.
Hazel Pergis-Lozada of the Alternate Forum of Research in Mindanao (Afrim), a private research group based here, said that that the initial round of forum with Presidential aspirants showed that “they have a poor understanding of the problem in Mindanao”.
She said that an Afrim research last year insisted anew that the Mindanao conflict “is not religious in nature but about unequal share of resources and land-based”.
“The land issue is the problem here especially with the entry and presence of corporations. These are the major sources of conflict in Mindanao,’ Lozada said.
The Germany-based Bread for the World has entered into a partnership with the Davao City division of the Department of Education and the Davao City National High School in organizing peace forums and sharing of experiences on conflict. It has also signed partnership agreement with the nongovernment organizations like Simcarrd, the Afrim and FarmCoop.
Villarin said that sharing of experiences, which the groups called “Conversation of Peace”, were being conducted in many areas in Mindanao and the Visayas “where communities can tell their stories and learnings about dealing and surviving the conflict are being shared”.
He said that this activity were held or scheduled to be conducted in Agusan del Sur, Davao del Norte, Palawan, and Bacolod in Negros.
“The Mindanao Week of Peace is a national commemoration, and this is our small contribution,” he said.
This was the challenge to Presidential aspirants in the 2010 elections if they want to get the nod and possible support and endorsement of peace advocates currently organizing several activities in the Mindanao Week of Peace.
Tom Villarin, executive director of the German-funded SIAD Initiatives in Mindanao Convergence for Asset Reform and Regional Development (SIMCARRD), said bringing the issue of Mindanao to the national audience was the main objective of this year’s commemoration of the week of peace.
The annual Mindanao Week of Peace is observed on the last Thursday of November to the first Wednesday of December.
“It’s just unfortunate that the violence in Maguindanao preceded the celebration of the Mindanao Week of Peace. In the eyes of the national populace, the celebration is gloomy,” he said. He spoke during the regular MOnday (November 30) press conference of the Davao Press Club at the SM City Mall here.
The Maguindanao massacre notwithstanding, Villarin said “we want to make Mindanao the national priority” of the national administration as they also wanted to ensure that the next administration would adapt it.
Hazel Pergis-Lozada of the Alternate Forum of Research in Mindanao (Afrim), a private research group based here, said that that the initial round of forum with Presidential aspirants showed that “they have a poor understanding of the problem in Mindanao”.
She said that an Afrim research last year insisted anew that the Mindanao conflict “is not religious in nature but about unequal share of resources and land-based”.
“The land issue is the problem here especially with the entry and presence of corporations. These are the major sources of conflict in Mindanao,’ Lozada said.
The Germany-based Bread for the World has entered into a partnership with the Davao City division of the Department of Education and the Davao City National High School in organizing peace forums and sharing of experiences on conflict. It has also signed partnership agreement with the nongovernment organizations like Simcarrd, the Afrim and FarmCoop.
Villarin said that sharing of experiences, which the groups called “Conversation of Peace”, were being conducted in many areas in Mindanao and the Visayas “where communities can tell their stories and learnings about dealing and surviving the conflict are being shared”.
He said that this activity were held or scheduled to be conducted in Agusan del Sur, Davao del Norte, Palawan, and Bacolod in Negros.
“The Mindanao Week of Peace is a national commemoration, and this is our small contribution,” he said.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
400 militias disarmed in 3 Maguindanao towns, troops watching signs of rido
DAVAO CITY – Government troops on November 26 have disarmed more than 400 paramilitary members believed to be the private army of the powerful Ampatuan clan in three Maguindanao municipalities as the armed forces also kept a close watch for any sign of rido, or traditional Moro vendetta killings from the two feuding clans in Central Mindanao.
Col. Jonathan Ponce, spokesman of the Armed Forces’ 6th Infantry Division, told BusinessMirror in a mobile phone interview on November 26 that members of the Special Civilian Armed Auxiliary (SCAAs) in the towns of Datu Unsay, Ampatuan and Shariff Aguak did not offer any resistance when asked to turn in their rifles.
As of noontime that Thursday, the disarming was continuing and the firearms consisted of M14’s, vintage Garands and Carbines.
“We disarmed them to avoid them from falling into the control of politicians and other unscrupulous groups,” he said. The SCAAs are supposed to be supervised by the Army in the fight against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front then, but he said that the Army division moved in to disarm them after the Maguindanao massacre on Monday, which turned in 57 bodies in a secluded area in Ampatuan town.
He said a parallel move was being done by the National Police in recalling the firearms given to members of the Civilian Volunteers’ Organization (CVOs) for inventory, accounting and licensing.
Ponce clarified that the perpetrators of the massacre did not use the highway in escaping after burying their victims “but scampered westward toward the forested area after sensing that the troops were closing in on them”. Ponce made the statement to clear of suspicion the alleged complicity of some soldiers who were alleged to have been uncooperative in providing details as to how the alleged convoy of perpetrators were able to pass through the Army checkpoints along the highway.
Radio commentaries monitored here have alleged the Army checkpoints to have been receiving regular grease money from politicians in the area.
“We are pursuing the suspects in this direction,” he said, as he also ruled out the complicity of the Moro National Liberation Front due to the location of the gravesite in Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman which has a signage indicating that it was its territory.
Ponce said that the barangay was supposed to be an MNLF training area but there were no MNLF personnel at that time. Besides, he said, “the training area is westward and there is no possibility that the perpetrators have sought refuge with the MNLF”.
The MNLF has signed a peace pact with government in September 1996 that bind them into a political settlement in Mindanao. Some 7,500 of its combatants have been absorbed into the National Police and the Army.
Ponce said that the number of soldiers was adequate to provide the vacuum left by the disarmed SCAAs and CVOs, saying that it has an infantry brigade in and around Ampatuan town, and two more brigades ready for in the entire province.
After the surrender Thursday of Datu Unsay mayor, Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr., the 6th ID has busied itself into putting more checkpoints and chokepoints “to deter civilians from sneaking in firearms and to prevent any movement and outbreak of violence coming from either [the Ampatuans or Mangudadato]”.
“These would also prevent other unscrupulous groups from taking advantage of the situation,” he said.
Meanwhile, radio reports from Maguindanao monitored here, cited inquiries from unnamed family members of still missing members of their families who suspected that they may have joined the ill-fated convoy when it was stopped and its passengers massacred along the highway in Ampatuan.
The GMA radio, dxGM Super Radyo here, aired reports of more inquiries from families of media persons in Koronadal City and Tacurong City who were not originally accounted in the initial list of media persons to comprise the convoy but who joined it in the last minute.
“Does it mean that we could expect many more? Is it true then that there could be 30 media persons as being reported?,” the dxGM anchorman of the morning slot said.
The dxGM also said that the 57 bodies dug may be more “because there have been suspicion that the retreating killers brought with them some of their victims as possible shield in case they would be trapped”.
30 -
Col. Jonathan Ponce, spokesman of the Armed Forces’ 6th Infantry Division, told BusinessMirror in a mobile phone interview on November 26 that members of the Special Civilian Armed Auxiliary (SCAAs) in the towns of Datu Unsay, Ampatuan and Shariff Aguak did not offer any resistance when asked to turn in their rifles.
