durianburgdavao new year’s wish: MAY PEACE REIGN IN MINDANAO

MERRY CHRISTMAS
AND A
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL

PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT ASKED TO BARE PEACE NEGOTIATION SPENDING

Davao City councilor wants peace talk funds probed
By ROGER M. BALANZA
With peace talks between the Philippine Government and insurgent groups going nowhere, a Davao City councilor has called for a probe on millions of pesos spent by government in peace negotiations.
Councilor Bonifacio Militar said there is a need to review the methods used by [...]

5,000 Davao City families to lose houses in 2009

BALIKATAN FORESCLOSURES COMING
By ROGER M. BALANZA
About five thousand homeowners in Davao City facing foreclosure of their government-financed housing units may lose their homes after Christmas.
Davao City Federation of Homeowners Association President Richy Nalagon said Balikatan Housing Finance Corporation is set to issue the foreclosures by January after announcing last month a Christmas respite.
Balikatan is a [...]

NPA ORDERS RELEASE OF CAMMAYO

An Act of Goodwill
Rigoberto F. Sanchez
Spokesperson
Merardo Arce Command
Southern Mindanao Regional Operational Command
New People’s Army
December 28, 2008

The Merardo Arce Command-Southern Mindanao Regional Operations Command of the New People’s Army (Merardo Arce Command-NPA) has unilaterally decided to release NPA prisoner of war 1st Lt. Vicente P. Cammayo (SN 864629) on the first week of January 2009. POW [...]

Compostela Valley capitol at Christmas

Compostela Valley as vegetable bowl

Harvest Festival in Comval
Governor Arturo “Chiongkee” Uy last week led local officials in the ceremonial harvest of vegetables planted by a batch of trainees who graduated from a vegetable production course, as the provincial government of Compostela Valley Province positions itself as a major vegetable bowl in the region.

BOUNTIFUL HARVEST. Gov. Uy, middle, delights [...]

SAD XMAS FOR MAN WHO LOST PENIS, HALF HIS BALLS

Treasured tools eaten by boat propeller
By ROGER M. BALANZA

A month after a tragic shoreline incident, Birgilio Castillo (not his real name) is spending Christmas without a penis and half his balls.
Castillo of General Santos City in Southern Philippines has been object of neighborhood pity—and naughty jokes—after landing in the headlines of local papers in November [...]

DIAMOND JUBILEE – Archdiocese of Davao

GMA XMAS PARTY FOR DAVAO JOURNALISTS

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo takes time to huddle with Davao Region-based members of the press during a Christmas party for journalists held on Thursday at the Seagull Inland Resort in Buda, Bukidnon of Press Secretary Jesus Dureza.

Ex-Davao City mayor slaps nephew with 8 estafa raps

Eight counts of estafa have been filed by former Davao City mayor and Local Government secretary Luis T. Santos against a relative alleged to have mishandled funds of the family-owned Santos Land Development Corporation, a real estate company.
Company chairman Santos, popularly known in Davao City is Luigi, accused his nephew architect Francisco Santos, of accepting [...]