Portion of the testimony of Datu Roelito Gawilan during the public inquiry of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on the killing of Fr. Fausto Tentorio, PIME. The three-day inquiry, which started on May 22, was led by CHR chair Loretta Rosales.
Gawilan admitted the existence of Bagani warriors but denied that he is among of them. Instead, the tribal leader claimed that he had a “good relationship” with the late missionary.
In PIME Philippines blog, Tentorio posted that armed Bagani men allegedly hunted him when he visited one of the remote villages in Kitaotao, Bukidnon in October 6, 2003. The Bagani warriors were reportedly guided by Tata and Abing Gawilan.
Hundreds of people — including survivors and relatives of those who perished — gathered 40 days since super typhoon Pablo hit on December 4, 2012. A mass was offered for the victims on January 13 at the San Antonio de Padua Parish as well as at the San Roque Chapel in Brgy Andap.
While a ritual was also held at Brgy Andap, particularly at the former barangay center site, which is now covered with rocks and boulders due to a flashflood spawned by typhoon Pablo.
A month after super typhoon Pablo devastated New Bataan town in Compostela Valley province, survivors are slowly picking up the pieces to rebuild their lives.
The first time I passed this route was in December 2007. I was traveling from Boston back to Davao City. I could still remember the lush surrounding along the road. But on December 21 — 17 days after Typhoon Pablo — all you could see are fallen trees, broken trunks, landslides and water is almost everywhere. One more heavy rain and more portions of the road will collapse.
Typhoon Pablo devastated almost half of the Mindanao island on December 4, leaving at least 900 people dead and almost a thousand others missing. This is perhaps the worst natural disaster that hit the supposed “typhoon-free” region. The storm left thousands of people homeless and in dire need of food, water, medicine and shelter.
The City Government of Tagum has been making school chairs from seized illegal lumber instead of leaving them to rot.
As of October 16 2012, at least 78, 000 chairs have been delivered to different schools in Mindanao, the Visayas and Luzon under the Care for School Chairs Program since it started in August 2011. READ STORY
Every year on All Saints Day on November 1 and All Souls Day on November 2, millions of Filipinos troop to the cemeteries and memorial parks to light candles and offer prayers and flowers (sometimes, even food) at the graves of their loved ones. Here are the scenes from Davao City on November 1.
It’s the busiest time of the year for the workers of the Puentespina flower farm in Baguio District, Davao City. Workers need to produce around 30,000 bundles of Chrysanthemums and 10,000 bundles of Lisianthus in time for the All Souls Day. These flowers are shipped to Metro Manila and to the different cities and provinces in Mindanao and Visayas.
North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza and Aleosan Mayor Loreto Cabaya explain the differences between the GPH-MILF Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro signed in Malacanan Palace on October 15, 2012, and the 2008 Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) whose scheduled signing on August 5, 2008 was stopped when the Supreme Court a day earlier, granted the petition filed by the North Cotabato government for a temporary restraining order.
