Esperon: MILF-GRP pact on ancestral domain underway

Hermogenes Esperon, presidential adviser on the peace process and former Armed Forces chief, expressed optimism that a memorandum of agreement on the issue of ancestral domain will be signed by September between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Esperon made the pronouncement in a briefing with Mindanao stakeholders, including the media, Thursday [...]

Indigenous people told to share ancestral lands with business

Lumads, agri-business in joint farm ventures

Davao City councilor Conrado Baluran said tribal communities are being encouraged to enter into joint ventures with large business to spur farm productivity in the city’s hinterlands.
This is part of our campaign to help indigenous people convert their ancestral lands into productive uses, said Baluran, chair of [...]

DUTERTE NOT RETURNING TO RPOC DESPITE REBEL THREATS

“NPAs advancing to urban centers”
By ROGER M. BALANZA
Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte yesterday said New People’s Army rebels are bringing their offensive operations closer to urban centers, but said he is not taking back his post as chair of the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) despite the threat.
This plan was bared [...]

Running away from a war: The children of Compostela Valley

PRIZED POSSESSION.  A young child, displaced by military-rebel clashes in Compostela Valley in Southhern Philippines, holds a chicken as if his life depends on it, at an evacuation center in Davao City. Hundreds of farmers mostly indigenous peoples have fled Compostela Valley as government troopers lock in sporadic battles with the communist New People’s Army.

Governor Uy slams human rights group Karapatan; farmer leader shot dead

By ROGER M. BALANZA

LAND NOT BULLETS. This is the message on the hat of farmer leader Celso Pojas during the peasant month press conference in October last year. Celso Pojas, former secretary-general of the Farmers’ Association of Davao City and spokesman of the KMP in Southern Mindanao, was gunned down today, the first militant leader [...]

Lumads up in arms vs. Australian mining firm

Davao Oriental mining firm wants Aussies out of nickel project
By ROGER M. BALANZA

A local mining firm in Davao Oriental wants to rescind its joint venture agreement with an Australian mining firm it accused of moving slow on the Pujada Bay nickel project.

Asiaticus Management Corp. (Amcor) said its partnership with BHP Billiton has remained on the [...]

Duterte all the way for Pastor Quiboloy

Rody: I will stand by Pastor Quiboloy
By ROGER M. BALANZA

“He will be my friend until kingdom come….whether he goes to hell or heaven.”
Mayor Rodrigo Duterte dished out this statement as Pastor Apollo Quiboloy is linked to the killing of a tribal leader last week, allegedly for refusing to sell his two-hectare farm [...]

OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF PASTOR APOLLO C. QUIBOLOY ON DATU DOMINADOR DIAROG’S KILLING

WE DO NOT WISH TO DIGNIFY THE INITIAL REPORTS LINKING OUR CONGREGATION TO THE UNFORTUNATE INCIDENT THAT HAPPENED IN A NEARBY BARANGAY ADJACENT TO THE COVENANT MOUNTAIN AND PRAYER CENTER IN TAMAYONG.
WE STRONGLY DENY THESE AS TOTALLY FALSE AND BASELESS, IF NOT RIDICULOUS.
WE TRUST ONLY THE POLICE AND THE MILITARY AUTHORITIES IN INVESTIGATING THE INCIDENT [...]

Task Force Davao: We are not Quiboloy ‘private army’

Pastor paying salaries of miltiary-trained militiamen

The former commanding officer of Task Force Davao has denied the military contingent is a “private army” of Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, adding troopers and militiamen assigned to the pastor and his Prayer Mountain in Tamayong, Calinan district are covered by a memorandum of agreement.
If they are used [...]

TRIBAL LEADER SLAMMED FOR LUMAD RECRUITMENT VS. COMMUNIST REBELS

CHRISTIANS FEAR SEIZURE OF PROPERTY IN ANCESTRAL DOMAIN
A municipal mayor in Compostela Valley wants a tribal leader from Davao City investigated for reportedly organizing indigenous people in the province to rise up against the New People’s Army.
Laac mayor Rey Navarro said he would ask Governor Arturo Uy and the National Commission [...]