PAQUIBATO DISTRICT, Davao City (MindaNews/22 February) – It’s a sunny day and Ka Ruben, a New People’s Army guerrilla, turned the dial of his portable radio to scan for FM stations. He stopped turning the dial upon hearing “Carrie,” a hit song of Swedish band Europe, and started to sharpen his bolo beside his hammock underneath the young ipil-ipil trees.

After a few strokes and the bolo had become sharp enough, Ka Ruben laid down on his hammock and took a deep breath as he watched the houses of civilians from his post on top of a hill. With his assault rifle dangling on the branch of a tree, he took the opportunity to get a long rest until the afternoon.

He barely had 12 hours left to enjoy a complete rest before the ceasefire expired by 12 midnight of February 22.

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) declared a weeklong ceasefire, from February 15 to 21, in deference to the start of peace talks between the government and the National Democratic Front (NDF).

Ka Ruben belongs to the NPA’s First Pulang Bagani Company under Leoncio Pitao, popularly known as Commander Parago.

On the other side of the hill, several mass supporters milled around the guerilla base sharing jokes and stories to the other NPA guerillas. It’s the last day of the truce, and aside from the mass supporters, some friends and relatives had come to visit the guerrillas.

Ka Ruben’s post overlooked a vast banana plantation and barren mountains, where they would normally operate and engage government troops every now and then.

“I’m sure after the ceasefire we cannot enjoy longer rest because we will be constantly moving from one place to other to evade enemy patrols,” he said.

Family visit

Ka Al, now in his late 40s, told MindaNews that the mass supporters or “masa” took the opportunity to consult them regarding their problems.

“Some would come here to talk about their personal problems within the family, some would come here to consult about their land problems, and some would come here to seek medical assistance. They come and go in our temporary base,” he said in the vernacular.

Some “masa,” Ka Al said, would spend a night with them in the hammocks and makeshift beds which are usually made of knotted branches.

He added that the ceasefire has given their family members a chance to visit them.

A few meters away from the hammock of Pitao, a female guerrilla prepared taro (gabi) leaves and stems for lunch while another NPA guerrilla grated coconut meat. They were preparing a lunch of taro cooked with coconut milk and spiced with chopped ginger and sliced green chili.

At 12 noon, everybody was called for lunch. But they took turns eating and manning their posts.

Pitao accidentally chewed chili, unaware that it was among the spices. One female guerilla also ran towards him and asked for water after she too chewed chili.

By 2pm, a loud wail of a pig echoed between the hills as the NPAs dragged the animal underneath a guava tree. The rebels bought the 107-kilo pig for P7,000 from one of their “masa” in the nearby village.

As Ka Ruben pulled his burnished bolo, two other NPAs held the pig for the kill while other guerillas set on fire dried wood and coconut leaves.

Instead of the usual practice of shaving the pig after pouring boiled water on it, the NPAs poured water and then scrubbed it with burning coconut leaves. They then shaved the skin using spoons, knives and bolos. It’s a like feast as some masa had come over to watch the guerrillas butcher the pig.

In the other outpost, some NPAs took time to read newspapers and magazines, which they could only enjoy if they are not on alert such as during a ceasefire.

Then a woman in her 60s came down from the hills after collecting the payment for her pig. A guerrilla approached her and handed about a kilo of meat as pabaon.

Still on alert

But even if the ceasefire was holding, the NPAs said some of them were keeping an eye on their perimeter. “It is a standard procedure, we are at war, you cannot be assured by the ceasefire.”

About an hour later, the butchered pig had been sliced into pieces and distributed to different squads. Near where they cut the meat, some NPAs set a fire to roast some parts of the pig.

For Ka Raya, the ceasefire allowed her to visit her 5-month-old baby, who was being taken care of by one of their “masa” in the nearby village.

“I miss my daughter but this is our life, time will come that she will understand why we are in this situation,” said the 21-year old guerrilla, an M-16 assault rifle dangling on her shoulder.

After the ceasefire, Ka Raya said, she didn’t know when she will see her baby again because she and her husband, also an NPA guerilla, had to move away.

Meanwhile, Ka Ruben and his comrades feasted on the roasted intestines and other organs while a huge portion of the meat had been preserved for the rest of the week.

“We just put salt and place them in our plastic containers. It will last for days as long as you don’t wash it with water,” he said.

