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MindanaoDaily

Feb. 11-17, 2013

STAY OUT OF MINDANAO!See story on Page 2

Two Philippine Army soldiers scan the horizon in Mindanao for enemies. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

Feb. 11-17, 20132 The Mindanao Examiner

STAY OUT OF MINDANAO!

Bilang na arBilang na arBilang na arBilang na arBilang na araaaaaw ninw ninw ninw ninw ninyyyyyo!o!o!o!o!PAGADIAN CITY – Bilangna umano ang araw ng mgabandidong grupo sa West-ern Mindanao matapos naipag-utos ng militar angpuspusang operasyonupang madakip sa lalongmadaling panahon angmga binansagang kilabot atsalot sa lipunan.

Ito'y matapos namadakip ang isa sa pinaka-most wanted fugitive sarehiyon na si Monib Aukasasa bayan ng Tungawan.

Si Aukasa at angkasamahan nito ay nahulisa isinagawang raid ngpinagsanib na puwersa ngmilitar at pulisya saBarangay Langon sa bayanng Tungawan saZamboanga Sibugay prov-ince.

Nasamsam sa kanilaang dalawang .45-caliber

pistol at isang granada.Hindi na umano nakapalagsi Aukasa matapos namapaligiran ng mga tropa,ayon kay General RicardoRainier Cruz III, com-mander ng 1st Infantry Di-vision.

“Resulta ito ng matagalna intelligence operation atang pagkakahuli kayAukasa ay magbibigay ngkatahimikan sa mgamamamayan. Aukasa is anotorious criminal whohad killed many innocentpeople and we are glad thathe was finally captured,”ani Cruz sa panayam ngMindanao Examiner.

Hindi naman sinabi niCruz kung paanongnatunton si Aukasa dahilmay operasyon pa umanokontra sa mga tauhan ngbandido. “The operation

against his other gangmembers is still going on,”wika pa nito.

Sinabi ni Cruz namatagal ng wanted sa batassi Aukasa at siyang nasalikod ng maramingpagpatay, highway robber-ies, abductions, at arson,piracy at extortion activi-ties, sa Zamboanga Penin-sula.

Si Aukasa rin angitinuturong nasa likod ngpagpatay kay Staff SergeantAquilles Demecillo at Pri-vate First Class Ronald To-ledo nuong December2008; ang pagsunog saisang Rural Transit busnuong April 2011 at angpagpatay sa pasaheronitong si Major JulistidiArasid, ng 18th InfantryBattalion at kanyangasawa; at gayun rin kay

CAFGU militia Lito delaCruz.

“From January 2010 toJune 2012, Aukasa is also aprime suspect in five mur-ders; three frustrated mur-ders; five highway robber-ies, nine shooting inci-dents; three arson casesand abductions of villagersin Tungawan town,” sabi pani Cruz.

Nuong July 2011 aydinukot rin ni Aukasa ang 6katao, kabilang ang isangbatang babae, sa BarangayTigbanuang sa bayan ngTungawan upang hingin sapulisya ang paglaya ngkanyang asawa na nadakipsa pagtatago ng armas.

Pinalaya naman ngpulisya ang asawa niAukasa sa takot na patayinng bandido ang mga bihag.(Mindanao Examiner)

Monib Aukasa (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

TTTTT

A young Muslim farmer covers his face as he and his familypass near a military checkpoint in Shariff Aguak town in thesouthern Filipino province of Maguindanao. (MindanaoExaminer Photo)

h e Un i t e d St a t e swarned its citizens

not to travel to Sulu Ar-c h i p e l a g o a n d o nMindanao Island in thes o u t h e r n P h i l i p p i n e sd u e t o t h re a t s o fkidnappings and vio-lence linked to insur-gency and terrorism.

T h e l a t e s t t ra v e lwarning, it said, reflectscontinuing threats in

those areas due to ter-rorist and insurgent ac-tivities.