As of noontime that Thursday, the disarming was continuing and the firearms consisted of M14’s, vintage Garands and Carbines.
“We disarmed them to avoid them from falling into the control of politicians and other unscrupulous groups,” he said. The SCAAs are supposed to be supervised by the Army in the fight against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front then, but he said that the Army division moved in to disarm them after the Maguindanao massacre on Monday, which turned in 57 bodies in a secluded area in Ampatuan town.
He said a parallel move was being done by the National Police in recalling the firearms given to members of the Civilian Volunteers’ Organization (CVOs) for inventory, accounting and licensing.
Ponce clarified that the perpetrators of the massacre did not use the highway in escaping after burying their victims “but scampered westward toward the forested area after sensing that the troops were closing in on them”. Ponce made the statement to clear of suspicion the alleged complicity of some soldiers who were alleged to have been uncooperative in providing details as to how the alleged convoy of perpetrators were able to pass through the Army checkpoints along the highway.
Radio commentaries monitored here have alleged the Army checkpoints to have been receiving regular grease money from politicians in the area.
“We are pursuing the suspects in this direction,” he said, as he also ruled out the complicity of the Moro National Liberation Front due to the location of the gravesite in Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman which has a signage indicating that it was its territory.
Ponce said that the barangay was supposed to be an MNLF training area but there were no MNLF personnel at that time. Besides, he said, “the training area is westward and there is no possibility that the perpetrators have sought refuge with the MNLF”.
The MNLF has signed a peace pact with government in September 1996 that bind them into a political settlement in Mindanao. Some 7,500 of its combatants have been absorbed into the National Police and the Army.
Ponce said that the number of soldiers was adequate to provide the vacuum left by the disarmed SCAAs and CVOs, saying that it has an infantry brigade in and around Ampatuan town, and two more brigades ready for in the entire province.
After the surrender Thursday of Datu Unsay mayor, Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr., the 6th ID has busied itself into putting more checkpoints and chokepoints “to deter civilians from sneaking in firearms and to prevent any movement and outbreak of violence coming from either [the Ampatuans or Mangudadato]”.
“These would also prevent other unscrupulous groups from taking advantage of the situation,” he said.
Meanwhile, radio reports from Maguindanao monitored here, cited inquiries from unnamed family members of still missing members of their families who suspected that they may have joined the ill-fated convoy when it was stopped and its passengers massacred along the highway in Ampatuan.
The GMA radio, dxGM Super Radyo here, aired reports of more inquiries from families of media persons in Koronadal City and Tacurong City who were not originally accounted in the initial list of media persons to comprise the convoy but who joined it in the last minute.
“Does it mean that we could expect many more? Is it true then that there could be 30 media persons as being reported?,” the dxGM anchorman of the morning slot said.
The dxGM also said that the 57 bodies dug may be more “because there have been suspicion that the retreating killers brought with them some of their victims as possible shield in case they would be trapped”.
30 -
Dismantle private armies – groups
DAVAO CITY – Lawyers and journalists here echoed long-standing calls for government to move in against political warlords and disband their private armies as relatives of the two feuding clans in Maguindanao have asked protection from local police, at least in Davao City.
Lawyer Carlos Isagani Zarate, secretary general of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) told an indignation rally in front of the Sangguniang Panlungsod here in late afternoon of November 24, that “Maguindanao killings are a grim commentary of Philippine democracy”.
“The country would continue to suffer from these violence for as long as there are people who believe that they can kill just anyone and getting away with it, without this government doing anything,” he said.
“Government should disband now the private armies and dismantle the control of the political warlords,” he said.
He said that “what happened in Maguindanao is a grave crime against humanity that deserves the harsh and strongest condemnation of the world”.
“Considering their proximity to the present occupants of Malacañang, these warlords, as well as their henchmen, certainly believe that they can get away with cold-blooded mass murder,” he said. “We demand that the Arroyo administration throws the full force of the government to bring the perpetrators, regardless of their affiliations, to the bar of justice.”
He UPLM said that the two lawyers who were killed, Attys. Concepcion Brizuela and Cynthia Oquendo, were their members.
The National Union of People's Lawyers also reminded government “lawyers are essential agents of the administration of justice, and journalists are an institution in a civilized society”. “If lawyers and journalists are brutally murdered while in the performance of their duties, and in broad daylight at that, democracy is dead, plain and simple.”
the NUPL said that Malacañang “must see to it that it knows how to accord justice to the hapless victims, especially in this case where military reports disclosed that the mastermind is its closest political ally in Mindanao, the Ampatuans”.
“All government resources must be brought to bear on the Ampatuans. Otherwise, Malacañang itself would tolerate lawlessness and violence. The private army of the Ampatuans must be instantly disarmed and placed under immediate custody and investigation, and all their firearm licenses immediately revoked.”
It said however, that “Malacañang’s tolerance of warlords greatly contributes to the persistence of the culture of impunity in our society. Since 2001 and prior to the Maguindanao massacre, 22 lawyers and 15 judges in the country have already been murdered and not a soul was put in prison by the authorities, and this has earned the present administration the dubious distinction of having the most number of lawyers and judges that were killed in an administration.”
The Cotabato City-based Alyansa ng mga Mamamayan para sa Karapatang Pantao (AMKP), also raised concerned on the declaration of the their city, including Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat, the bailiwick provinces of the feuding clans Ampatuans and Mangudadato, respectively.
In a statement, it said that it feared both a new wave of human rights abuses and a likelihood of manipulation of the elections “considering that it is already common knowledge that Maguindanao has the strongest support to the administration”.
“Whether it was politically motivated or not, the mass killings remains to be the sole but biggest heinous crime against life and an affront to democracy, against peace and order and a great security threat to Mindanao and the entire country,” said Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos of Butuan City, in an open letter yesterday.
While he appealed to the masterminds and the perpetrators of the crime “to surrender immediately to the government authorities because crime does not pay and violence only begets violence and not peace”, he recommend though, that “the full force of the law and the greatest penalties be meted to those suspects if found guilty to stop the senseless killings and violence”.
“We further recommend that those involved in the mass killings should be barred from running to any elective or from holding any appointive positions in government,” he added.
In Davao City, Police Chief Ramon Apolinario said that the relatives of the Ampatuans and the Mangudadato have sought police protection after the incident in Maguindanao although a round made by television crew in their residences showed that these have been abandoned. Neighbors told the TV crew that they have hastily left for Manila.
Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has earlier ordered a heightened security dragnet for the city where the Ampatuans have especially acquired large properties, and where the Mangudadatos have also established residences.
Police and units of the anti-terror military unit, Task Force Davao, have deployed personnel outside and inside the college and grade school campuses of the Ateneo de Davao University.
The Task Force Davao checkpoint in the southern approach to the city also tightened its checks of vehicles.
Lawyer Carlos Isagani Zarate, secretary general of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) told an indignation rally in front of the Sangguniang Panlungsod here in late afternoon of November 24, that “Maguindanao killings are a grim commentary of Philippine democracy”.
“The country would continue to suffer from these violence for as long as there are people who believe that they can kill just anyone and getting away with it, without this government doing anything,” he said.
“Government should disband now the private armies and dismantle the control of the political warlords,” he said.
He said that “what happened in Maguindanao is a grave crime against humanity that deserves the harsh and strongest condemnation of the world”.