As the day ended, Pitao said: “Look at the people, they also enjoy the ceasefire. This is the importance of the peace talks; nobody wants to go to war everyday. But sometimes the situation pushes the people to take up arms.” (Keith Bacongco/MindaNews)

When Ruby Thursday  More was still working on her portfolio about Moro women, we happened to meet Bai Romina Pendatun-Ali in the marshy town of Gen. Salipada K. Pendatun sometime in March this year.

After making some arrangements on our trip to one of the villages in Liguasan Marsh, Bai Romina shared to us that she has been encouraging the women in GSKP to learn the craft of mat and bag weaving since there are so many indigenous materials available in the area.

“Para naman hindi na sila mahirapan na sumama sa mga asawa nila para mangisda sa Liguasan Marsh. Grabe ang init ngayon,” she stressed.

She bared that there is a Moro women’s group in GSKP that is that is into bags and mat weaving. The group is also sharing the technology to other interested women.

I was really interested to interview this women group but we had no time anymore and it is not our priority yet. Our main target for the days is to get in to the marsh. So I asked her if we could go back in GSKP and interview the women group. And she said, YES.

But last August 19,during the opening of the Mindanao Trade Expo 2010, the women group I was looking for is among the 100 exhibitors.

Finally, I have a story now! I was able to interview the head of the women group. I also introduced the women group to my fellow journalists. But the head of the group, still invited us to visit their place and meet their women weavers.

Women’s group making money from water hyacinths in the Liguasan Marsh

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/20 Aug) – While water hyacinths are being blamed for clogging and flooding some areas near the Liguasan Marsh, a women’s group based in Gen. Salipada K. Pendatun (GSKP) town of Maguindanao is making money out of this aquatic plant that can be found in the marshy villages. The water hyacinths, which are free-floating perennial aquatic plant, are commonly found in the towns surrounding the Liguasan Marsh that straddles the boundary of Maguindanao, North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat provinces.

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/12 Aug) — I was browsing the official Kadayawan sa Davao website on Wednesday morning to check for upcoming events when I noticed a familiar photograph of then Vice Mayor (now Mayor) Sara Duterte hailed by her supporters outside the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office after filing her certificate of candidacy for mayor.

I thought it was Ruby Thursday More’s photograph because it was not posted on my Flickr account, where I usually upload my dispatched photos. But when I checked on the sent folder of my email, it turned out it was my photo after all.

To confirm it was, indeed, my photo, I checked my archives and found out that it was taken on November 30, 2009. So I wrote an e-mail to the secretariat of the Kadayawan 2010 via its online email form.

I told them, in a note dripping with sarcasm, to please rename the filename of the photo especially if they grabbed it from somewhere so that it would be a little harder for the owner to trace or recognize it.

Unfortunately, the photograph they posted at Kadayawan website still bore the file name format that I have been using for AKP Images’ dispatches. This only shows the laziness of those running this website. I don’t know how hard to rename the file. In short, katangahan!

This only shows not only the laziness of those running this website but their brazenness in using someone else’s photographs without permission, without care they would be caught. And caught they were. Surely, the city government can afford to hire better web designers to have a more presentable website? Then again, surely, the city government can afford to hire honest web designers?

But that’s another story.

What really irks me is that the photo is not even posted in my online galleries. And yet it reached the hands of the Kadayawan Secretariat? How?

Minutes later, I received an email from the City Tourism Office:

“Sir, we apologize for the negligence. Which photo man, Sir, so that we can give you proper credit? Or if you would really want us to remove it, we will do so. “The photos are from the files of the previous Kadayawan Festivals compiled by/submitted to the City Tourism Operations Office. The other photos are from the Documentation Team of the previous Kadayawan Festivals. Our apologies, sir. Sensya na gyud kaau in behalf of our office.”

It was signed by Ian Garcia.

Mysterious source

I told him that it does not belong to the Kadayawan Festival. The photograph, in fact, wasn’t taken during Kadayawan. Most of all, the photo was not dispatched to the city government or the city tourism office, to be specific. So how come it reached Kadayawan Secretariat or City Tourism Office?

I checked my “sent” folder and found the photograph, along with three others I think, was dispatched only to Davao City-based Mindanao Times and Daily Mirror, two national dailies and three online news sites.

