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Archived Stories



The plight of Umbai of Saranay:
From being displaced due to conflict to being a peace advocate
"Ayaw ko nang mangyari pa ulit ang all–out war (I don't want the all out war to occur again) ...," she confessed with sincerity. Umbai does not like violence that is why she opts for peacebuilding. The creation of women's organization is also her way of helping the women in her community, like her, affected by the rage of conflict, to cope up and realize their importance as partners of men in developing their family and community. READ MORE>>>


Training of hundreds of civilians as supplemental security forces
in Tampakan mining area worries community
READ MORE>>>

Maitum, Sarangani evacuees return home
MAITUM, SARANGANI (June 30, 2008)—The villagers who fled armed rouge groups last week began to return home after local officials assured them that government security forces are looking after their safety.

Last June 27 (Friday), 4,124 individuals sought refuge at the municipal gym and elementary school in Poblacion Maitum after armed groups attacked western villages near the border of Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat. Armed looters reportedly ransacked houses when residents fled from barangays Maguling, Mindupok and Ticulab.
(Report from Maitum Information Office)

Hijab: A Symbol of Liberation and Not of Oppression
JOLO, SULU—Young Muslim women expressed their anxiety over the fact that academic policies have compelled them to take off their hijab. READ MORE>>>

Unseen ways of depriving the Manobo
of their tribal lands
KIDAPAWAN CITY—One of the unseen ways of depriving the Manobo of their tribal lands, particularly in barangay Manobisa, Magpet, Cotabato, is the cheap rental on their tribal lands. READ MORE>>>


Rising price of rice in Surigao del Sur
SURIGAO DEL SUR—Despite the high rice yield in Surigao del Sur, price of rice continues to soar.
READ MORE>>>

For lack of infrastructure, farmers in Surigao del Sur utilize the road side to dry their rice produce

Photo by Inside Mindanao Images/Ellen Red



Mining guards demolish 50 houses of Mamanwa tribe
"We were not informed that they will demolish our house. They started ripping off my house and rest of the Hinaki community members. We run and hide and cross the river because we're afraid of their guns," Bae Chermelita Montero said. READ MORE>>>

Zamboanga Peninsula indigenous leaders appeal to UN
to protect ancestral domains
Addressing the UN Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (UN CERD) in Geneva, Switzerland, Timuay (traditional Subanon leader) Jose Anoy said: "We are here because we could not get justice in the Philippines. We have come here to explain what happened and seek justice and action." READ MORE>>>

UN summons Philippine gov't to respond to Subanons' complaint of racial discrimination and other related human rights violations
The United Nation's Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UN–CERD), in its 72^nd Session in Geneva, Switzerland this February 2008, has summoned the Philippine government to formally respond to the Subanons' complaint. The Subanon people of Zamboanga peninsula filed in 2007 a complaint of racial discrimination and other related human rights violations against the Gloria Macapagal–Arroyo (GMA) government before the CERD. READ MORE>>>

Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao communities wary
on the RP–US military exercises
GENERAL SANTOS CITY—Sittie Rajabia Sundang, Kawagib Moro Human Rights Organization secretary general, said they fear the vulnerability of the Moro civilians in areas where Philippines–United States military exercises are held. READ MORE>>>

DAVAO CITY—Evelyn Carias, Moro community leader, speaks before the crowd of around 1,000 militants in Davao City who marched around the major streets of the city on February 18 to protest the holding of joint RP–US military exercises in key areas in Mindanao.

Text & Photo by Keith Bacongco/AKP Images

Zamboanga Peninsula Ulama and civil society call for resumption of GRP–MILF peace negotiations READ MORE>>>

One killed in GenSan blast
GENERAL SANTOS CITY—The 69th foundation anniversary and the 9th Kalilangan Festival of this city ended late Wednesday night with an explosion that left a person dead and four others slightly injured. READ MORE>>>

Why Ahmad and Sarah Matter in 2008
Muslims quietly mark the Islamic New Year today, January 8, but many are apprehensive of a failed peace talks between government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) if the impasse on the consensus points on territory is not resolved.

