Sulu CSOs laud civil 'Noble Warriors of Marine Corps’ for CRT project

1. The sincerity of the military forces significance to the peace in Sulu.


A local civil society organizations (CSOs) based in Sulu hailed the Philippine Marine Corps, particularly the 9th Marine Battalion, for its Community Relations Training (CRT) project in the southern Philippine province of Sulu.

Dr. Amildasa Annil, president of Ulangig Mindanao Network (UMI), greatly remarked the engagement of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) with civil society organizations.

He particularly mentioned particularly Major General Rustico Guerrero who introduced the peace building initiative in the provinces of Basilan and Sulu.

"It was when the 2010 synchronized national and local elections significantly, pull off a 'zero casualty' record in the electoral history of Sulu," the NGO leader said.

Annil made the remarks during the graduation ceremony of the 2nd batch of CRT trainees for community relations course held at the Sulu Area Coordinating Centre on Tuesday, January 24, 2012.

The occasion was attended by His Excellency Trevor Lewis, British Deputy Ambassador; Ky Johnson, Deputy Country Representative of The Asia Foundation to the Philippines; and a representative of Steven Rood, TAF Country Representative.

It was also attended by government panel members in the GPH-MILF Prof. Miriam Ferrer and Bai Jasmin Lao as well as Maj. Gen. Guerrero, Commandant of the Philippine Marine Corps, as guest speaker.

The United Kingdom (UK) Department for International Development supports the CRT project through The Asia Foundation and its local non-governmental organization (NGO) partner, the Ulangig Mindanao, Incorporated.

CRT is the first peace building initiative in broad collaboration with the civil society immersing with the grassroots at community level.

Annil said that while the AFP is yet to induct its National Peace Support Programs and the government is preoccupied in the peace processes before and now, civilian and military peace partnerships are taking place in Sulu.

“Peace cannot wait for an impending peace talks between government and the Moro fronts to conclude, we have to curb protracted wars and save lives,” Dr. Amildasa Annil, president of Ulangig Mindanao Network said.

The first CRT crafted by the 9th Marine Battalion launched at Bud Datu’ historical shrine last December 2011 is now on its 2nd phase. The National AFP Peace Programs has adopted the project as one of its major courses.

The CRT is part of the AFP’s reflective reform program for combatant units currently deployed in Sulu in a locally designed framework to enhance security sector’s relation with the community.

Colonel Romulo Quemado, Deputy Commander of the 9th Marine Battalion Landing Team (MBLT) in collaborationwith UMI who innovated the CRT concept said, “We need the help of the people of Sulu for the AFP to understand the over-all context of our operational environment while enhancing our community relations to achieve better understanding of the people we have sworn to serve and protect."\

He said the CRT project contributed a lot in changing the image of the AFP and in restoring broken relations brought about by long standing conflicts between the military and the people.

The CRT also contributed to AFP achievements of small but significant victories when Marine Corps in Sulu tops the recent performance and satisfactoriness survey done by an independent party. Being the exemplars of the best in Soldiery, the CSOs afforded them the prestige of “The Filipino Noble Warriors and Guardians Peace," according to him.

Meanwhile, leaders of civil society organizations in Sulu lead by Task Force Kahanungan Network of Ulangig Mindanao signed an open communiqué to President Benigno Aquino III commending the performance of the AFP in Sulu.

They expressed appreciation to the accomplishments of General Guerrero, commandant of the Marine Corps; Col. Remegio Valdez, Commander of the 3rd Marine Brigade; Col. Martin Pinto, Deputy Commander of the 3rd Marine Brigade; Col. Orlando De Leon, Commander of the 2nd Marine Brigade; Col. Eric Macaambac, Commander of 9th MBLT; Col. Romulo Quemado, ExO MBLT 9 and Operation Officer, Joint Task Force Sulu Island Command; and Lt. Col. Mabini Abduhadi, Community Relation Officer, 3rd Marine Brigade.