“U . S . c i t i z e n sshould continue to de-fer non-essential travelto the Sulu Archipelago,due to the high threat ofkidnapping of interna-tional travelers and vio-lence linked to insur-g e n c y a n d t e r ro r i s mthere,” the Department

of State said.“U . S . c i t i ze n s

should continue to ex-ercise extreme cautionif traveling to the islando f Mi n d a n a o i n t h eSouthern Philippines.Throughout Mindanao,cr iminal groups havec l a s h e d s p o ra d i c a l l yw i t h t h e Ph i l i p p i n eArmed Forces, particu-larly in rural areas, andterrorist groups havek i d n a p p e d i n t e r n a -tional travelers and car-ried out bombings thathave resulted in injuriesand deaths,” it added.

It also said U.S. Em-bassy employees mustalso have special autho-rization from Embassys e c u r i t y o f f i c i a l s t otravel to any location inMindanao and the Suluarchipelago.

ABABABABABU SAU SAU SAU SAU SAYYYYYYYYYYAFAFAFAFAFHu n d re d s o f U . S .

soldiers are currentlydeployed in Sulu andMindanao where theycontinue to help the lo-cal military in fightingt e r ro r i s m . A l - Qa e d a

a n d Je m a a h Is l a m i y amembers are known tooperate along side witht h e l o c a l Ab u Sa y y a fgr o u p a n d h a d b e e nlinked to the spate ofbombings in Mindanao.

The Abu Sayyaf isstill holding at least 5foreigners and two Fili-p i n o s k i d n a p p e d i nsouthern Philippines.

Washington in Sep-t e m b e r a l s o i s s u e d asimilar warning to itscitizens in the Philip-pines and told them totake extreme caution,s a y i n g t h e t h re a tagainst American citi-zens has been detectedby re l i a b l e s e c u r i t yforces.

AAAAAUSTRALIA ALERUSTRALIA ALERUSTRALIA ALERUSTRALIA ALERUSTRALIA ALERTTTTTLast month, Austra-

lia also warned its citi-zens against travellingto Mindanao followingthe release of a video ofkidnapped Sydney ad-ve n t u re r Wa r re nRodwell, who is beingh e l d by a l - Qa e d a -linked Abu Sayyaf in thesouthern Philippines.

Ro d we l l w a s k i d -napped by gunmen dis-guised as policemen onDecember 5, 2011 in hiss e a s i d e h o m e i n t h etow n o f Ip i l i nZa m b o a n g a Si b u g a yprovince. “The Austra-lian travel advice for thePhilippines continuesto recommend no travelin central or wester nMindanao and warns ofthe danger of kidnap-ping in that area,” Aus-

An army soldier looks through his riffle scope during a patrolin Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

tralian Foreign MinisterBob Carr said in a state-ment.

Carr said the pro-l o n g e d c a p t i v i t y o fRodwell remains a ma-jor concern. The AbuSayyaf has demanded$2 million ransom forRodwell’s safe release,but his Fi l ipina wife,Miraflor Gutang, saidthey cannot afford top a y t h e k i d n a p p e r s .(Mindanao Examiner)

The Mindanao Examiner 3Feb. 11-17, 2013

Mansion of scam suspect in Marawi City heavily guardedILIGAN CITY – Securityforces continue to guardthe house of scam suspectJacob Razuman in thesouthern Philippines forfear of retaliation from an-gry investors.

Just recently, a govern-ment soldier was killed af-ter gunmen attacked a de-tachment outside the man-sion of Jacob Razuman,who is accused of dupinghundreds of millions of pe-sos from Muslim traders inMindanao.

Officials said troopsare searching for three ofthe attackers werewounded in the ensuingfirefight that erupted out-side Razuman's house.

The motive of the at-tack is still unclear, butBrig. Gen. Daniel Lucero,the local army brigadecommander, said troopsand policemen were man-ning the detachment set upby authorities to preventangry investors from burn-ing the house of Razuman.

“We are tracking downthe attackers and three ofthem were wounded in thegun battle,” he told theMindanao Examiner.

Razuman has surren-dered last year to the Na-tional Bureau of Investiga-tion after he failed to payback his investors, whowere victims to his Ponzischeme, similar to the P12-billion scam carried out by

Malaysian nationalManuel Amalilio who alsoduped many people inPagadian City last year.