The Norwegian Internal Displacement Monitoring Center reports that armed incidents have displaced between 119,600 and 139,600 people in Mindanao between January and September 2007. READ MORE>>>

Halaw: A story of a Filipino deportee from Malaysia
ZAMBOANGA CITY—There are about 400 Filipino deportees from Malaysia arriving at Zamboanga Port every week. These Filipino deportees/repatriates are undocumented Filipino nationals who are illegally working in Malaysia and failed to secure the document set by the Philippine and Malaysian governments. READ MORE>>>

On the plight of OFWs
Open letter to Muslim civic groups in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
When we watched the video months back of a Filipina being raped helplessly by her Arab employee, this brings to mind the hapless plight that thousands of our single, (maybe even married) Filipina women (including Maguindanaoan and Moro Domestic Helpers) face everyday. In a society without access to support groups, women fear being harassed in their quarters, especially in homes where they are ALL ALONE with the male boss. READ MORE>>>

Press Freedom around the world in 2007

Report from Reporters Without Borders
Click here for related article

Anti-mining, anti-logging advocate slained in Surigao del Sur
TANDAG, SURIGAO DEL SUR—Dodong Pame was a fighter in Surigao del Sur against illegal logging, mining and corruption in the last 30 years. He was a front liner of some of the community and church led advocacies. He was known for his anti-large scale mining stand in the province. He was also one of the complainants of the case filed against a logging company in Surigao del Sur in relation to indigenous peoples' rights. He also filed recently ombudsman cases against influential officials in the province for facilitating development projects that are detrimental to indigenous people and settler communities.

His untimely death is a big loss to the struggle of communities in Surigao del Sur to stop large-scale mining and logging in the province. READ MORE>>>

Unidentified armed men burned houses
of indigenous community that earlier called
for return of their ancestral land
DON CARLOS, BUKIDNON—On December 2, 2007 at about seven o'clock in the evening, three houses of the Daguiwaas clan located in Barangay San Nicolas, Don Carlos, Bukidnon were burned by unidentified armed men. Earlier, members of the Daguiwaas clan have called for the return of their ancestral land. READ MORE>>>

Extra-Judicial Killings of BM 29 Members in Cagayan de Oro City

Call to End the Extra-Judicial Killings of BM 29 Members

TVI exec apologizes to Subanon tribe
for human rights violations
committed by company
SIOCON, ZAMBOANGA DEL NORTE—Vice president for social commitments of TVI Resource Development Philippines, Inc., Feliece Yeban, has asked forgiveness from the Subanon tribe for the human rights violations committed by TVI. READ MORE>>>



Evacuation of indigenous people in Surigao due to mining?
TANDAG, SURIGAO DEL SUR—More than two thousand indigenous people, mostly Manobo, in Surigao del Sur have fled their villages in November 2007 due to increased military operations in their ancestral domain.

Even as evacuation of the indigenous people and increased military operations continue, there are indicators that the very ancestral domain the indigenous people have left and where the military have increased their operations is planned out for coal mining. READ MORE>>>

Sea-dwelling tribe claims sea as ancestral domain
SITANGKAI, TAWI-TAWI—“Traditionally itinerant and boat-dwelling people, the Sama Dilaut life and culture rely much on the bounties of the seas.... Without the sea, there is no Sama Dilaut.” READ MORE>>>

Lake People, the Maranao, Stand Up to Protect Lake Lanao
MARAWI CITY, LANAO DEL SUR—“We depend our livelihood, our very existence, even our identity to Lake Lanao. If Lake Lanao disappears, we lose our identity because by the word Maranao, we mean the people of the lake.” READ MORE>>>

Plea to return ancestral land
DON CARLOS, BUKIDNON—Members of the Daguiwaas clan are calling that their ancestral land be returned to them. READ MORE>>>

Finding Home
CORTES, SURIGAO DEL SUR—"They (Mamanwa) have been robbed economically, and then discriminated. Indeed, there is a strong discrimination towards the Mamanwa. You can see initial resistance from the people (settlers)." READ MORE>>>

Song Lyric - Mamanwa Song: We the Youth of the Tribal People

Inaction on open–pit mining ban worries religious sector
KORONADAL CITY—A senior Roman Catholic bishop here expressed dismay at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of South Cotabato for prolonging the approval of an environment code that bans open–pit mining in the area.