The Ulangig Mindanao and its network organizations with the guidance and assistance  of The Asia Foundation continue to develop more meaningful engagement projects with the security sectors specially the Philippine National Police (PNP) being the lead institution in combating criminalities and lawlessness.

By Hader Glang

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Civil society network seeks pro-environment practices

1. Justice! Justice! Justice!

CAGAYAN DE ORO -- A network of civil society organizations from different regions in Mindanao is seeking environmental justice for over a thousand victims of Tropical Storm Sendong (international name: Washi).

Bulig Alang sa Mindanao (Balsa Mindanao) in a forum on Thursday themed “A look into 40 days after Sendong... what lies ahead?” called for a thorough review of policies that allow commercial-scale business operations in ecologically sensitive areas such as Bukidnon, the source of six major river systems in Mindanao.

Balsa Mindanao’s preliminary research findings posited that among the contributors to the gravity of Sendong’s destruction could be the pineapple and small banana plantations around the tributaries of Cagayan River.

“We do not have hard data yet,” said Jomorito C. Goaynon, chairperson of Kalumbay, a regional formation of Indigenous Peoples.

“But the testimonies of our Higaonon brothers who have been living around the area for 50-70 years show that the alteration of the landscape might have contributed to the difference in the effect of heavy rains,” said Mr. Goaynon.

Tribal chief Datu Sumangka, 76 years old, said that the place used to be abundant with trees, although the trees were not as big as those in primary forest areas. He remembers that in the 1960s, a logging company cut trees in Baungon, Bukidnon.

That logging operation, said 55-year-old Isabelo Cabeles, extended to Libona where he lives.

In a document of United Nations Development Programme titled “Green Commodities Facility -- Pineapple Scoping Paper,” pineapple plantations contribute to soil erosion for the lack of cover crops in a vast stretch of land. Tillage practices in preparing the beds for pineapples also add to the land’s susceptibility to soil erosion.

Bukidnon Vice-Governor Jose R. Zubiri, Jr., however, said in the same forum that people should stop blaming his province for the tragedy.

“People are saying that it’s because of mining and logging that we condone in our province,” said Mr. Zubiri.

“But in truth, there is only one logging company operating in Bukidnon -- the BFI [Bukidnon Forests, Inc.],” he added, noting that the mining company is co-owned by the Philippine and New Zealand governments and operates in the town of Libona.

He further argued that blaming the plantations -- a main source of employment in Bukidnon -- is faulty reasoning.

“Even if we plant trees on these fields, water seeks its own level. It would still go down and reach (Cagayan River),” said Mr. Zubiri.

Bukidnon hosts huge pineapple plantations operating under the multinational brand Del Monte.

Based on data from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics in 2009, Northern Mindanao corners over 40% of the country’s pineapple production at 400,000 metric tons.

At least 90% of this volume comes from Bukidnon, which has roughly 19,000 hectares of the country’s 50,000 hectares of pineapple plantations. -- Louise G. Dumas

BUSINESS WORLD

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UK Envoy Graces Sulu Training

1. At the first glance I thought this training is military exercise.Peace building training for armed forces? Wow! Good job.

By ALI G. MACABALANG

Philippine military war ship, Jolo, Sulu

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – The United Kingdom’s (UK) deputy ambassador to the Philippines has visited Jolo, Sulu to grace the culmination of another episode of training for government armed forces and civilians honed on peace-building strategies in handling the fragile security condition of the island province and its environs, it was learned Saturday.

British Deputy Ambassador Trevor Lewis, in his speech, lauded the local Marine and police contingents and civilian residents for converging and working as a team in rekindling the “torch of peace” in Sulu, a southern island province that suffered the brunt of atrocities during and after the dark days of martial rule.

Lewis assured the financial and technical support of his government to the local peace initiatives launched last year by The Asia Foundation (TAF), the 9th Marine Battalion and the Ulangig Mindanao, Inc. (UMI), a non-government peace advocate group, UMI president Dr. Amilbasa Annil said.

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Sending Back Sendong Children to School

1. Let Filipinos unite themselves and send back the Sendong's children to school.

2. Hope, Government, NGOs and other concern individual and stakeholders working together for the immediate respond to these school children.