Razuman also in-vested to Amalilio’s AmanFutures in the hope of get-ting more money, but theMalaysian swindler fled toSabah after his companycollapsed in October, andwas arrested last month bythe police in Kota Kinabaluwhere some of his Filipinovictims tracked him down.

Investors said they putso much money into thetrade after Amalilio prom-ised to pay them as muchas 50% profit in just twoweeks.

The investment trad-ing began in February lastyear in Pagadian City andnews of its high-yield,high-profit spread likewildfire and attracted evenstreet hawkers and tricycledrivers who poured theirhard-earned savings intoan overseas stock andmoney trading.

During the first weeksof its operation, investorswere paid at least 31% andprofits increased to 50% inthe succeeding weeks – lur-ing not only ordinary citi-zens, but politicians aswell.

The scheme is namedafter Charles Ponzi, who

became notorious for us-ing the technique in 1920.His operation took in somuch money that it wasthe first to become knownthroughout the UnitedStates.

It was also the samescheme that Americanstock broker and invest-ment advisor BernardLawrence Madoff – whowas arrested in December2008 - used to lure thou-sands of clients to invest inhis scam. As much as $80million dollars were be-lieved lost to Madoff ’sscam. (Mindanao Exam-iner. With a report from E.Dumaboc)

OFW in Saudi death row sees light offreedom, says Migrante Middle East

MANILA - A Filipino mi-grants' welfare groupMigrante Middle East re-joiced in reports that anoverseas Filipino workerRogelio Lanuza jailed inSaudi Arabia will soon befreed.

It said the Saudi gov-

ernment shouldered thepayment of 2.3 millionRiyals which Lanuza andhis family can use to pay tothe kin of the Saudi na-tional he accidentallykilled in 2000.

For more than 12 longyears, Migrante spear-

headed a campaign alongwith various OFWs organi-zations in Saudi Arabia andin the Middle East dubbedas "Save OFWs on DeathRow" with Lanuza beingone of our priority cases.

John LeonardMonterona, Migrante's re-gional coordinator, saidtheir group and allied orga-nizations had campaignedhard to save the life ofLanuza and others like himdoomed in Saudi jails.

"We salute our fellowOFW Dondon Lanuza forhis determination as he re-pent long time ago on what

he had done. On behalf ofDondon and his family,relatives and friends, wewould like to convey oursincerest appreciation tothe Saudi government un-der the leadership of hisHighness King Abdullah,custodian of the Two HolyMosques," he said.

"To those who havecontributed to SaveDondon Lanuza fund rais-ing campaign and to ourfellow OFWs who havebeen with us in our SaveOFWs on Death Row cam-paign, we thank you all.This victory is ours," he

added.Monterona said they

will continue to appeal toSaudi to spare the lives ofother Filipinos on deathrow. He said there are still 6Filipinos on death row.

"Our Save OFWs onDeath Row campaign willnot end upon DondonLanuza’s eventual release.We will intensify our effortsuntil no OFWs are on deathrow in Saudi Arabia. Likemost OFWs, they too werevictims of forced migra-tion," he said.

Foreign Affairs Secre-tary Albert del Rosario said

the Aquino governmentexpressed gratitude to theSaudi Government for thehumanitarian gesture,which paves the way forthe issuance of an affidavitof forgiveness (tanazul) inLanuza’s favor.

"This positive develop-ment is a result of the tire-less effort and steadfastcommitment of Filipinosworking together. We hopethat as soon as all legal pro-cedures are completed, Mr.Lanuza will finally be re-united with his family,” hesaid in a statement sent tothe Mindanao Examiner.

Rogelio Lanuza (Photo by InterAksyon.com)

Pautang nga gihanyag sa DA, usa na usab ka dakongpagpanglinga sa mga mag-uuma

DAVAO ORIENTAL - AngKilusang Magbubukid ngPilipinas nanawagan satanang biktima sa BagyongPablo (Bopha) nga dilimagpa-ilad sa gihangyag ngapautang sa Department ofAgriculture - mao kini anggiluwat nga pahayag ni PedroArnado, Secretary General saKMP-SMR, pinakalapad ngaalyansa mga mga mag-uumasa rehiyon. “Wala pa gani nakabangonang mga biktima sa hapak niBagyong Pablo, daw bagyona usab kining muhapak sailang kinabuhi bunga samaong pautang.”