“Considering their proximity to the present occupants of Malacañang, these warlords, as well as their henchmen, certainly believe that they can get away with cold-blooded mass murder,” he said. “We demand that the Arroyo administration throws the full force of the government to bring the perpetrators, regardless of their affiliations, to the bar of justice.”
He UPLM said that the two lawyers who were killed, Attys. Concepcion Brizuela and Cynthia Oquendo, were their members.
The National Union of People's Lawyers also reminded government “lawyers are essential agents of the administration of justice, and journalists are an institution in a civilized society”. “If lawyers and journalists are brutally murdered while in the performance of their duties, and in broad daylight at that, democracy is dead, plain and simple.”
the NUPL said that Malacañang “must see to it that it knows how to accord justice to the hapless victims, especially in this case where military reports disclosed that the mastermind is its closest political ally in Mindanao, the Ampatuans”.
“All government resources must be brought to bear on the Ampatuans. Otherwise, Malacañang itself would tolerate lawlessness and violence. The private army of the Ampatuans must be instantly disarmed and placed under immediate custody and investigation, and all their firearm licenses immediately revoked.”
It said however, that “Malacañang’s tolerance of warlords greatly contributes to the persistence of the culture of impunity in our society. Since 2001 and prior to the Maguindanao massacre, 22 lawyers and 15 judges in the country have already been murdered and not a soul was put in prison by the authorities, and this has earned the present administration the dubious distinction of having the most number of lawyers and judges that were killed in an administration.”
The Cotabato City-based Alyansa ng mga Mamamayan para sa Karapatang Pantao (AMKP), also raised concerned on the declaration of the their city, including Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat, the bailiwick provinces of the feuding clans Ampatuans and Mangudadato, respectively.
In a statement, it said that it feared both a new wave of human rights abuses and a likelihood of manipulation of the elections “considering that it is already common knowledge that Maguindanao has the strongest support to the administration”.
“Whether it was politically motivated or not, the mass killings remains to be the sole but biggest heinous crime against life and an affront to democracy, against peace and order and a great security threat to Mindanao and the entire country,” said Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos of Butuan City, in an open letter yesterday.
While he appealed to the masterminds and the perpetrators of the crime “to surrender immediately to the government authorities because crime does not pay and violence only begets violence and not peace”, he recommend though, that “the full force of the law and the greatest penalties be meted to those suspects if found guilty to stop the senseless killings and violence”.
“We further recommend that those involved in the mass killings should be barred from running to any elective or from holding any appointive positions in government,” he added.
In Davao City, Police Chief Ramon Apolinario said that the relatives of the Ampatuans and the Mangudadato have sought police protection after the incident in Maguindanao although a round made by television crew in their residences showed that these have been abandoned. Neighbors told the TV crew that they have hastily left for Manila.
Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has earlier ordered a heightened security dragnet for the city where the Ampatuans have especially acquired large properties, and where the Mangudadatos have also established residences.
Police and units of the anti-terror military unit, Task Force Davao, have deployed personnel outside and inside the college and grade school campuses of the Ateneo de Davao University.
The Task Force Davao checkpoint in the southern approach to the city also tightened its checks of vehicles.
Only GMA can end the tension, political violence in Maguindanao – Moro group
DAVAO CITY - The militant Moro group in Mindanao, Suara Bangsamoro, dared President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to put a “decisive end” to the tension and the other future conflict expected to still break out during the entire election period in Maguindanao and the rest of the Cotabato provinces in Central Mindanao, saying the powerful political families were her allies,
“Only GMA can put an end to this crisis knowing that the rise in the killings in Maguindanao coincided with her rise into power and that of her political allies in Maguindanao,” said Amira Lidasan, the spokesperson of the group, in her text message to reporters on Tuesday.
Lidasan was alluding to the Ampatuans, which in the 2007 elections, figured in the controversial turnout of perfect voting for the administration.
“If [these killings] will not be resolved, we will expect more election related violence in the ARMM,” she said.
But Toy Mangudadato, brother of Buluan town Vice Mayor, Ismael Mangudadato, has already assured that they would not “make any move that is against the law”, following concerns that the massacre may trigger more bloody retaliatory killings in the nature of the rido, the traditional Moro practice of exacting vengeance.
“We are a disciplined family and we will let the law takes its own course
In his interview with the GMA TV in Davao City on November 24, he said that their attention now was how to retrieve their dead, whose graveyards were yet to located.
He repeated previous statements of his brother Ismael who accused the Ampatuan clan of the massacre saying that their long running and bloody feud “is the knowledge of everybody and this massacre is obviously politically motivated”.
“Look, they raped our women, they killed even the innocent ones,” he said. “We never expected them to hurt the women.”
He also disclosed that the members of the media accompanied the group “because they said they were excited to witness the filing of candidacies of the Mangudadato who will square off with the Ampatuan”.
“They said ‘this is exciting and a scoop’,” he said.
The armed forces’ Eastern Mindanao Command spokesman, Maj. Randolph Cabangbang told BusinessMirror yesterday, that it would decide soon if it would add an additional battalion in Maguindanao to replace the 46th Infantry Battalion that was pulled out a few hours before the massacre happened on the same morning Monday.
“This forced the 64th IB to extend its area of responsibility,” he said. “Ideally, in situations like this, any new unit that is added should have no previous experience or exposure in the place to ensure impartiality, and to complement the move of the PNP in relieving the town police chief in the area.”
He said that Eastmincom chief, Lt. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer attended the closed door meeting with Defense Sec. Norberto Gonzalez and Mindanao Affairs Adviser, Sec. Jesus Dureza in Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat. Ferrer could not be immediately reached for comment.
On late Tuesday afternoon, Dureza and Gonzalez also met privately with Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan in Shariff Aguak, the capital of Maguindanao.
Cabangbang also expressed hope that the massacre of the members of a Moro political clan and journalists who accompanied them “would help dissuade other political families to commit a similar act and thus allow Filipinos to have a peaceful elections next year”.
“We hope something positive would come out of this incident, that other groups would learn the bitter lesson that nothing desirable has come out of it,” he said.
He said the eastern half of Mindanao, which include the traditionally politically explosive Cotabato provinces, have several other areas where political violence was also expected to erupt, but Cabangbang said that “they don’t have the same brutality and gruesome nature as what happened yesterday”.
In Davao City, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte gathered the police and the military’s special anti-terrorist unit, Task Force Davao to a meeting to prevent the violence between the two clans from spilling over to the city.
“Only GMA can put an end to this crisis knowing that the rise in the killings in Maguindanao coincided with her rise into power and that of her political allies in Maguindanao,” said Amira Lidasan, the spokesperson of the group, in her text message to reporters on Tuesday.
Lidasan was alluding to the Ampatuans, which in the 2007 elections, figured in the controversial turnout of perfect voting for the administration.
“If [these killings] will not be resolved, we will expect more election related violence in the ARMM,” she said.
But Toy Mangudadato, brother of Buluan town Vice Mayor, Ismael Mangudadato, has already assured that they would not “make any move that is against the law”, following concerns that the massacre may trigger more bloody retaliatory killings in the nature of the rido, the traditional Moro practice of exacting vengeance.