But Mr. Garcia, who also writes for Mindanao Times, had the gall to ask me if I want to be credited in the website. No thanks, Mr. Garcia. Worse, the photo they selected for the 1st Mayor Inday Sara Duterte All – Women Aero Marathon does not match the event. It does not symbolize or represent the event at all! It is an election-related photograph!

It would have been better if they posted a photo of Mayor Sara Duterte taken during the previous Kadayawan Festivals. Common sense.

And they could have asked a photograph from the City Information Office which is funded by taxpayers and which should have a photo of the mayor.

Designers can suggest

I don’t believe webmasters or designers only follow what their clients say. As a designer myself, if I would be given an inappropriate photo for a certain page, I would demand that an appropriate photo be given me.

A festival website could draw hundreds of thousands of viewers to check on events so the website must be presentable enough and the materials posted, appropriate so as not to mislead the public.

The Kadayawan Secretariat should maintain an archive of photographs so that when they need materials for promotional materials, they can just easily retrieve and not grab someone else’s without permission.

I believe the Kadayawan Secretariat has a budget for photo documentation every year. After all, this is the 25th Kadayawan, right? So where are your photographs? Why resort to stealing someone else’s work? Note that the photograph in question was not posted online. So how did it reach the Kadayawan Festival Secretariat? Mysterious.

Common problem

Although my photo has been removed from the page of the website, the issue doesn’t end there. The issue is stealing photographs. It’s an issue of professional dishonesty. Respect the photographers, please, even if grabbing and reposting someone else’s photo is a common crime in the World Wide Web.

This is a common problem among photographers who maintain online galleries. Watermarks are not enough to protect your photographs given the power of photo editing software these days. Many photographers also complain of illegal downloading and reposting of photographs.

Well aside from simply downloading from the websites, photographs can now be easily slipped from one digital drive to another. I believe this is what happened to my photograph of Mayor Duterte.

But the question is, from whose computer did they steal that photograph?

It’s hard to stop this problem. But for us who belong to the media community, we must show some respect to our fellow journalists.

Jimmy Domingo, photojournalism faculty of the Asian Center for Journalism at the Ateneo de Manila University, told us: “Once you upload your photograph on the Internet, nanakawin talaga yan!”

In this digital world, we cannot really control Internet piracy – from music, videos, artworks, photographs and other digital files. Personally, I won’t mind if the photo has been grabbed from my online galleries. I’m ready to face the truth that once it’s on the net, somebody’s going to steal it.

Whoever you are, and the rest of those who are stealing photographs: please remember you did not just steal my photograph. You also stole my livelihood.

P.S. The Kadayawan Secretariat must remind Digilution, the site’s host and developer, to totally delete my photograph from its online storage. It’s still there, as of this writing. I know how to trace it.

(Keith Bacongco is MindaNews’ webmaster. He is one of the founders of AKP Images, and he has a Diploma of Photojournalism of the Asian Center for Journalism at the Ateneo de Manila University.)

This could mean more mining applications under Aquino administration as well as more proposals for hydro-dams in major rivers in Mindanao. I asked him if what are the potentials of having alternative sources of energy such as wind and solar. He said yes but it’s pretty expensive for the government to develop these alternative sources of energy.

Although he acknowledged that there are potentials but it may be enough to ease out the ‘power shortage’ in the future.

Power, mining are drivers of Mindanao development–MinDA

HAGONOY, Davao del Sur—Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) chairman Jesus Dureza has identified the power and mining industries as among of the top long-term priorities to help boost the economy in Mindanao.

When El Niño hit Mindanao from January to May this year, Dureza said the island also suffered power outages that affected the business community in the area.

Currently, most of the power from Mindanao is derived from hydro-dams in the island, he said.

The MinDA head also expressed the belief that there is a continuing need to develop more hydro-power dams and other sources of energy in Mindanao.

“We have learned from our experience during  El Niño. In the past, the cycle of the dry spell is about 10 years. But now experts say it could be shorter. So we must be prepared for it. Otherwise, Mindanao’s economy will suffer,” said Dureza, who spoke in barangay Aplaya during the turnover of the ACT for Peace livelihood project to the community.

Dureza, who also serves as National Programme Director of Action for Conflict Transformation for Peace Progam (ACT for Peace), added he is ready to share with his successor his experience as chair of the defunct Mindanao Economic Development Council (MEDCo) and Office of the Presidential Assistant for Mindanao (Opamin).