Didto sa Provincial Capi-tol sa Tagum City, bag-ohaylang, gipadayag sa Depart-ment of Agriculture pinaagi niBernadette San Juan sagipahitabong tigum sa DA-ACPC (Dept Agriculture- Ag-ricultural Credit Policy Coun-cil) Special Agriculture Fi-nancing Facility for Farmesand Fishers nga pwede ng

mangutang ang tanangbiktima sa Bagyong Pablo.

Ang DA-ACPC, pinaagisa ilang partner financing in-stitutions ang CooperativeBank sa Misamis Oriental ugsa Cooperative Bank saAgusan del sur mihanyag ogloans nga muabot og 150,000pesos alang sa mga mag-uuma, mangingisda sa mgalugar diin biktima sa BagyongPablo.

Ang maong pagpautangadunay interest rate nga 8%ug 4% service fee ug bayrankini matag bulan, kada-3 kabulan, panahon sa ting-ani orlump sum nga dili mulampassa usa ka tuig.

“Ang maong programa,walay kalainan sa iskemanggrowership o kadtong pag-convert sa lapad nga magumahan aron mahimongplantasyon sa saging. Samasa growership, kinahanglannilang mangutang saLandbank aron idevelop angilang kayutaan. Apan sa

maong eskema, nalubong nahinuon sa utang ang mgagrowers ug wala na kinikakayahang makabayad saminilyong utang,mamahimo ng i-collateralang ilang mga kayutaan ugmaangkon sa mgakorporasyon," dugang pa niArnado.

"Ug dahuman ta nga saprogramang pautang sa DA,mamahimong icollateralusab ang kayutaan sa mgamaguuma ug kung dili kinimabayran, dili imposible ngamaimbargo ang yuta ngailang gipanagiyahan. Usa kinisa pinakadakong hinungdansa kalisud ug kawad-on nganasinati sa mga mag-uuma.”

Subay sa KMP, dilipautang ang maka - alibyo sagipanglukdong suliran samga mag-uuma. Kunggustohon man sapanggamhanan ngatabangan ang mga mag-uuma, pananglitan sa mgamag-uuma sa lubi sa Davao

Oriental, ang P56.5-bilyonnga pundo gikan sa coco levyangay ng ihatag sa mga mag-uuma sa lubi.

Ang gipanghambog sapanggamhanan ngamikolekta kuno sila og 1 tril-lion tax collection miagingtuig , nganong dili kinigamiton alang sa mgaBiktima? Nganong pautangman ang ilang gidus-an?

Sa pangkinatibuk-an,angay na usab ipatuman nasa panggamhanan angtinuod nga repormangagraryo, tungod kay mao langkini ang tinuod nga solusyonsa dugay ng gilukdongsuliran sa mga mag-uuma”

“Ang pagkuntsabuhay saGubyernong Aquino ug samga bangkong tigpautang,makita ang baruganan ugang tinuod nga hulagway ngaang Republika ni NoynoyAquino republika sa mgadagkong agalong yutaan,kapitalista ug dili alang samga mag-uuma. “

Police mounts manhuntfor Zambo attackers

ZAMBOANGA CITY– Police launched amanhunt for gun-men who attacked apoliceman escortinggovernment teach-ers on a remote vil-lage in ZamboangaCity in the southernPhilippines, officialssaid.

Officials said po-lice forces weretracking down theattackers who shotand wounded onepoliceman in thevil lage of Maasin.Two gunmenopened fire with au-tomatic rifles on the

policeman and es-caped after a briefexchange of fire, of-ficials said.

No teachers werekilled or injured inthe attack, said Se-nior SuperintendentEdwin de Ocampo.“We still don’t knowthe motive of the at-tack,” he said.

It was unknownwhether the attackwas a failed kidnap-ping or not, butteachers had beenabducted in the pastin Zamboanga City.(Mindanao Exam-iner)

JUST SAY

NO!