3. Let the military divert their budget into school supplies, and let the rebel groups also spend their time for collecting any amount for these poor children.

CDO, Iligan need 3 to 5 years to fully recover from ‘Sendong’

IT will take three to five years before Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City can fully recover from physical devastation it suffered due to Typhoon Sendong.


This was the observation of Margareta Wahlstrom, United Nations Special Representative for the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, as she addressed reporters in a press conference on Disaster and Risk Reduction.


Wahlstrom said she had seen the magnitude of devastation in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City and that rebuilding efforts have not really started after a month when tragedy struck.


She also expressed concern on the plight of affected schoolchildren and teachers whom she said should undergo debriefing to fight back depression and psychological trauma they suffered brought by the tragedy of Typhoon Sendong.


Earlier, the DepEd said the debriefing and psycho-social therapy both on students and teachers and non-teaching personnel of the department who were affected by deadly Sendong will continue to help bring back normalcy in their lives.


“We have to respond to the immediate needs of both teachers and students and for now, it isimportant that we introduce activities that will bring back normalcy in their lives,” Education Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro said.


Luistro also said that the opening of classes in storm-ravaged areas on January 3, amid a strong criticism that schools were not ready to take in students, also helped a lot since it serves for students to reconnect with their classmates and teachers.


“I felt that students will need to see their friends, gather, pray, grieve together, otherwise I think that trauma would linger on and on,” Luistro said stressing that despite the tragedy life must go on.    Jeffrey C. Tiangco

Journal Online

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Iligan: from Danger to Danger

1. From tiger's mouth to lion's mouth.

Flood survivors in Mindanao rebuild in danger zones

Agence France-Presse

ILIGAN — Less than six weeks after killer floods swept away their slum homes along a Philippine river, Lydia Abulanda and her neighbours are rebuilding despite warnings disaster could strike again.

In a poverty-driven tale repeated with depressing frequency across the storm-plagued Southeast Asian nation, Abulanda said they had no other option but to take their chances again in the danger zone.

“We have nowhere else to go,” the 41-year-old housewife said as she stood amid the shantytown ruins of Ilagan city, where tropical storm Washi swept away entire communities in mid-December.

The government said at least 1,268 people were killed in the storm, but the total number of fatalities may never be known as entire families were washed away, leaving no survivors in unofficial slum areas to report the deaths.

Government officials said many of the victims were slum dwellers who had flocked to dangerous riverbanks because they could not afford to buy land or build homes in safer areas.

Slums hugging riverbanks, exposed coasts and other areas vulnerable to extreme weather are seen across the Philippines, where roughly a quarter of the country’s 100 million people live on a dollar a day or less.

An average of 20 tropical storms or typhoons hit the Philippines each year, many of them deadly, and the floods and winds typically punish the poorest members of society the most.

In Ilagan and other parts of the southern Philippines hit by Washi, the government and aid groups are trying to find safe new homes for thousands of survivors, but many will inevitably end up living back in dangerous areas.

As she visited the flood-hit city last week, the United Nations’ top disaster official said she was troubled by the way people seemingly refused to learn from the disaster.

“Yes, it bothers me that people forget so quickly,” Margareta Wahlstrom, the UN special representative for disaster risk reduction, told Agence France-Presse as she inspected the affected areas.

On both sides of a shattered bridge near Iligan, Wahlstrom saw residents using plywood and tarpaulin to erect shanties on the riverbank where homes had been swept to sea 40 days earlier.

The mayor of Iligan, Lawrence Cruz, told Wahlstrom in a meeting witnessed by AFP that the city government did not have the P300 million ($7 million) needed to buy land for the relocation of survivors.

The government initially sheltered thousands of displaced people in schools and gymnasiums but, with classes resuming in the new year, has been trying to move them out to temporary shelters.

Mother of three Maria Teresa Tampang, 37, said conditions were hard in the makeshift centre where she and about 180 families were living in tents donated by a South Korean aid organization.