“If the President makes a choice, I’m willing to share my experience because I have served since the time of President Ramos and President Arroyo,” he said.

Asked if he could recommend somebody  to replace him, Dureza replied, “We’ll see if the time comes.” [read on]

But health officials would not say if there is already an outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease in the region.

In a news conference here, Ana Remolar, chief of the Information Division of the Department of Health Region 11, disclosed that they have recorded 2,607 cases of dengue from provinces of Davao del Sur, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley from January to June.

In January to June 2009, the health department recorded 1,748 dengue cases, said Remolar. [read more]

Even media handlers of some high ranking government officials who visi the provinces, also ask the same question.

Why? The answer is simple: you get special treatment if you’re “national.”

You get to interview longer, have more photo opportunities or be given the priority in asking questions during press conferences.

A day before Presidential visits here, the Philippine Information Agency and PMS personnel brief reporters about the purpose of the visit and the President’s itinerary.

The PIA then hands over to the journalist his/her accreditation card or sticker for that specific event. Without accreditation, the Presidential Security Group (PSG) won’t allow you in.

But on the day of the event, you’d hear people from Manila classifying

journalists into “local” and national.” Oftentimes, what has been relayed during the briefing is not followed. *Nag*briefing* pa!*

Aside from the Radio-TV Malacañang (RTVM) crew, the President is also

accompanied by members of the Palace press corps, mostly coming from giant TV networks, wire agencies and major daily broadsheets.

In most cases, PMS people would draw the line: no local photojournalist and videographer allowed beyond their designated area because that is exclusive for the “national media.”

Oh, the PSG or PMS has never and will never draw the line for the “national media.”

This is unfair to us, members of the community media or what they refer to as “local media.”

We understand that it’s part of their job to secure the President but they should also understand that we have a job to do, too, like our counterparts in the national media.

The Presidential visits

In one of the Presidential visits here, a PMS personnel ordered the local photographers and videographers out of the area where they had set up their equipment because that was supposedly for the “national media.”

We had positioned ourselves and had actually started taking pictures and videographers’ cameras were already rolling. But the PMS personnel still drove us out to give way to the “national media.”

Why? Are local media practitioners second class journalists? Don’t we

deserve the same treatment?

Our communities deserve to see a better angle of our photos and videos, too.

They deserve to listen very clearly to what the President is saying. They also deserve to know what questions the community journalists are asking .

The most disappointing, however, is when members of “national media” would bluntly tell us: “D’yan lang kayo mga locals ha; dito kami mga national.”

Well, most of the “locals” are paid per piece of story or photograph? And that before they get paid, especially the photographers, they need to produce a good and clear shot of the President?

Ours, Yours

On April 9, Liberal Party presidential bet Sen. Noynoy Aquino and running mate Sen. Mar Roxas were in Davao City for the proclamation rally with Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

Minutes before Aquino and party touched down at the Davao International Airport, I inquired if there was a vehicle that would shuttle the local photographers and videographers who would cover the motorcade from the airport to the city proper.

I was told that somebody had volunteered his pick-up and that this would be the vehicle that would be ahead of the truck that would carry Aquino, Roxas, and the Dutertes.

But right after the press conference at the Civilian Air Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), several Manila-based cameramen from major TV networks rushed to our assigned vehicle and positioned themselves there, without the courtesy of asking if the vehicle was for them.

They simply assumed the vehicle was assigned to them.

So I explained that the vehicle was assigned to Davao-based journalists.

One of them insisted that they should be the ones there since they were from “national media.”

Oh. So they could easily dislodge us from the vehicle because they are from the “national media?”

Bing Gonzales of Mindanao Daily Mirror, myself and two other personnel from the City Information Office, stood our ground.

Again, I explained to the “national media” that the vehicle was for

Davao-based journalists.

Then came Jay Morales, Aquino’s close in photographer, who shouted to us that they should be in our vehicle along with the “national media.”

And then another videographer of Aquino also shouted, “Kami dapat dyan! Sige lang, masisingitan din namin kayo.”

He could have asked us where to find a vehicle for them since only seven people were allowed in the pick-up.

Sure, it was not their fault for not having a vehicle. But somebody from their group could have arranged a vehicle for them prior to the event.