As early as March 1996, the Office of the Sangguniang Bayan and Office of the Mayor of Datu Paglas town, Maguindanao sent a letter to then President Fidel Ramos to cancel the mining permit of the copper and gold project straddling the towns of Tampakan in South Cotabato, Columbio in Sultan Kudarat and Kiblawan in Davao del Sur. READ MORE>>>

Mining operations in Cantilan threaten farmlands, fishing grounds
and CARAGA's biggest river
READ MORE>>>

Call to stop mining in Carrascal due to its negative effects
READ MORE>>>

Canatuan indigenous leaders call miner's announcement
to stop gold project a ‘cheap PR stunt’
IPIL, ZAMBOANGA SIBUGAY—Calling the announcement of the Canadian–backed mining firm TVI Resource Development Philippines, Inc. that it has ended its $25–million Canatuan gold and silver project in Zamboanga del Norte as “cheap public relations stunt”, an indigenous leader said the mining firm “never stops telling us lies”. READ MORE>>>

South Cotabato board feels pressure,
to embark on study tour on open pit mining sites
KORONADAL CITY—Owing to pressures, members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan in South Cotabato will embark on open pit mining site visits across the country before they will decide on the long–delayed environment code that bans large–scale open pit mining in the area, officials said on Thursday. READ MORE>>>

Residents of Don Panaca, Magpet, Cotabato urge authorities
to address spread of skin disease READ MORE>>>

3,693 residents of Midsalip town, Zamboanga del Sur sign a petition calling President Gloria Macapagal–Arroyo to withhold approval of all mining applications in Midsalip
Click here to read full text of petition>>>

Community Victory: Mining drillers backed–off
because of community human barricade
PLACER, SURIGAO DEL NORTE—Today (March 6) marks the second month of the human barricade installed by the residents of barangay Anislagan preventing the mining drillers to pass through their barangay access road. READ MORE>>>

Renewed call to Tampakan mining operators
to abandon copper and gold project
GENERAL SANTOS CITY—Even as Diocese of Marbel Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez called on all sectors to always resort to peaceful means of confrontation, the New People's Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, has renewed its warning to Sagittarius Mines, Inc.(SMI) to abandon its huge copper and gold project otherwise the firm should brace for violent attacks. READ MORE>>>

Tempest brewing in Tampakan, South Cotabato
TAMPAKAN, SOUTH COTABATO—Diocese of Marbel Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez has described the burning of the Sagittarius Mines, Inc. base camp as "an unfortunate incident and a regrettable means of welcoming 2008."

"While we called on our faithful and all sectors to always resort to peaceful means of confrontation, we also urged the Sagittarius management to rethink their presence in the region," Bishop Gutierrez said. READ MORE>>>

Environmental groups, civil society oppose plan
to dump 500–tonnes of urea in the Sulu Sea
"Over–fertilization of the sea would have adverse impacts on our seaweed farms, the main source of livelihood for the people. Think about it: tens of millions of people depend on the Sulu Sea for food — you cannot just experiment with their lives." READ MORE>>>

Atlas Mining firm abandons mining plans in Zamboanga del Norte: TVI–Atlas joint venture negotiations discontinued READ MORE>>>

Call to end aerial spray on banana plantations
DAVAO CITY—Aerial spray on banana plantations in barangay Sirib, in this city, brought forth skin disease to the residents. READ MORE>>>

Mining Timeline in Central Mindanao READ MORE>>>

Gov ’t eyes 700,000 hectares of land,
mostly in Mindanao for jatropha plantation
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—“When we shall cover as much of Mindanao with jatropha and cassava; aside from banana, you will have erased our watershed.... ” READ MORE>>>


Mati: Endangered Paradise
MATI, DAVAO ORIENTAL—This town has the most fascinating seascape and landscape in this part of the country. READ MORE>>>

Tribes Lament Forest Destruction
LANUZA, SURIGAO DEL SUR—"Logging activities brought forth crisis to our livelihood because we depend so much on our natural resources." READ MORE>>>

Song Lyric - Manobo Song: Ancestral Land

Gov't Procedures Viewed by Mindanao Indigenous Communities as Pro-Mining
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—The Free and Prior Informed Consent Guidelines of 2006 released by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples makes it easy for companies, especially mining companies to enter into ancestral domains. READ MORE>>>

A Failed Promise
The Dumingag, Zamboanga del Sur Case
DUMINGAG, ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR—"Based on our experience, the areas that were destroyed by logging never again regained its former appearance and state. What more with mining where the mountain itself will be destroyed?" READ MORE>>>