“It is really hard in this evacuation area. There are a lot of people getting sick, with recurring coughs,” Tampang said, holding her baby in her arms.

“The tents are hot, even at night. But our bed is the hard ground and that is cold.”

Wahlstrom said she noted overcrowding at evacuation centres and said there was a need to lift spirits.

“It’s critical that people [in the shelters] stop being unhappy,” she said.

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UN donor countries assure ARMM guv of continued development support

1. "We are very grateful for the assistance they have extended to our people and we are even more grateful they will continue helping us," Hataman told reporters. People also very grateful if the budget will be implemented soon with out any slice and delay. 

2. 19 months is so short. However, the positive mind like Hataman hope can do it. Good luck Mr. Care Taker.

COTABATO CITY — Acting Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Regional Governor Mujib Hataman met with United Nations representatives and officials of donor countries and got the assurance of continued support for the development of the region.

In the recent meeting held in Davao City, Hataman presented his reform agenda that his administration is going to implement in the next 19 months.

The UN is among the leading international agencies that extend assistance, both technical and financial assistance to ARMM region which is composed of the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

"We are happy the international donor countries vowed to continue its commitment of helping bring about peace and development in the region," he said.

Among the officials he met were representatives from World Food Programme, World Health Organization (WHO), International Organization for Migration, United Nation Commission on Human Rights, UNICEP, UNDP, UNFPA and other country representatives of European Union.

"We are very grateful for the assistance they have extended to our people and we are even more grateful they will continue helping us," Hataman told reporters.

After meeting with UN representatives, the acting regional governor tasked by President Aquino to institute reforms in the graft-ridden but natural resources rich region also met with representatives from Australian government through the Australian Agency for International Development.

He said AusAID Minister Counselor Titon Mitra vowed to pursue the education and good governance program it has been implementing in the five-province region.

AusAID is implementing BEAM (Basic Educational Assistance for Mindanao) program and "brigada eskwela" as part of its contribution in developing the impoverished region.

It is pursuing a systematize identification system for public school teachers in the region. (PNA)

DCT/LAM/NYP/EOF

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Duterte to Misuari: Pursue peace

1. “The better approach now is to talk peace across the table,“ Good advice Vice Mayor Duterte. 

2. Peace agreement, tell when?

Nur Misuari

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has urged Nur Misuari, chairemeritus of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), to maximize peaceful means in following up the implementation of the 1996 Peace Agreement with the government, by which many provisions were culled from the Tripoli Agreement in 1976.

Sharing his insights on his latest meeting with the MNLF leader at the Marco Polo Hotel here, Duterte said it is better for the former rebel group to pursue peace talks than considering other options. Duterte stressed that war is no longer an alternative in resolving conflicts nowadays.

“The better approach now is to talk peace across the table,“ he said in the public affairs program, “Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa“ on Sunday. He recalled that Misuari complained before him of being left out of the loop by government in its pursuit of talking peace with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

Duterte said Misuari lamented of no longer knowing the development of the peace agreement forged between the MNLF and the government in 1996. Duterte maintained that the best option for Misuari is to pursue the peaceful means by complaining before the United Nations. (PNA)

TEMPO

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Cong. Loong distributes mobile clinics in Sulu

1. Good job!

Following his program and vision “Bring the Government to the People,” Sulu District 1 Congressman Tupay Loong is set to distribute five mobile clinics and medicines worth P5 million to five pinpointed municipalities in the Province of Sulu.

The five vehicles arrived yesterday morning on board a boat from Manila and were taken to his residence along Veterans Extension on its way to Sulu for the distribution.

Loong said the funds for the purchase of the transportable clinics amounting to P4.2 million and assorted medicines worth P800,000 came from his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF). 

According to the congressman, the mobile clinics plus medicines will be distributed to the municipalities of Jolo, Parang, Patikul, Maimbung and Talipao which will bring basic health services to his constituents in a jiffy.

Loong said there are three priorities he is urgently pushing forward under his district to wit: 1) education 2) livelihood and 3) health services.