Besides, their networks have budgets for transportation so they didn’t need to hitch a ride.

Suddenly, one of Roxas’ security escorts approached us in the vehicle,

ordering us to disembark because the “national media” should be next to the candidates’ vehicle.

In Cebuano, I explained again that the vehicle was for Davao-based

journalists. He kept on talking. I didn’t know that he could not understand me. I thought he was a member of the airport security.

Still, we stood our ground.

The vehicle moved but Morales and his partner kept insisting that they

should be the ones in our stead.

Yes, we understand how important their role is as close in photographers and videographers. We also understand that members of the TV crew from Manila stations should also take good footage.

But please spare us your arrogance as if we are second class journalists here.

The point is not just simply who gets the good angle first or gets the clear shot. All of us should have equal opportunities to cover the event without dislodging our fellow journalists.

Most of those in the “national media” need not worry about angling the

photos because even if their pictures don’t get published the next day, they’re assured of their monthly salary and airconditioned hotel rooms.

We both have deadlines to beat, we both have responsibilities to deliver the message of the President or whoever, to the public. And most importantly, we both have families to feed.

(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Davao City-based Keith KP Bacongco or Kitoy, says he’s proud to be a “lokal” journalist).

A village official narrates their hardships at the evacuation center in nearby Pikit town in North Cotabato, some 15 kilometers from here.

Villagers recall the incident as “treacherous attack against the Moro people,” happening as it did on Eid’l Adha, the Islamic feast of the holy sacrifice.

The barangay official took a deep breath before describing the first bomb dropped beside the mosque where they were holding the congregational prayer.

“The Imam never finished the prayer; they ran for their lives from the rain of bombs and mortar shells,” he recalled as he took another deep breath and bowed his head. The explosions reportedly left three persons dead.

Seven years ago, government forces attacked Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) positions here as well as in nearby villages of Pikit. The government earlier said that they were hunting down members of the dreaded Pentagon kidnap-for-ransom gang who were reportedly hiding in Liguasan Marsh. Later, government forces went out to flush the MILF in the area.

The fighting displaced thousands of people from several barangays of Pagalungan and Pikit. About a hundred evacuees, mostly children, died in the evacuation centers due to diseases.

For 60-year old Tuwaw Abdulrhakman, the war in 2003 left nothing but hardship as they lost farm animals and their houses were destroyed due to relentless aerial and artillery bombing.

“We have not fully recovered from the war even if it was seven years ago. Look at our house, this was not like this before the war. We have not availed of the rehabilitation program,” Abdulrhakman told MindaNews as she points to the dilapidated walls of their shanty.

She recalls that two days before the attack, they were advised by the village chief to evacuate because the military was already in nearby Barangay Rajahmuda and would launch ground assault anytime. “Hindi na namin kayang magpaiwan kasi wala na ring pumapasok na supply ng pagkain kasi hinaharang ng mga sundalo sa Rajahmuda,” (We couldn’t stay behind because food supply was getting scarce as this was barred by soldiers in Rajahmuda), she recounted. “Ayaw na namin ng gulo para makabawi na talaga kami.Nakakapagod mag-bakwit” (We don’t like war so we can move on. We’re tired of evacuating).

Abdulrhakman stayed at the evacuation center for four months. She had to sell their farm animals when the food supply at the evacuation center dwindled.

Traces of War

How can one forget the war in 2003 when the war’s rubble is a daily reminder?

The village official points to what was once a Marine detachment just about a hundred meters from the Islamic Center. Several knee-deep foxholes and bunkers are still in place but now covered with grasses and dried banana leaves.

He also pointed to a former prison cell of the MILF. The cell’s floor area is 12 square feet, its walls made of about six inches of concrete and the ceiling, also concrete, about 15 feet high. The cell has two windows of 1 by 4 feet.

“This is where the MILF used to lock-up those who violated the laws of the MILF here, such as drug addicts, thieves and murderers,” he explained.

Now it’s riddled with bullets from .50 caliber machine guns of government troops . A hole one foot in diameter, is a reminder of what an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) is capable of doing.

When the Marines occupied the area, the prison cell was reportedly converted into a makeshift disco house. A hut was also built on top, where they occasionally partied, villagers said.

The barangay official disclosed there was an attempt by the MILF to recapture the area.