Philippine eagle found in Midsalip

Click here for original Visayan version

Moving Mountains
MIDSALIP, ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR—The combined land area of the mining applications, both large-scale and small-scale, practically covers most part of Midsalip town. READ MORE>>>

Desecration of a Sacred Mountain
SIOCON, ZAMBOANGA DEL NORTE—"Mount Canatuan cannot be missed. This is the only mountain in the highlands of the town of Siocon where huge portion of the mountain is color brown, a result of the open pit mining of TVI Resource Development (Philippines) Inc., an affiliate of a Canadian mining company TVI Pacific Inc." READ MORE>>>

Memoirs of a Subanon Tribal Leader

Sumilao farmers claim 144 hectares, sign MOA with SMC
READ MORE>>>

After historic 1,700-km walk, Sumilao farmers return home
SUMILAO, BUKIDNON—After their historic 1,700–kilometer walk from this town to Manila, the Sumilao farmers are back home. READ MORE>>>

Women as Invisible Farmers
VALENCIA CITY, BUKIDNON—"Rural women in Mindanao, like anywhere else in the Philippines, work side by side with men in farms for decades. For decades also, they have helped feed the family and community. But they remain as invisible farmers." READ MORE>>>

Memoirs of a Woman Farmer

Farmers Lose Agrarian Reform Gains Via Leaseback Agreements
IMPASUG-ONG, BUKIDNON—Angelina Padla was a happy beneficiary of a 3-hectare land under the government's agrarian reform program in the year 1992. Today, Ms. Padla has no land to till as she entered into a leaseback agreement with Del Monte Philippines, Inc. READ MORE>>>

Hardships amidst a pineapple plantation
DON CARLOS, BUKIDNON—“We have no more source of livelihood because our surroundings are now planted with pineapple.” READ MORE>>>



Homebirths
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Forty-five-year-old Lucring Tutor said lack of money forced her to deliver all her six children at home. For her youngest daughter, she bravely delivered her through the help of a neighbor who happened to just passed by. READ MORE>>>



The recently concluded barangay election
SAN PABLO, ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR—The recently concluded barangay election was unfair because different kinds of cheating were employed just to win. READ MORE>>>



^{Letter to the Editor}
Destroying Mother Nature
Mining companies are really destroying Mother Nature. The mountains, the rivers, the seas and the weather are not anymore what they used to be. READ MORE>>>

1^st Inside Mindanao Writing Contest Winning Entry
Making bricks for a living
By Terry D.C. Betonio
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—“Earning even just a centavo may not be that easy for some, especially those who cannot read and write. But for Melecia Galorio, getting one peso is just as simple as molding a clay to make one small brick, which she does six days a week even if she cannot read and write her name.” READ MORE>>>

Holy month of Ramadan in Sultan Kudarat
COLUMBIO, SULTAN KUDARAT—Muslims in Columbio, Sultan Kudarat, during the month of Ramadan, do not eat nor drink even water or saliva for the whole day. At 6 o´clock in the afternoon, this is the time that people eat and drink. At 6:30 in the evening up to 10 o´clock in the evening, Muslims attend the Mosque service called Tarawe or night service. At 1 o´clock in the morning until 2:30 in the morning, Muslims attend another Mosque service called Tahajur or dawn service. READ MORE>>>



Human barricade prevents entry of mining company workers
PLACER, SURIGAO DEL NORTE—Last January 6, about 70 residents of barangay Anislagan, together with their barangay council, installed a human barricade thereby preventing the entry of the workers of Anglo American Corporation, the word's second biggest mining company. READ MORE>>>

Subanons rally in front of Government Agency for Indigenous Peoples
PAGADIAN CITY—Several community members held streamers outside the NCIP office calling for the scrapping of the 2006 NCIP Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) Guidelines. READ MORE>>>

Iron Mountain moving to their village
CARRASCAL, SURIGAO DEL SUR—Seven hundred residents gathered on September 28, this year in the poblacion in this town to show protest to the mining operation in their villages. READ MORE>>>

ATM slams TVI for tailings spill in Zambo,
warns of another Marcopper in the making
SIOCON, ZAMBOANGA DEL NORTE—The Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) slammed TVI Pacific, a Canadian-owned firm operating a gold mining project in Canatuan, Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte over reports that its sulphide tailings dam had been breached. READ MORE>>>