“Hindi ako nakapagtapos ng pag-aaral that is why I want my constituents to be literate. I have allocated P4.2 million for the scholarship grant of at least 400 indigent but deserving students in my district. I have also pushed hard for basic health services like this mobile clinic which will go from one barangay to the other to extend medical attention to the people. One of my children died because the medical assistance was so far. To make it more easy and faster the government will now go directly to the people bringing basic health services,” Loong said.   

Loong disclosed he also extended free medicines to the hospitals in his district and appropriated P500,000 to the Zamboanga City Medical Center for extended health services if the hospitals in Sulu cannot provide for lack of medical facilities.

Meanwhile, Parang Municipal Mayor Madzhar Loong commended the congressman for the assistance to his municipality.

“This mobile clinic will give more teeth to our health services in the different barrios because it can make our services easier and faster,” Loong emphasized. 

By Nonong Santiago

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Peace education pushed in Mindanao

1. Perfect move, peace education must be pushed in Mindanao for pupils. However, the peace education must be extended to arm forces, rebels, and politicians. 

DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 24, 2012) – The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) in Southern Mindanao and the Forum Civil Peace Service (forumZFD) will partner in intensifying the integration of peace education in teacher education in colleges and universities in the region. The Forum Civil Peace Service is an international German non-profit, nongovernment organization, promoting nonviolent conflict transformation in conflict regions such as in West Balkans, Israel/Palestine, Lebanon and in Mindanao-Philippines through partnership with local and national government institutions and nongovernment organizations. The program will start January 25, through an orientation-workshop on peace education integration in teacher education initially with 50 participating administrators, deans, faculty members, and National Service Training Program directors from the University of Southeastern Philippines-Main and Tagum campuses; University of Mindanao; University of Immaculate Conception; Holy Cross of Davao College; San Pedro College; Brokenshire College; Davao Oriental State College of Science and Technology; Davao del Norte State College; SPAMAST; Cor Jesu College; Assumption College of Nabunturan; Jose Maria College and Ateneo de Davao University. The orientation-workshop will be held whole day at the Conference Room of University of Mindanao-Matina Campus in Davao City. “This integration program is timely since it supports current CHED efforts to capacitate higher education institutions in taking active role in promoting and building peace in Mindanao,” Dr. Edward Aquino, CHED acting regional officer-in-charge. Daniel Jaeger, program manager of (forumZFD) in the Philippines, said: “The activity aims to deepen understanding on concepts and strategies in integrating peace education in teacher education as well as discuss issues and challenges in transforming conflicts in Mindanao through the teacher education program of higher education institutions.” Jaeger said the program is a long-term participatory process which will accompany higher education institutions not only in integrating peace education in teacher education but towards the institutionalization of peace education in these state and private colleges and universities in the region. (The Mindanao Examiner)

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Filipino govt fails to curb Mindanao abuses -HRW

1. When the civilian killed military automatically government will charge the suspect as terrorist. When military killed the innocent civilian justice denied?

A villager paddles his boat to fish in the marshlands of Datu Piang town in southern Philippines' Maguindanao province July 3, 2009. REUTERS/Erik de Castro

By Thin Lei Win

BANGKOK (AlertNet) – More than two years after members of government security forces and private armies helped a clan massacred nearly 60 people on Mindanao island, the Philippines has failed to disable abusive paramilitary forces, Human Rights Watch said in its annual report.

Paramilitaries, the police and the Filipino military have all committed human rights violations in the Philippines, the rights group said.

“(President) Aquino campaigned on promises to dismantle the “private armies” of politicians and wealthy landowners, which have long been responsible for serious abuses,” the report said of the Southeast Asian country’s president.

Yet paramilitary forces are still operating on the island. And in 2011 Aquino announced the deployment of additional paramilitary personnel to provide mining companies with security against insurgents, according to the report.

The rights group’s World Report 2012 also criticised the Aquino administration for making little progress in ending impunity for the police and the military, adding that insurgents – the communist New People’s Army and Islamist Moro groups – also commit abuses against civilians.