Across this village is Barangay Buliok, Pikit (North Cotabato) side, which was the object of aerial bombings and artillery shelling in 2003.

Bomb craters are still visible in some areas near the riverbanks of Pulangi River.

What used to be a warehouse constructed through the Special Zone of Peace and Development program, is now a rubble. The warehouse has been left unrepaired despite the government’s rehabilitation program in the area and residents have left the 6-foot deep bomb crater beside the rubble, uncovered.

Remembering 2/11

Earlier in the morning of February 11, 2010, a peace forum was held at the Mahad (Arabic school) in Pikit poblacion, where at least 100 people gathered to commemorate the Buliok attack.

Ustadz Abdul Nasser Musa said the future generation must never forget this day. “Marami nang nagawang kasalanan ang gobyerno sa Bangsamoro. At ang pangyayaring ito noong 2003 ay isa sa pinakamasakit para sa atin na mga Bangsamoro. Hindi nila kinilala ang ating karapatan sa pananampalataya” (Government has committed so many sins against the Bangsamoro. What happened in 2003 was so painful for us Bangsamoro), he told the crowd.

In a separate statement, Nasser Ali, lead convenor of the 2/11 Movement, asked local and national government officials to “refrain from using the GRP-MILF peace process to bolster their political and economic interests. “

Ali also appealed to any group or individual to wait for the results of the peace process before pursuing their interests in the Liguasan Marsh, which is touted to be rich in natural gas.

“The Bangsamoro people, being the rightful owner, must be included and always be part of the every effort to develop the Liguasan Marsh,” he stressed.

The 2/11 Movement is composed of 14 Moro peoples organization binding themselves to lead the move in seeking justice “not just for those who were killed in the Buliok attack but (also for) other victims of injustices at the height of the 2003 war.” ( Keith Bacongco / MindaNews)

The city’s highly outspoken and colorful mayor, Rodrigo Duterte who has repeatedly gone on record as saying Davao is not a safe place for criminals, has consistently denied the authorities have any link to the killings and has publicly welcomed the CHR’s planned event.

Davao has long struggled with the reputation as the killing capital of the Philippines – ever since the 1980s, when an armed vigilante group known as the Alsa Masa (Rise, People) was set up in response to a campaign of guerilla war and assassinations being waged by the Communist New People’s Army (NPA) here.

During a February dialogue organized by the city council’s Committee on Human Rights and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, the Bar pointed to 813 alleged victims of summary killings by the so-called Davao Death Squads (DDS) from 1998. In January 2009 alone, 33 persons have been reported killed.

Like Duterte, the city’s police chief Senior Superintendent Ramon Apolinario has consistently rejected all claims that death squads operate in the city, and has called those with any evidence to come forward. The police and the mayor blame gang and drug wars as the primary reason for the large number of killings.

Davao City’s own police records report 221 killings in the 10 months from January through to October last year.

CHR chair Leila De Lima, who is organizing the two-day hearings starting March 30, says she is alarmed over the effects all the bloodshed is having on the psyche of the local community.

“The killings in Davao have reached a glaring and alarming proportion,” De Lima told reporters in Cebu City last month.

“Even the judges recognized that it’s time to do something. It has an effect on the consciousness of people in Davao. The culture of impunity is getting too callous already,” De Lima said. “Before, they (the killers) used to be hooded but now, they’re doing it in broad daylight, and they’re using knives and walking calmly away.”

“It’s a mentality, a mindset that is not acceptable, and we need to erase that mentality,” she said.

As part of its ongoing training on covering extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project recently organized a workshop in Davao for 60 local journalists in an effort to help them to better investigate and follow-up cases of unexplained killings.

The Alston Report

United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions Philip Alston, who briefly visited Davao in February 2007 to look into the continuing high level of killings, noted in his 66-page final report:

“Duterte dominates the city so thoroughly as to stamp out whole genres of crime, yet he remains powerless in the face of hundreds of murders committed by men without masks in view of witnesses.”

Alston also claimed “the police used the ‘Davao Death Squad’ as a ‘polite euphemism’ to refer vaguely to ‘vigilante groups’ when accounting for the shocking predictability with which criminals, gang members, and street children were extrajudicially executed.”

Concern over the continuing spate of unexplained killings has also been expressed by the British chairman of the UK Parliamentary Committee on the Philippines. Mark Pritchard MP told the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project he raised the issue in a meeting with Mayor Duterte during a visit to Davao late last year.