Feb. 11-17, 20134 The Mindanao Examiner

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Photo shows poverty in Zamboanga City. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

Group promises lifetime OFW membership toOWWA; pensions for retired overseas workerTTTTT he Fi l ipino mi-

grants r ightsgroup, Migrante-Middle East said it willpush for every overseasFilipino workers l i fe-t ime membership tothe Overseas WorkersWelfare Administration,the government’s pre-mier welfare agency ad-junct to the Depar t-ment of Labor and Em-ployment, mandated toprovide programs andwelfare ser vices toOFWs and their depen-dents. “We will push forour OFWs l i fet imemembership to OWWAthat major ity of uswanted. Non-member-ship, which means sim-ply a failure to renewand pay the US$25membership fee,should not be cited asjust i f icat ion for thegovernment not to ren-der programs and wel-fare services which aresupposed to be fre eanyway,” John LeonardMonterona, Migrante-Middle East regionalcoordinator, said in astatement to theMindanao Examiner.

Monterona, a lsoV ice-chairman ofMIGRANTE SectoralPar ty of OFWs andfamilies, said

OFWs and their or-ganizat ions stronglyopposed the imple-mentation of theOWWA Omnibus Poli-cies, a codification ofvarious rules and regu-lations of OWWA thatwas approved on Sep-tember 2003 by theOWWA Board and abrainchi ld of thenDoLE Secretary Patricia

Sto.Tomas.Sections 3 and 4, Ar-

ticle IV of the OWWAOmnibus Policies setthe affectivity and re-newal of OFWs mem-bership to OWWA, re-spectively.

“The OWWA Omni-bus Pol icy is c learlyanti-OFW. For one,OFWs membership toOWWA was made oncontractual basis of 2-year contract. Non-re-newal automatical lyand arbitrarily dismem-ber an OFW as suchcould not anymoreavail OWWA programsand ser vices,”Monterona said.

He said with theimplementation ofOWWA Omnibus Poli-cies, some of the pro-grams and ser viceswere not funded andeventually were phasedout. “The General Fi-nancial Assistance pro-gram is an example,”Monterona said.

Monterona notedthousands of undocu-mented OFWs werebared to avail OWWAprograms and serviceswith the implementa-tion of the OWWA Om-nibus Policies.

“Though undocu-mented, our fe l lowOFWs are working hardand they continue tosend remittances totheir families that surgelocal consumption, notto mention the incomethe govt. is getting fromimposing taxes to thebanks and remittancecompanies. Kasama par in s i la sa mgatinaguriang ‘BagongBayani’, then why ex-

clude them from avail-ing OWWA programsand ser vices just be-cause they failed to re-new their membershipto OWWA?” Monteronaasked.

He said that sup-port mechanismsshould be put in placeto accommodate theconcerns of undocu-mented OFWs whileworking abroad and offormer OFWs who havedecided to stay ‘forgood’ in the Phi l ip-pines.

“OWWA fund,pooled from US$25mandator y fee fromOFWs believed to havereached P14.8-B in-cluding assets and in-vestments, must servethe needs of OFWs--whether documentedor not, whether with orwithout contract -- andtheir families as well,through concrete ser-vices and benefits in-cluding medical assis-tance, burial, repatria-t ion, social secur ity,pensions and otherwelfare essentials,”Monterona said, addingthat Migrante will re-new its campaign forthe scrapping of theanti-OFW OWWA Om-nibus Policies.

He said the creationof an OWWA Charterthat will safeguard andprotect OFWs trustfund and to ensure thatthere wi l l be enoughprograms and servicesto OFWs and their de-pendents is onMigrante’s agenda oncethe group won a seat inCongress via party-listelection on May 2013.

Economic gains meaningless if Filipinosremain poor, says JV Ejercito Estrada

MANILA - Senatorial can-didate and San Juan Rep. JVEjercito Estrada remindedthe Aquino administrationthat its economic gainsmay be meaningless if itwill not be able to improvethe lives of Filipinos and liftmillions out of poverty.

Ejercito Estrada saidthe 6.6% economic growthposted by the Philippineslast year will not mean any-thing to "Juan de la Cruz"unless it translates intomore jobs, higher pay, andan over-all improvement inthe quality of his life.