“We are a disciplined family and we will let the law takes its own course
In his interview with the GMA TV in Davao City on November 24, he said that their attention now was how to retrieve their dead, whose graveyards were yet to located.
He repeated previous statements of his brother Ismael who accused the Ampatuan clan of the massacre saying that their long running and bloody feud “is the knowledge of everybody and this massacre is obviously politically motivated”.
“Look, they raped our women, they killed even the innocent ones,” he said. “We never expected them to hurt the women.”
He also disclosed that the members of the media accompanied the group “because they said they were excited to witness the filing of candidacies of the Mangudadato who will square off with the Ampatuan”.
“They said ‘this is exciting and a scoop’,” he said.
The armed forces’ Eastern Mindanao Command spokesman, Maj. Randolph Cabangbang told BusinessMirror yesterday, that it would decide soon if it would add an additional battalion in Maguindanao to replace the 46th Infantry Battalion that was pulled out a few hours before the massacre happened on the same morning Monday.
“This forced the 64th IB to extend its area of responsibility,” he said. “Ideally, in situations like this, any new unit that is added should have no previous experience or exposure in the place to ensure impartiality, and to complement the move of the PNP in relieving the town police chief in the area.”
He said that Eastmincom chief, Lt. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer attended the closed door meeting with Defense Sec. Norberto Gonzalez and Mindanao Affairs Adviser, Sec. Jesus Dureza in Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat. Ferrer could not be immediately reached for comment.
On late Tuesday afternoon, Dureza and Gonzalez also met privately with Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan in Shariff Aguak, the capital of Maguindanao.
Cabangbang also expressed hope that the massacre of the members of a Moro political clan and journalists who accompanied them “would help dissuade other political families to commit a similar act and thus allow Filipinos to have a peaceful elections next year”.
“We hope something positive would come out of this incident, that other groups would learn the bitter lesson that nothing desirable has come out of it,” he said.
He said the eastern half of Mindanao, which include the traditionally politically explosive Cotabato provinces, have several other areas where political violence was also expected to erupt, but Cabangbang said that “they don’t have the same brutality and gruesome nature as what happened yesterday”.
In Davao City, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte gathered the police and the military’s special anti-terrorist unit, Task Force Davao to a meeting to prevent the violence between the two clans from spilling over to the city.
Britain mulls over peace panels' invitation to join ICG
DAVAO CITY – London is still studying the offer of the peace panels of the Philippine government and Moro guerrillas, including that coming from the Malaysian facilitators of the peace negotiation, to join the international contact group (ICG) , a new feature in the still unscheduled but upcoming formal talks between the two panels.
British Ambassador the Philippines, Stephen Lillie, confirmed to reporters here on November 23, that his country was one of those offered to compose the ICG, a third party to the talks between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
The MILF sought its creation as a condition to the resumption of the talks in its bid to ensure that all agreements would be internationally binding.
Both the MILF and the government panel refused to divulge that identity of the countries that they sought to compose the ICG, and MILF Vice Chairman for political affairs, Gadzali Jaafar, told BusinessMIrror in a previous interview that the ICG and the International Monitoring Group would have to be composed yet before there would be a formal round of negotiations.
Lillie said that the offer “is being considered by our [Prime] Minister in London”.
He said that his government was studying “at the nature of the invitation, the requirement and expectation of the panels in the participation in the ICG”.
“We are supportive though, of the peace efforts in Mindanao,” he said, adding that the formation of the ICG and the recent informal meetings of the panels since June were “encouraging signs [in the peace process] in Mindanao”.
Jaafar also said in the previous interview when contacted through his mobile phone that “these were the same considerations being taken by the countries that they have approached”.
Both government chief negotiator, Ambassador Rafael Seguis and Peace Process Adviser, Annabelle Abaya, told reporters here in previous and separate interviews last month that they expressed hope that the formal meeting would be held by next month the soonest that they could compose the ICG.
British Ambassador the Philippines, Stephen Lillie, confirmed to reporters here on November 23, that his country was one of those offered to compose the ICG, a third party to the talks between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
The MILF sought its creation as a condition to the resumption of the talks in its bid to ensure that all agreements would be internationally binding.
Both the MILF and the government panel refused to divulge that identity of the countries that they sought to compose the ICG, and MILF Vice Chairman for political affairs, Gadzali Jaafar, told BusinessMIrror in a previous interview that the ICG and the International Monitoring Group would have to be composed yet before there would be a formal round of negotiations.
Lillie said that the offer “is being considered by our [Prime] Minister in London”.
He said that his government was studying “at the nature of the invitation, the requirement and expectation of the panels in the participation in the ICG”.
“We are supportive though, of the peace efforts in Mindanao,” he said, adding that the formation of the ICG and the recent informal meetings of the panels since June were “encouraging signs [in the peace process] in Mindanao”.
Jaafar also said in the previous interview when contacted through his mobile phone that “these were the same considerations being taken by the countries that they have approached”.
Both government chief negotiator, Ambassador Rafael Seguis and Peace Process Adviser, Annabelle Abaya, told reporters here in previous and separate interviews last month that they expressed hope that the formal meeting would be held by next month the soonest that they could compose the ICG.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Bank monitoring shows lot of OFW remittance enter Mindanao economy
DAVAO CITY – Monitoring done by Mindanao’s largest banking network showed a huge jump in remittance earnings from overseas Filipinos to their families and relatives, indicating that the same amount has also been plowed to the local economy, easing the apprehension of a deep backlash of a rampaging global recession.
But Alex B. Buenaventura, president of the One Network Bank, said that the 52 percent jump in remittance in only the third quarter, amounting to P100.635 milllion, was only a little percentage of the entire amount that was actually sent to both the bank, non-bank and undocumented channels.
“It shows that a lot of money went in despite the global crisis, and we would expect the amount to enter the economy, whether it is in the form of consumption or expenditure,” he said.
ONB’s remittance payout carries a fraction of the clients of the other remitting companies, eleven of them having a tie-up with ONB to serve their clients that can not be reached and which the ONB could penetrate.
ONB is one of the country’s largest rural bank with the widest banking network in Mindanao, most of them located in rural areas.
ONB has remittance tie-up with Uniteller, RCBD (Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.) Tele, BDO, Moneygram, Philippine National Bank, Epci Xoom, I-Remit, Development Bank of the Philippines, Asia United Bank, Security Bank and Trust Co. and G-Cash.
ONB gets a fixed amount transaction fee from these remittance outlets for handling out their payout to clients, especially those in the countryside.
ONB payout reached P96.359 million in the second quarter this year, indicating an increase of four percent by the third quarter. But the third quarter figure was a 54 percent jump compared to the 3rd quarter figure last year, which posted P66.194 million.
Buenaventura said that their figure was “only a little fraction of the combined payout done by these remittance companies. We could not even be two or five percent, of the combined transactions of these 11 remittance outlets”.
He said the bigger transactions may be carried by the non-bank remittance outlets, “these pawnshops and remitting outlets, probably because of the perception that these outlets require less documents as required by banks”.
Four more banks have finalized their tie-up agreement with ONB, which has started installing the system software to start the formal operation. These are the Bank of Philippine Islands, LBC Bank, MetroBank and Perhillion, the remittance arm of Philippine Business Bank.
