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.)

I don’t believe that the PAL management did not anticipate that pilots are leaving soon and would seek for greener pasture abroad. They knew it. But the problem is that, I think some qualified pilots would rather try their luck abroad rather than work with the flag carrier.

Obviously, it’s because they would earn much higher than our airlines. It could be 100 percent higher.

PAL pilots earn at least $4,000 to $7,000 a month, a news report said. I’ve also read somewhere that some of these pilots are overwork. Does the management realize that this has an implication on the safety of the passengers?

I think with what is happening now, the flag carrier could hardly recruit new and qualified pilots. If I’m a qualified pilot, I’d rather try my luck abroad, too.

Maybe, some Philippine Air Force pilots are now tempted to jump in and fly these passenger jets.

What else can you do on this problem Mr. President?

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/02 August) — After popularizing the rare Waling-waling (Vanda sanderiana), Charita Puentespina is now pushing for another source of income among local farmers: cacao farming.

Puentespina, who first introduced hundreds of Waling-waling seedlings to the public in 1986, is also advocating natural farming method among farmers.

She particularly recognized the potentials of cacao as an alternative source of income among farmers in the highlands. [read more]

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]

These are South Asian Box Turtles (Cuora amboinensis) from marshy villages of Midsayap, North Cotabato sold for P40 to P50 each along the street in Davao City. A biologist from University of Southern Mindanao (USM)- Kabacan that this turtle’s  status is "vulnerable." This is commonly found at the periphery  of Ligusan Marsh. The Protected Areas and Wildlife Division (PAWD) says trade of  this specie is strictly regulated.

I was a bit worried because they did place these turtles into a container filled with container or something that could make these creatures feel better.

According to these guys, they brought about 30 turtles and already sold about 20 already.

I asked a biology professor in Kabacan via mobile fone if what’s the status of these turtles. He said this is a “threatened” specie.

I’m not sure if they are the same species.  I hope our authorities can track down these hunters and stop this illegal trade.

I could rarely find this turtle anymore even if I’m at the vicinity of Ligusan Marsh. When I was still a kid, this turtle can be found right at the pond near our ricefield in Pigcawayan. That was about 22 years ago.

The SIPA will begin at 1 p.m. on Monday and will end on the 29th of July.

Erwin Quinones, campaigns paralegal of Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center-Kasama sa Kalikasan (LRC-KsK), told MindaNews that the IP representatives will be coming “from  areas affected by development aggression.”

He said this includes encroachment of mining, plantations and hydro-power plants into the ancestral domains of the indigenous peoples. [read more]

Last Friday, Bureau of Internal Revenue officials disclosed that some of the business establishments at Chinatown in Davao City may not be complying with the country’s tax laws. They also bared that most of the stores in Chinatown are not issuing official receipts to their customers.

If we need cheap hardware tools and some stuffs need at home, we actually find them at the stores in Chinatown here in Davao. The stores there do not actually issue receipts; you can even ask for a discount on selected items. It’s like: Name it, they have it.

Most of the Chinese traders in the area don’t speak English or Tagalog. I wonder how they communicate with their workers. I have some owners  give instruction through hand signals to their workers.

The BIR said that the wholesale dealers declared only an annual income of P1.5 million. It is under-declared, the BIR suspects. I believe too that  the figure is under-declared.  I have seen several wholesale dealers in DCLA and 168 Mall.

There is a store in DCLA that if you’re not a wholesale buyer, sales clerks won’t allow you to enter in some portions of the store.  They will not allow you to pick some items, they want to do it for you.  Weird.