"If the country'seconomy performed 'be-yond expectations,' whythen did we have more un-employed Filipinos lastyear?" the young lawmakerasked. The San Juan solonpointed out the results ofthe October 2012 LaborForce Survey which re-vealed that 2.76 millionFilipinos are unemployed.The survey showed thatsome 120,000 additionalFilipino workers joined theranks of the unemployedlast year.

The country's unem-ployment rate went up de-spite the fact that prior to therelease of the survey, the Phil-ippines posted a 6.5 percentincrease in its gross domes-tic product - the sum ofgoods and services pro-duced within the country'sborders - in January to Sep-tember 2012.

"President Aquino andhis Cabinet should also askthe 10.9 million Filipinohouseholds who consideredthemselves poor in an SWSsurvey whether the 6.6 per-cent economic growth in2012 had an impact on their

lives," said Ejercito Estrada.In a survey by the So-

cial Weather Stations inJanuary, an additional 1.4million Filipino house-holds rated themselves"poor."

The SWS poll, whichwas conducted on Dec. 8 to11, indicated that 54% of re-spondents or 10.9 millionFilipino households con-sidered themselves poor.This is higher than the 47%9.5 million Filipino familiesrecorded in August 2012.

The young lawmakeralso noted that while thesalary of minimum wageearners have remained thesame, the prices of basicgoods and services such asfood and utilities rise everyyear.

"Our minimum wageearners practically have norespite from the continuousincrease in the price of ba-sic goods and services. Sobefore the Aquino admin-istration flaunts its eco-nomic gains, it must first ex-amine whether these havereally trickled down to thepeople," he said.

Rep. JV Ejercito Estrada

Feb. 11-17, 2013 5The Mindanao Examiner

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A Year of Pluses, Minuses on Rights Decrease in Killings, But Impunity for AbusersMANILA - The Philippineshad adopted landmarkhuman rights legislationin 2012, but it failed tomake significant progressin holding the securityforces accountable for se-rious abuses, HumanRights Watch said in itsWorld Report 2013.

In its 665-page report,Human Rights Watch as-sessed progress on humanrights during the past yearin more than 90 countries,including an analysis ofthe aftermath of the ArabSpring.

In the Philippines, Hu-man Rights Watch spot-lighted the disturbingtrend of increased threatsand attacks on environ-mental and anti-miningactivists by alleged mem-bers of the security forces.

“The overall humanrights situation in the Phil-ippines improved in 2012with fewer extrajudicialkillings and the passage ofhistoric laws promotingrights,” said Brad Adams,Asia director at HumanRights Watch. “But thegovernment has failed toaddress impunity for themost serious abuses. Onprosecuting rights abus-ers, it needs to walk thewalk, not just talk thetalk.”

In late 2012 the Philip-pine Congress passed, andPresident Benigno Aquino

signed, a landmark lawthat makes it mandatoryfor the government to pro-vide reproductive healthservices.

They also enacted alaw that criminalizes en-forced disappearances,the first such law in Asia,and one that could end thescourge of such abduc-tions that have destroyedcountless lives.

On January 18, Aquinosigned a law institutingpolicies for the protectionand welfare of domesticworkers. Other bills pro-moting human rights arepending in Congress, withat least one other, a billcompensating victims ofabuses during the martiallaw period in the 1970sand 1980s, awaitingAquino’s signature.

However, Congressalso passed theCybercrime PreventionAct in September, which, ifenforced, could severelyundermine freedom of ex-pression and the Philip-pines’ status as a regionalleader in internet free-dom.

The law allows for stiffcriminal sentences forbroadly defined onlinedefamation. Aquinosigned the law into force,but the Philippine Su-preme Court suspendedits enforcement in Octo-ber, after a public outcry

led by free-expressiongroups and bloggers.

“The Philippine Con-gress has shown the ca-pacity to craft laws thatpromote and protect hu-man rights, but it alsopassed a poorly thoughtout cybercrime law thatcould prove disastrous forinternet freedom. Thechallenge now is for thegovernment to implementthese good laws in an ef-fective manner whileworking to immediatelyoverturn the cybercrime

law,” Adams said in astatement to theMindanao Examiner.

In the past year, theAquino administrationsaid it would “actively en-gage international bodiesin seeking ways to im-prove the criminal justicesystem,” and promised toexpedite human rights in-vestigations and improvethe justice system.