Although the remittances were not the lone indicator of prosperity, Buenaventura said that combined with the double-digit upward performance of their deposit and loans of the ONB would actually show that “Mindanao is not in crisis”.
Its deposit volume has jumped 21 percent higher to P6.5 billion as of the end of the third quarter, and loan volume also reached P6 billion, a six percent increase from the same period last year. Its total assets was currently placed at P9.3 billion, an increase of 18 percent from last year.
The ONB has 75 branches in Mindanao, making it the rural bank with the widest banking network in the island, with five more branches awaiting final approval from the Central Bank. It has absorb also the Rural Bank of New Corella, with final consolidation operation in April next year. The absorbed bank located in New Corella, Davao del Norte, has a total asset of P25 million.
But Alex B. Buenaventura, president of the One Network Bank, said that the 52 percent jump in remittance in only the third quarter, amounting to P100.635 milllion, was only a little percentage of the entire amount that was actually sent to both the bank, non-bank and undocumented channels.
“It shows that a lot of money went in despite the global crisis, and we would expect the amount to enter the economy, whether it is in the form of consumption or expenditure,” he said.
ONB’s remittance payout carries a fraction of the clients of the other remitting companies, eleven of them having a tie-up with ONB to serve their clients that can not be reached and which the ONB could penetrate.
ONB is one of the country’s largest rural bank with the widest banking network in Mindanao, most of them located in rural areas.
ONB has remittance tie-up with Uniteller, RCBD (Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.) Tele, BDO, Moneygram, Philippine National Bank, Epci Xoom, I-Remit, Development Bank of the Philippines, Asia United Bank, Security Bank and Trust Co. and G-Cash.
ONB gets a fixed amount transaction fee from these remittance outlets for handling out their payout to clients, especially those in the countryside.
ONB payout reached P96.359 million in the second quarter this year, indicating an increase of four percent by the third quarter. But the third quarter figure was a 54 percent jump compared to the 3rd quarter figure last year, which posted P66.194 million.
Buenaventura said that their figure was “only a little fraction of the combined payout done by these remittance companies. We could not even be two or five percent, of the combined transactions of these 11 remittance outlets”.
He said the bigger transactions may be carried by the non-bank remittance outlets, “these pawnshops and remitting outlets, probably because of the perception that these outlets require less documents as required by banks”.
Four more banks have finalized their tie-up agreement with ONB, which has started installing the system software to start the formal operation. These are the Bank of Philippine Islands, LBC Bank, MetroBank and Perhillion, the remittance arm of Philippine Business Bank.
Although the remittances were not the lone indicator of prosperity, Buenaventura said that combined with the double-digit upward performance of their deposit and loans of the ONB would actually show that “Mindanao is not in crisis”.
Its deposit volume has jumped 21 percent higher to P6.5 billion as of the end of the third quarter, and loan volume also reached P6 billion, a six percent increase from the same period last year. Its total assets was currently placed at P9.3 billion, an increase of 18 percent from last year.
The ONB has 75 branches in Mindanao, making it the rural bank with the widest banking network in the island, with five more branches awaiting final approval from the Central Bank. It has absorb also the Rural Bank of New Corella, with final consolidation operation in April next year. The absorbed bank located in New Corella, Davao del Norte, has a total asset of P25 million.
BIMP-EAGA countries want RP to waive or lower real estate taxes
DAVAO CITY – The four countries of the East Asean Growth Area (EAGA) has expressed their wish for the Philippine government to waive or lower tax on renting properties or putting up big-ticket investments in Mindanao and Palawan, in fresh indication of their continued interest in these places as preferred investment site in this part of the subregion of the Asean.
This was expressed in the recent summit of heads of state and senior officials in Thailand late last month representing Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, which comprised the BIMP-EAGA.
Sec. Jesus Dureza, the Presidential adviser on Mindanao Affairs, told reporters here that Malaysia has requested the Philippines “to waive real estate taxes, especially with the decision of one of its business groups to revive operation of the Samal Casino Resort Hotel [in the Island Garden City of Samal]”.
On the part of the Philippines, the local governments in Mindanao may likely consider it. “But the national taxation is not decided on it yet, because of the concern that waiving it may open te floodgate for other countries.”
“It would be a policy issue to be studied carefully,” Dureza said.
The Malaysian Ekran Berhad Services, operator of several hotels and resorts in Malaysia, announced in August this year, also during a senior officials meeting in Brunei, that it was reopening the P1.5 billion casino and resort. The company also told Philippine officials and local government officials that it planned “to work on mounting flights between Davao and Kota Kinabalu, in partnership with Malaysian Airlines (MAS) to coincide with the re-opening of the resort”.
The Ekran Berhad has opened only 245 rooms in 1998, from a planned 1,400-room resort before it closed in 2001 due to the Asian financial crisis. The resort and hotel sprawls on an area of 250 hectares and includes a planned golf course.
Malaysian airlines folded its Davao flight also in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis.
The request to waive Philippine local real estate tax was one of the highlights of the October 25 leaders’s summit, that also included the signing of a memorandum of cooperation between BIMP-EAGA and China, one of the three northeastern Asian countries admitted as observers to Asean’s subregional group. The others were South Korea and Japan.
Other commitments include more aggressive push on BIMP-s eco-tourism sector but with special caution to “protect, convserve and sustainably manage [its] rich marine and terrestrial resources such as the Heart of Borneo and Coral Triangle initiatives”.
Alongside eco-tourism, the BIMP also vowed to implement more initiatives to develop the former backwater regions of the four countries into a food basket of the Asean and the rest of Asia.
But it also promised to resolve existing bottlenecks, especially in uniform customs, immigration, quarantine and security issues, to energize the food basket goal and other objectives of the BIMP-EAGA.
This was expressed in the recent summit of heads of state and senior officials in Thailand late last month representing Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, which comprised the BIMP-EAGA.
Sec. Jesus Dureza, the Presidential adviser on Mindanao Affairs, told reporters here that Malaysia has requested the Philippines “to waive real estate taxes, especially with the decision of one of its business groups to revive operation of the Samal Casino Resort Hotel [in the Island Garden City of Samal]”.
On the part of the Philippines, the local governments in Mindanao may likely consider it. “But the national taxation is not decided on it yet, because of the concern that waiving it may open te floodgate for other countries.”
“It would be a policy issue to be studied carefully,” Dureza said.
The Malaysian Ekran Berhad Services, operator of several hotels and resorts in Malaysia, announced in August this year, also during a senior officials meeting in Brunei, that it was reopening the P1.5 billion casino and resort. The company also told Philippine officials and local government officials that it planned “to work on mounting flights between Davao and Kota Kinabalu, in partnership with Malaysian Airlines (MAS) to coincide with the re-opening of the resort”.
The Ekran Berhad has opened only 245 rooms in 1998, from a planned 1,400-room resort before it closed in 2001 due to the Asian financial crisis. The resort and hotel sprawls on an area of 250 hectares and includes a planned golf course.
Malaysian airlines folded its Davao flight also in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis.
The request to waive Philippine local real estate tax was one of the highlights of the October 25 leaders’s summit, that also included the signing of a memorandum of cooperation between BIMP-EAGA and China, one of the three northeastern Asian countries admitted as observers to Asean’s subregional group. The others were South Korea and Japan.