History of killings

The CHR is hoping to entice witnesses to come out and speak at its public hearing – something others privately say will not happen.

But de Lima is insistent that the CHR has to try. Something, she says, has to be done. She also questions the response and position of the authorities.

“How can something as systematic and as glaring happen without the consent of powerful people?” she asked.

De Lima has already met with the mayor and says Duterte told her of the need to explore the history of the killings which trace back to the 1980s.

By the end of the Marcos dictatorship in 1986, the city had become an NPA ‘laboratory’ as it attempted to wage urban warfare on the city’s authorities: Davao was plagued by political and military executions committed by so-called liquidation squads known as ‘sparrows’ commanded by the NPA – the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

The city and surrounding Davao del Sur province saw the birth of two anti-communist groups committed to fight the NPA – the Alsa Masa and the Nagkahiusang Katawhan Alang sa Kalinaw (Nakasaka, or the United Peoples for Peace).

Founders of these groups included former local government officials who maintained members were ordered not to violate human rights in their anti-insurgency campaigns. But both the NPA and the two anti-communist groups were accused of very serious and systematic human rights abuses including summary killings.

Skeptic

Father Amado Picardal, a local human rights advocate, says he does not believe the upcoming event will accomplish anything.

“I am glad the CHR is finally concerned about these killings. But I do not believe that a public hearing will accomplish anything. Witnesses are afraid to testify,” Picardal said.

He added it would be better for the CHR to conduct a discrete investigation. But the problem is, he says, the CHR’s mandate is limited.

“A special independent commission to investigate these killings formed by the President in coordination with the CHR and civil society is probably more effective.”

Picardal claims the killings are not random but rather part of a systematic campaign against suspected criminals using unlawful means. He maintains they are tolerated, inspired and sponsored by those in authority – yet admits not to have any proof “that will stand up in court.”

Picardal added: “These killings can never be morally justified -you cannot run after criminals using criminal means. These killings are murder. The due process of law and the presumption of innocence cannot be disregarded.”

And yet Picardal admits that whoever is responsible enjoys the support of many who are glad to see the streets safer as a result. One of these, a taxi driver who refused to be named, said that he feels safe even late at night.

“Yes the killings help keep me safe because petty crimes have been minimized,” he told the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project. “People are scared to commit crime.”

But others insist that not only petty criminals are targeted for attack.

Kelly Delgado, secretary general human rights group Karapatan for southern Mindanao says CHR should not just focus on the killing of criminals in Davao, but also on victims of extrajudicial killings in Davao del Sur and Compostela Valley.

Unabated yet unresolved killings of Bayan Muna (People First) organizers and peasant activists in the two provinces late last year raised questions whether they are part of an ‘undeclared’ war against critics of the Arroyo administration and suspected supporters of the communist movement.

Delgado says the killings of both suspected criminals in the city and political activists merits a deeper investigation from authorities. Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project

The noise of the waves mixes with that of an electric plainer being used to shape the belly of a new banca – a simple fishing boat — under the shade of some coconut trees. A much bigger boat which can carry more than a ton of fish approaches the shore after having spent days, possibly even weeks at sea.

Many boats are still out and six more colorfully painted bancas lie on the sand, their fishing nets and traps left to bleach and dry out under the sun.

A sand spit away from the boat shop, Martina Baldapan is sun-drying a basket of different fish just outside her kitchen. They were caught by her son and prepared simply by being dipped in salt and water. Martina leaves them for a day before taking most of the basket to sell for PhP 80 (USD 1) a kilo. The rest she keeps for her family to eat.

Martina is just one of an estimated 3,000 people in the coastal village of Macambol who rely on Pujada Bay for a living.

Other villagers work the lands round Mt. Hamiguitan which, like the Bay has been declared a protected area.

Both though now face the threat of large-scale mining operation dubbed as the Pujada Nickel Project.

The project is funded by BHP Billiton (BHP), self-styled as the “world’s leading natural resources company” through a joint venture with local partner Asiaticus Management Corporation (Amcor).

Pujada is said to have a reserve of about 200 million metric tons of nickel and according to Reuters, BHP has committed to invest up to USD 2 billion which is expected to provide about 3,000 jobs to on its full operation by 2013.

