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IPs’ fight for justice continues despite Satur, Castro conviction

TAGUM CITY, Davao del Norte – More than 500 indigenous people (IPs) and their supporters come together in a powerful display of unity for justice and reconciliation.

Beneath the scorching sun on Tuesday, a defiant spirit blazes and their fervor cause radiates along the national highway in front of the Davao del Norte Sports and Tourism Complex here.

Former Reds laud conviction of Satur, Ocampo, 11 others

ASUNCION, Davao del Note – A group of former cadres and members of the CPP-NPA-NDFP yesterday lauded the conviction of former Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo and Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT-Teachers) Rep.France Castro for child kidnapping charges.

“The court decision is a crucial step toward justice for the lumads (indigenous peoples) of Talaingod, who have long been exploited by false promises of radical change,” KalinawSoutheastern Mindanao Region said in a statement.

Advocates strategize climate financing at PH Green Climate Fund conference

MANILA City — Climate advocates from civil society and development partners from the private and public sectors gathered at the 1st National Stakeholders Conference 2024 on the Green Climate Fund (GCF) held on June 27 to discuss and develop strategies for addressing the Philippines’ urgent need for sustainable and responsive action through climate financing.

Expanding stakeholder involvement for climate action: COOPeration is key

The Philippines is identified as one of the most at risk countries to disasters caused by climate change. The country experiences an average of 20 tropical cyclones every year, with eight to nine making landfall. In the last decade, rampaging tropical cyclones resulted in  Php 673.3 billion in losses and damages.

Because of climate change, the Philippines is also increasingly becoming exposed to longer and harsher dry seasons, invariably impacting economic activities and productivity due to effects on the health and well-being of Filipinos.

Then, as now

Beside me is a copy of the book, “The bases of our insecurity,” by Roland Simbulan, a noted U.P. scholar and nationalist. First published in 1985 at the height of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s martial law, it is the former’s seminal work on the presence of US military bases in the Philippines. I have kept the book all these decades in reverence to the academically reliable Simbulan, and in reluctant anticipation of a time when I’d gingerly want to open its pages anew.  

Such a time has come today.

OFFICIAL STATEMENT On the Recent Removal of Davao City Police Officials

Good day my fellow Davaoeños,

I am addressing you today regarding the recent mass relief of our police officials ordered by Chief PNP General Rommel Francisco Marbil and implemented by Police Regional Office XI Regional Director PB General Nicolas Torre.

Davao City has earned a longstanding reputation for its commitment to peace and order and security for our people. This did not come by accident. It came about by a combination of political will, committed and dedicated law enforcers and, most of all, citizens’ cooperation.

The enigma that is VP Inday

Vice-President Sara Duterte has become one big enigma to the nation.

Exactly two years after she took her oath of office as the country’s 15th Vice-President, Duterte stepped down both as Secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd) and as vice-chairperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

“Mga kababayan, ang aking pagbibitiw ay hindi lulan ng kahinaan, kundi dala ng tunay na malasakit para sa ating mga guro at kabataang Pilipino,” she declared in her resignation speech.

Dėjá vu?

In 1992, when I was a staff member at the newly-established Office of the President-Mindanao, we crunched some numbers and concluded that Mindanao wallowed in negative economic growth at minus 0.48 percent. Although that figure would climb steadily to 4.12 percent by 1995, midway through Fidel Ramos’s presidency, that 1992 backwater fact was telling.

For one, it compared with the national figure—0.4 percent—a similarly dismal reality. For another, it dovetailed a story of how a nation clawed its way out of the abysmal hole of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s (FM) martial law years.