Other commitments include more aggressive push on BIMP-s eco-tourism sector but with special caution to “protect, convserve and sustainably manage [its] rich marine and terrestrial resources such as the Heart of Borneo and Coral Triangle initiatives”.
Alongside eco-tourism, the BIMP also vowed to implement more initiatives to develop the former backwater regions of the four countries into a food basket of the Asean and the rest of Asia.
But it also promised to resolve existing bottlenecks, especially in uniform customs, immigration, quarantine and security issues, to energize the food basket goal and other objectives of the BIMP-EAGA.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Differing government positions on dealing with rebellion, conflict worry Mindanaoans
This summary is not available. Please
click here to view the post.
More findings in Mindanao peace survey show development projects, news media contribute to violence
This summary is not available. Please
click here to view the post.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Panels talking with interested countries to compose ICG, new IMT to be formed
Formal talks with MILF “very imminent”
DAVAO CITY – Chances were high of a new meeting in formal negotiation between the panels of government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), government and guerrilla leaders said after their third informal meeting led to a signing of an additional agreement on the protection of civilians from any aggressive or offensive actions by any of them.
“It’s highly imminent,” government chief negotiator, and Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis said on October 30 at the Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao, after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo also received the result of the Mindanao consultations on peace initiated and undertaken by the Bishops-Ulama Conference (BUC) this year.
Secretary Annabelle Abaya, chief of the government’s Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, separately told reporters that the formal meeting may take place soonest in December this year.
Seguis also said that that meeting could happen within the next six weeks at the earliest but expressed reservation that the date could drag on until both parties could smoothen out the composition of an international contact group (ICG).
The ICG was a separate group that the MILF has previously wished to be formed to ascertain that any new agreement between the two parties becomes internationally binding. It was made a condition after the MILF expressed dismay that the mutually crafted Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), which the two panels placed their initials as indication of agreement, was eventually shelved and declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in August last year.
Malacanang, whose Cabinet Cluster E on security has been consulted every step of the way towards the formulation of the agreement, also distanced itself and rejected the document, and later scuttled its peace panel.
Both panels have started talking, either jointly or separately, with countries that might be interested to join the ICG, and Seguis said that the composition should be mutually agreed also by both panels.
Government has already talked with four countries but Seguis said they could not yet send formal invitation until both panels could clarify certain issues, including their role, if they were there to be advisers only or to support the talks. He declined to disclose the countries being tapped.
Gadzali Jaafar, MILF vice chairman for political affairs, also confirmed to BusinessMirror of a likelihood of a formal meeting after the three informal meetings they have conducted since June.
“That’s the assessment of Secretary Seguis of a very imminent formal talks. To us, we can only say that it is very possible,” he said in an interview from his mobile phone on Sunday.
He said that the MILF would be concerned first on the ironing out of the composition and the giving of the mandate to the ICG, as well as the reconstitution of the same International Monitoring Team led by Malaysia.
“We have identified these countries, but yes, I would agree with Seguis that we have to keep on exploring for others until we can get their confirmation,” he said.
He disagreed with Seguis’s view however, when Seguis told reporters here, that government would have a new IMT “because the old IMT has already finished its [tour of duty] last year”.
“It’s mandate was not renewed, and thus they have to leave, because the talks have also collapsed that year. So we would have to seek another IMT,” he said. the old IMT was formed by Malaysia with military experts from Brunei and Libya and a lone economic expert from Japan comprising the 57-person team. The IMT has a mandate of only monitoring and investigating incidence of violations of the ceasefire.
Jaafar said however, that they would prefer the same IMT and would negotiate with the panel to agree to it. “Anyway, Malaysia did not say officially and privately that it would discontinue the mission of the IMT. We would like to renew that mandate,” he said.
“We would like to settle these two issues first, the ICG and the IMT, before we would conduct formal talks. We don’t like to leave unattended these two issues when we go to the negotiation table,” he said. “That’s why we can not say for certain when we would be starting the formal talks.”
Asked to comment on the MOA-AD, Jaafar said that “that’s already moot and academic now that we are meeting”.
“It remains there. It has been initialled. We have not discarded it,” he said.
DAVAO CITY – Chances were high of a new meeting in formal negotiation between the panels of government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), government and guerrilla leaders said after their third informal meeting led to a signing of an additional agreement on the protection of civilians from any aggressive or offensive actions by any of them.
“It’s highly imminent,” government chief negotiator, and Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis said on October 30 at the Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao, after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo also received the result of the Mindanao consultations on peace initiated and undertaken by the Bishops-Ulama Conference (BUC) this year.
Secretary Annabelle Abaya, chief of the government’s Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, separately told reporters that the formal meeting may take place soonest in December this year.
Seguis also said that that meeting could happen within the next six weeks at the earliest but expressed reservation that the date could drag on until both parties could smoothen out the composition of an international contact group (ICG).
The ICG was a separate group that the MILF has previously wished to be formed to ascertain that any new agreement between the two parties becomes internationally binding. It was made a condition after the MILF expressed dismay that the mutually crafted Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), which the two panels placed their initials as indication of agreement, was eventually shelved and declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in August last year.
Malacanang, whose Cabinet Cluster E on security has been consulted every step of the way towards the formulation of the agreement, also distanced itself and rejected the document, and later scuttled its peace panel.
Both panels have started talking, either jointly or separately, with countries that might be interested to join the ICG, and Seguis said that the composition should be mutually agreed also by both panels.
Government has already talked with four countries but Seguis said they could not yet send formal invitation until both panels could clarify certain issues, including their role, if they were there to be advisers only or to support the talks. He declined to disclose the countries being tapped.
Gadzali Jaafar, MILF vice chairman for political affairs, also confirmed to BusinessMirror of a likelihood of a formal meeting after the three informal meetings they have conducted since June.
“That’s the assessment of Secretary Seguis of a very imminent formal talks. To us, we can only say that it is very possible,” he said in an interview from his mobile phone on Sunday.
He said that the MILF would be concerned first on the ironing out of the composition and the giving of the mandate to the ICG, as well as the reconstitution of the same International Monitoring Team led by Malaysia.
“We have identified these countries, but yes, I would agree with Seguis that we have to keep on exploring for others until we can get their confirmation,” he said.
He disagreed with Seguis’s view however, when Seguis told reporters here, that government would have a new IMT “because the old IMT has already finished its [tour of duty] last year”.
“It’s mandate was not renewed, and thus they have to leave, because the talks have also collapsed that year. So we would have to seek another IMT,” he said. the old IMT was formed by Malaysia with military experts from Brunei and Libya and a lone economic expert from Japan comprising the 57-person team. The IMT has a mandate of only monitoring and investigating incidence of violations of the ceasefire.
Jaafar said however, that they would prefer the same IMT and would negotiate with the panel to agree to it. “Anyway, Malaysia did not say officially and privately that it would discontinue the mission of the IMT. We would like to renew that mandate,” he said.
“We would like to settle these two issues first, the ICG and the IMT, before we would conduct formal talks. We don’t like to leave unattended these two issues when we go to the negotiation table,” he said. “That’s why we can not say for certain when we would be starting the formal talks.”