The joint venture however has currently run into difficulties due to a legal dispute between BHP and its local partners as reported by BHP management at its own annual general meeting held on October 23. For now, the project seems to be on hold.

This is good news for many – but not so good news for others who believe the mining may bring jobs and development.

The project site was originally due to cover the two towns and a city of the peninsula of Davao Oriental – Governor Generoso, San Isidro and Mati City. But due to opposition from the authorities in Governor Generoso and San Isidro in 2003, the mining claim has been reduced to Mati only.

Seven Mineral Production Sharing Agreements (MPSA) have been issued covering at least 11,000 hectares. Mining permits overlapped the declared Mt. Hamiguitan protected area.

Mining in protected areas?

On July 1994, the government declared the Pujada Bay as protected seascape by virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 431. Mt. Hamiguitan was declared a protected area in July 2004.

But on June 8, 2004, just a month before Mt. Hamiguitan was declared protected, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) issued MPSA to a series of local mining companies.

In 2004 the Supreme Court controversially allowed foreign companies to own 100 per cent of local mining projects and the Philippine Government hopes to attract upwards of USD 10 billion worth of mining investment over the next few years

These seven mining areas, which cover at least 17, 000 hectares, overlap the protected area, which has five major drainage and watershed systems because of the mountain. The major streams either drain towards the Pujada Bay or the Davao Gulf. The bodies of freshwater are the main source of water supply for communities living in the vicinity.

Pujada Bay is home to the endangered sea cows (dugong) and sea turtles while the Mt. Hamiguitan range is known both for its pygmy forest and also as a home of the endangered Philippine Eagle which is itself a protected species.

The 6,800-hectare Mt. Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary is also home to the Mandaya Lumads or indigenous peoples.

Mining divides villagers

Virgie Mabato, chair of the local anti-mining group Macambol Multi-Sectoral Alliance for Integral Development (MMSAID), said that the arrival of the mining groups began to polarize people with some favoring the companies in the hope these would bring development and opportunities to the community.

Mabato added that even relationships between families have been affected by divisions in views as to whether the arrival and the companies will turn out to be a blessing or a curse.

But she explained: “We reiterate our position against the mining operation because it will destroy our source of living and source of our food. It’s not just Mt. Hamiguitan but Pujada Bay which will be polluted once the mine opens.”

Like Baldapan, Mabato also depends on the marine resources in Pujada Bay. Mabato’s family runs a small fish pen in Sitio Supsopon in Macambol.

From the shoreline, the proposed mining site is at least four kilometers away – though it shares the same water basin. During heavy rains, some portions of the bay become murky due to siltation carried down from the hinterland.

Roger Billote, also a member of MMSAID, said that even if the mining company is already outside the protected area, it is still not an assurance that mining operation will not destroy the biodiversity in the area.

“Like the spider web, once one of its strands will be cut, the spider will be outbalanced. Even if there is a buffer zone, it will still affect the entire biodiversity,” he said.

Billote pointed out that for him and many others “biodiversity is not just the protected land itself but as everything around the mountain.”

Yet two tribal councils in Magum and Cabuaya, also part of Macambol, are apparently in favor of the mining operations.

In a joint resolution, the tribal councils have expressed their support for BHP Billiton to continue mining operations in Macambol and Cabuaya areas.

Other indigenous tribal councils have come out against of the mining operation and argue the government in Manila should push for other means of helping the people in Macambol.

Narciso “Datu Silang” Salang, member of the Macambol-Mamali United Mandaya tribal council, says the government and the mining companies should respect the position of the people. “The rift between these two mining companies divided the people especially the indigenous peoples,” Salang pointed out, adding that both the government and the mining company should consider those who depend in Mt. Hamiguitan and Pujada Bay.

The mining operations, he said, will only destroy the beauty of Pujada Bay and Mt. Hamiguitan, adding that both are potential eco-tourism spots in the province.

Meanwhile, only the government officials of this city are apparently in favor of the Pujada Nickel Project believing the mining could bring development in the region.

The province reportedly has rich deposits of gold, nickel, copper, chromite, and manganese.

The Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the DENR disclosed that Davao Oriental has 37,000 of the 87,000 registered sites of mining interest in the country. Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project

(The author is a development worker and journalist based in Davao City. He is also co-founder of AKP Images, an independent photo agency in the Philippines.)