“Extrajudicial killings of leftist activists and petty criminals continue, with the government failing to acknowledge and address involvement by the security forces and local officials,” the group said.

HRW said it has documented at least seven extrajudicial killings and three enforced disappearances, for which there is strong evidence of military involvement, since Aquino took office in June 2010.

In one instance in July 2011, soldiers allegedly stripped naked, sexually assaulted, and set on fire a 39-year-old baker, Abdul-Khan Balinting Ajid, in Basilan, but no criminal charges have been filed, the group said.

The report – which assessed progress on human rights during 2011 in more than 90 countries worldwide – went to print before the “unprecedented development” of a Philippines court issuing an arrest warrant in December against a retired army general, HRW said.

The warrant for Jovito Palparan, the highest-ranking military officer to be charged for human rights abuses since former dictator Ferdinand Marcos was ousted in 1986, concerns the enforced disappearance of two student activists in 2006.

Currently in hiding, Palparan is implicated in the abduction, torture, and killing of dozens of leftist activists in the Philippines.

The country’s justice department has put up a 1-million-peso (US$23,000) bounty for his capture, “but Aquino should order the police and military to do more to arrest him,” HRW said in a statement.  

(Editing by Rebekah Curtis and Maria Caspani)

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One Liked for Gov't Program

1. No one dreaming not for peace, only the warlord who sacrifice bloods for money and fame. 
2. The below news worth to be celebrated by Muslims who are really embracing the religion of 'Peace' (Islam). Hence, rido is Satanic culture. 
3. Bravo! Why now? Government must priorities program such as this one rather than pouring millions money for all out war.

Gov’t assisting to resolve 'rido' clan feud in North Cotabato

Cotabato City

The Government of the Philippines (GPH) Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) and Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG) have assisted in resolving peacefully clan feud locally known as “rido” involving two warring commanders of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Barangay Dungos, Tulunan, North Cotabato. 

CCCH and AHJAG said the time has come to stop armed clashes between the clans of the Sultan and Panangulon in Tulunan and neighboring M’lang tribe arising from a boundary land dispute on a banana plantation currently cultivated by the RNF Industries Corporation.

MILF Commanders Jun Panangulon and Jabidi Abdul, alias Bedz, of the Panangulon clan and former MILF Commander Sukarno Husain of the Sultan family have been the principals in the long-running feud that has disrupted law and order in the area. 

The local government unit (LGU) of Tulunan requested the help of the government ceasefire committee in resolving the land conflict that has displaced 100 families. 

The Municipal Peace and Order Council (MPOC) discussed last week with the three feuding families to resolve the land dispute. 

Present in the meeting were Tulunan Mayor Lani Candolada, M’lang Mayor Joselito Piñol, 6th Infantry Division head Maj. Gen. Rey C. Ardo, GPH-CCCH chair Brig. Gen. Ariel B. Bernardo, Senior Military Adviser to the GPH panel B/Gen. Leo Crescente B. Ferrer, GPH-AHJAG chair B/Gen. Allan R. Luga, 601st Brigade Commander Col. Caesar Dionisio Sedillo, and CCCH Secretariat head Maj. Carlos T. Sol Jr., among others. 

The parties agreed to a cessation of hostilities while the land conflict is being resolved by appropriate government agencies. 

All three clans previously signed a Memorandum of Agreement to establish boundaries of each landholding through an actual survey that will be conducted by the Ad Hoc Committee of the Tulunan LGU. 

The CCCH is comprised of members from the GPH and the MILF, as well as neutral parties. Established in 2003, it has been tasked to monitor the implementation of the GPH-MILF Ceasefire Agreement and resolve complaints over ceasefire violations so that small skirmishes do not intensify. 

On the other hand, the AHJAG is a joint effort of both parties, seeking to interdict and isolate lawless elements that take refuge in or near MILF communities. It was initially formed during the May 2002 peace negotiations between the GPH and the MILF in Cyberjaya, Malaysia. 

By Ben Cal

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