Asked to comment on the MOA-AD, Jaafar said that “that’s already moot and academic now that we are meeting”.
“It remains there. It has been initialled. We have not discarded it,” he said.
Port workers trained anew on health and occupational safety
DAVAO CITY – Workers at the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) facilities in Luzon and Mindanao were trained anew on handling industrial hazardous and toxic materials – from cargo-handling and inspection to observing health and occupational safety standards – to improve port services and reduce accidents.
Davao Port District Manager Abdussabor Sawadjaan, said the PPA has stepped up “on raising-awareness on Basic Occupational Safety and Health Standards (BOSH) Course in tandem with the Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC) of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)”.
The move was intended to increase personal consciousness of the workers' occupational health “as industrial hazards escalate in modern work settings”.
Some 35 participants from Luzon and Mindanao joined the BOSH seminar held at the training center of the PPA Port District Office here on October 19-23. They represented local cargo handling operators, in-house PPA ports and terminals safety staff and private ports.
One foreign shipping company based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates also sent participants to the training.
The course modules covered topics on introduction to occupation safety and health (OSH), occupational safety, occupational environment, occupational health, responses to OSH issues and concerns, and re-entry planning.
OSH standards are mandatory rules and standards implemented to eliminate or reduce occupational hazards in every workplace. A PPA statement said that OSH standards “provides protection for each worker from dangers of injury, illness, physical harm or death while doing one’s job, particularly in areas where the interplay of people and elements such as corrosives, electricity, flammables, metals, microbes, oils, virus, among others, are relatively high".
“Port operational areas, hence, are hazard-prone as they serve as the conduits of various goods and humans whose interactions bring about possible threats to health, safety and even security of the area,” the PPA said. “Thus, dockworkers such as arrastre and stevedores, who directly deal with chemicals, equipment, machines or come in contact with dangerous cargoes apart from the natural and man-made elements exposure everyday are most prone to physical stressors and threats while at work which may affect their well-being at present or in the long-term.”
Among the hazard-prone places include garages, dry docks, port hangars, maintenance and repair shops of establishments engaged in air, land and sea transportation, the PPA said.
Under the law, every organization or place of employment covered in the OSH manual has to be inspected at least once a year to determine compliance with OSH standards, the PPA said.
“Special visits may also be authorized by the DOLE to investigate accidents, occupational illnesses or dangerous occurrences, especially those resulting in permanent total disability or death due to working conditions, environmental contaminants and physical conditions,” it added.
Sawadjaan said that safety and health consciousness “is one of the cornerstones of port operations management [and] this mindset should be a daily practice in the workplace to fulfill the Zero Accident Program (ZAP) commitment”.
Annual trainings and updates on OSH were being conducted on those assigned in the implementation of health and safety standards in their respective organizations such as doctors, medics, industrial nurses, safety officers, and field supervisors and managers. “These are the core staff who are in the position to model and teach principles and practices on OSH standards in their respective working environment”.
“Although we already have a safety program, I learned that there are illnesses which our laborers contract on the job, especially skin irritations especially while working in the ship’s hatch,” said Concepcion Dulay, general manager of B.S.D. Arrastre and Stevedoring Services based in Culion, Palawan.
She said she would push for provision of physical protective gears such as masks, gloves, raincoats and towels, including the putting up of drinking water stations “within every worker’s reach to avoid heat stroke”.
Resource speakers were: OSH Training Specialist II Marnie Pebrada (Unsafe/Unhealthy Acts or Conditions); Engr. Alex Marlo Sacabon (Housekeeping Materials Handling and Storage, Electrical Safety, Personal Protective Equipment and Safety Inspection); Engr. Onna Cruz (Fire Safety, Machine Safety and Development/Improvement of OSH Programs at the Establishment Level); Engr. Nelia Granadillos (Industrial Hygiene and Control Measures) and; Dr. Maria Beatriz Villanueva (Workplace Hazards and Their Potential Health Effects).
Davao Port District Manager Abdussabor Sawadjaan, said the PPA has stepped up “on raising-awareness on Basic Occupational Safety and Health Standards (BOSH) Course in tandem with the Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC) of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)”.
The move was intended to increase personal consciousness of the workers' occupational health “as industrial hazards escalate in modern work settings”.
Some 35 participants from Luzon and Mindanao joined the BOSH seminar held at the training center of the PPA Port District Office here on October 19-23. They represented local cargo handling operators, in-house PPA ports and terminals safety staff and private ports.
One foreign shipping company based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates also sent participants to the training.
The course modules covered topics on introduction to occupation safety and health (OSH), occupational safety, occupational environment, occupational health, responses to OSH issues and concerns, and re-entry planning.
OSH standards are mandatory rules and standards implemented to eliminate or reduce occupational hazards in every workplace. A PPA statement said that OSH standards “provides protection for each worker from dangers of injury, illness, physical harm or death while doing one’s job, particularly in areas where the interplay of people and elements such as corrosives, electricity, flammables, metals, microbes, oils, virus, among others, are relatively high".
“Port operational areas, hence, are hazard-prone as they serve as the conduits of various goods and humans whose interactions bring about possible threats to health, safety and even security of the area,” the PPA said. “Thus, dockworkers such as arrastre and stevedores, who directly deal with chemicals, equipment, machines or come in contact with dangerous cargoes apart from the natural and man-made elements exposure everyday are most prone to physical stressors and threats while at work which may affect their well-being at present or in the long-term.”
Among the hazard-prone places include garages, dry docks, port hangars, maintenance and repair shops of establishments engaged in air, land and sea transportation, the PPA said.
Under the law, every organization or place of employment covered in the OSH manual has to be inspected at least once a year to determine compliance with OSH standards, the PPA said.
“Special visits may also be authorized by the DOLE to investigate accidents, occupational illnesses or dangerous occurrences, especially those resulting in permanent total disability or death due to working conditions, environmental contaminants and physical conditions,” it added.
Sawadjaan said that safety and health consciousness “is one of the cornerstones of port operations management [and] this mindset should be a daily practice in the workplace to fulfill the Zero Accident Program (ZAP) commitment”.
Annual trainings and updates on OSH were being conducted on those assigned in the implementation of health and safety standards in their respective organizations such as doctors, medics, industrial nurses, safety officers, and field supervisors and managers. “These are the core staff who are in the position to model and teach principles and practices on OSH standards in their respective working environment”.
“Although we already have a safety program, I learned that there are illnesses which our laborers contract on the job, especially skin irritations especially while working in the ship’s hatch,” said Concepcion Dulay, general manager of B.S.D. Arrastre and Stevedoring Services based in Culion, Palawan.
She said she would push for provision of physical protective gears such as masks, gloves, raincoats and towels, including the putting up of drinking water stations “within every worker’s reach to avoid heat stroke”.
Resource speakers were: OSH Training Specialist II Marnie Pebrada (Unsafe/Unhealthy Acts or Conditions); Engr. Alex Marlo Sacabon (Housekeeping Materials Handling and Storage, Electrical Safety, Personal Protective Equipment and Safety Inspection); Engr. Onna Cruz (Fire Safety, Machine Safety and Development/Improvement of OSH Programs at the Establishment Level); Engr. Nelia Granadillos (Industrial Hygiene and Control Measures) and; Dr. Maria Beatriz Villanueva (Workplace Hazards and Their Potential Health Effects).
Monday, November 9, 2009
Voters' education trims down filling up of ballot to 6 minutes – group
DAVAO CITY – A monitoring conducted by the election advocacy group, YouthVote Philippines, said repeated voter education has familiarized Filipino voters with the automated process, trimming down to six minutes the length of stay of a voter in the polling precinct.
The YouthVotePhilippines said that its second round time-and-motion study on filling up the ballot held October 24-25 in San Isidro Central School, Nueva Ecija showed that education campaign by various groups helped voters to rummage through the new technology introduced by the Commission on Elections for the 2010 Presidential elections.
“Results of the recent study show that, on average, it may take a voter six minutes and one second to fill up the proposed ballot for the automated elections,” the group said, adding that this was an improvement from the average in the first study conducted in Tanauan, Batangas, which recorded an average of eight minutes and four seconds.
It said that it conducted the two studies with PoliticalArena.com, a socio-political networking site. The group said that it used an improvised ballot based on the sample design of the Comelec, and in the second study, the ballot featured substitute questions for 32 electoral positions with 338 candidates printed on both sides of the paper.
For its second round, the YouthVote Philippines also shortened the ballot size from 25 to 20 inches and “adjusted the font size to Arial Narrow 11 also as per Comelec advice”.
“Proper orientation on the voting process can really help a voter fill up the ballot easier and faster,” said Ching Jorge, lead convener of the YouthVote Philippines in an internet posting. “The result is a welcome development and we’re gearing our voter education program to not only get people informed about the candidates but to also familiarize them with the ballot and the new process.”
The group said that an exit interview it alsoconducted among participants of the study indicated positive feedback. “Several teachers, elderly and experienced voters, who participated in the study, said they were relieved that voting will still be done using paper ballots, as they were afraid that automated elections meant computerized voting”.
“Previous Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) chairpersons also expressed relief that the voting process will not be very different from past elections. A 74-year old voter said he was thankful the youth were initiating change. A total of 534 people of voting age participated in the study,” the group further said.
“People are always wary about new processes especially for events that will impact them personally like elections. It’s important that experienced voters have seen that it is not so much changing the old process but making it more efficient,” said Jaime Garchitorena, YouthVote information technology strategist.
“What we need to do now, especially Comelec and other groups with voter education programs, is to enlighten the public on which parts of the process will be automated, which parts will be a bit different and which parts will be similar,” he said.
“As we improve the way we conduct elections, we think we should also improve the way we conduct voter education. Aside from knowing more about the candidates and developing democratic criteria, people should also now be informed on how exactly to engage the electoral process so they won’t feel indifferent,” added Tanya Hamada, YouthVote regional convener.
In the second time-and-motion study, the participants came from different sectors including the out-of-school and elderly voters. The participants were oriented on the mechanics of filling up the ballot to avoid over-voting and shading problems.
“When we released the results of the first study, some people said we got a good average time because our participants were all students who are used to shading, like when they do it during exams,” Jorge said. “But with the result of the second study, it goes to show that with proper guidance even experienced voters can easily adjust to the new process.”
The group said it launched the studies and information campaign to address “concerns regarding difficulties and delays that might be caused by the new process and clustering of precincts”. It said that the Comelec had planned “to collapse the existing 320,415 voting precincts into 80,146 clustered precincts in order to match the available 82,200 counting machines, also known as PCOS (Precinct Count Optical Scan)|.
“The new set up will cluster up to 1,000 registered voters in every precinct, which will be open for 11 hours,” it said.
“We thought it better to experiment and investigate instead of whining about automated elections,” said Garchitorena. “I think the youth and the public in general deserves to know the facts of this new technology and process.”
The group made its presence felt since June 2008 when it began to engage the Comelec in dialogues focused on the immediate resumption of the registration of voters
The YouthVotePhilippines said that its second round time-and-motion study on filling up the ballot held October 24-25 in San Isidro Central School, Nueva Ecija showed that education campaign by various groups helped voters to rummage through the new technology introduced by the Commission on Elections for the 2010 Presidential elections.
“Results of the recent study show that, on average, it may take a voter six minutes and one second to fill up the proposed ballot for the automated elections,” the group said, adding that this was an improvement from the average in the first study conducted in Tanauan, Batangas, which recorded an average of eight minutes and four seconds.
It said that it conducted the two studies with PoliticalArena.com, a socio-political networking site. The group said that it used an improvised ballot based on the sample design of the Comelec, and in the second study, the ballot featured substitute questions for 32 electoral positions with 338 candidates printed on both sides of the paper.
For its second round, the YouthVote Philippines also shortened the ballot size from 25 to 20 inches and “adjusted the font size to Arial Narrow 11 also as per Comelec advice”.
“Proper orientation on the voting process can really help a voter fill up the ballot easier and faster,” said Ching Jorge, lead convener of the YouthVote Philippines in an internet posting. “The result is a welcome development and we’re gearing our voter education program to not only get people informed about the candidates but to also familiarize them with the ballot and the new process.”
The group said that an exit interview it alsoconducted among participants of the study indicated positive feedback. “Several teachers, elderly and experienced voters, who participated in the study, said they were relieved that voting will still be done using paper ballots, as they were afraid that automated elections meant computerized voting”.
“Previous Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) chairpersons also expressed relief that the voting process will not be very different from past elections. A 74-year old voter said he was thankful the youth were initiating change. A total of 534 people of voting age participated in the study,” the group further said.
“People are always wary about new processes especially for events that will impact them personally like elections. It’s important that experienced voters have seen that it is not so much changing the old process but making it more efficient,” said Jaime Garchitorena, YouthVote information technology strategist.
“What we need to do now, especially Comelec and other groups with voter education programs, is to enlighten the public on which parts of the process will be automated, which parts will be a bit different and which parts will be similar,” he said.
“As we improve the way we conduct elections, we think we should also improve the way we conduct voter education. Aside from knowing more about the candidates and developing democratic criteria, people should also now be informed on how exactly to engage the electoral process so they won’t feel indifferent,” added Tanya Hamada, YouthVote regional convener.
In the second time-and-motion study, the participants came from different sectors including the out-of-school and elderly voters. The participants were oriented on the mechanics of filling up the ballot to avoid over-voting and shading problems.
“When we released the results of the first study, some people said we got a good average time because our participants were all students who are used to shading, like when they do it during exams,” Jorge said. “But with the result of the second study, it goes to show that with proper guidance even experienced voters can easily adjust to the new process.”
The group said it launched the studies and information campaign to address “concerns regarding difficulties and delays that might be caused by the new process and clustering of precincts”. It said that the Comelec had planned “to collapse the existing 320,415 voting precincts into 80,146 clustered precincts in order to match the available 82,200 counting machines, also known as PCOS (Precinct Count Optical Scan)|.
“The new set up will cluster up to 1,000 registered voters in every precinct, which will be open for 11 hours,” it said.
“We thought it better to experiment and investigate instead of whining about automated elections,” said Garchitorena. “I think the youth and the public in general deserves to know the facts of this new technology and process.”
The group made its presence felt since June 2008 when it began to engage the Comelec in dialogues focused on the immediate resumption of the registration of voters
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