No progress on ac-countability for extrajudi-cial killings, disappear-ances

Little progress wasmade in successfully pros-ecuting cases of extrajudi-cial killings, enforced dis-appearances, and torture,Human Rights Watch said.Since 2001, hundreds ofleftist activists, journalists,rights defenders, andclergy have been killed byalleged members of the se-curity forces. Local humanrights organizations re-ported approximately 114cases of extrajudicial kill-ings since Aquino came tooffice, though the numberdropped sharply with just13 reported in 2012.

Environmental activ-ists appeared to bear thebrunt of threats and at-tacks during the year, Hu-man Rights Watch said.

Aquino also signed anexecutive order that aimsto institutionalize reformsin the Philippine miningsector, but it is silent onthe issue of rights abusesarising from mining in-vestments, and on the de-ployment of paramilitariesat the mines.

He defended an ear-lier directive to allow theuse of paramilitary forcesto augment the military inits campaign against in-surgents, and to secure theoperations of miningcompanies. Members ofthese forces have been im-plicated in serious humanrights abuses.

The communist NewPeople’s Army and Islam-ist armed groups in thesouth continued to com-mit serious human rightsabuses and violations ofthe laws of war, HumanRights Watch said.

Despite strong evi-dence that military per-sonnel have been in-volved, investigationshave stalled. Not a singlecase of extrajudicial killingby the security forces re-sulted in a conviction in2012, and no such convic-tion has been reportedsince Aquino becamepresident in 2010, HumanRights Watch said.

Last year, Aquino didnot keep his electionpromise to revoke Execu-tive Order 546, which localofficials cite to justify theprovision of arms to theirpersonal security forces.These “private armies” areresponsible for much ofthe violence that has be-come common in the Phil-ippines during elections.Although the governmentsaid it has disbanded 28 ofthese “private armies,”nearly 100 still exist, ac-cording to the Interior De-partment.

“If 2012 was the yearfor new laws promotinghuman rights, then 2013should be the year for ef-fective action,” Adamssaid.

Pres. Benigno Aquino III

CyberCyberCyberCyberCybercrime lacrime lacrime lacrime lacrime law maw maw maw maw may y y y y TRTRTRTRTRO na naman!O na naman!O na naman!O na naman!O na naman!PINURI NG ALAB NgMamamahayag (Alam)party list group ang Su-preme Court sa desisyonnitong bigyan ng indefi-nite temporary restrain-ing order ang pag-papatupad sa kon-trobersyal na CybercrimePrevention Act of 2012matapos lumipas atmapaso ang 120-araw napansamantalang palugitnito.

Ang extension aysagot sa petisyon ng 15grupo laban sa kon-trobersyal na batas nanagsasakriminal sa libelosa internet.

Sa isang pahayag samedia, sinabi SC actinginformation chief Atty.Gleo Guerra na ang in-definite extension aymagpapatuloy hanggangwalang utos Korte na itigilito.

Ayon kay ALAM chair-man Jerry Yap, tamalamang na ipahinto ngSupreme Court ang

pagpapatupad ng Cy-bercrime Prevention Actof 2012 dahil batay saSeksyon 4 (c) (4) ngnasabing kautusan, angelectronic libel ay luma-labag sa mga karapatanng isang tao sa tamangproseso, pantay na pro-teksyon sa ilalim ng batas,at malayang ekspresyon.

Laban din umano itosa double jeopardy law.

Kamakailan lamangay muling pinigil ng KorteSuprema ang pag-papatupad ng kon-trobersyal na batas nacybercrime sa gitna ngalalahaning malubhangpag-abuso sa kalayaan saInternet.

Ayon naman kay Jus-tice Secretary Leila deLima, dahil sa bagongtemporary restraining or-der sa nasabing panu-kalang batas ay hindi itomaipatutupad, ngunitiginiit naman ng opisyalna nakabinbin lamangang pagpapasiya upang

mapag-aralang mabutiang merito ng mgapetisyon.

Pinirmahan ni Presi-dent Benigno SimeonAquino III ang nasabingbatas noong Setyembre2012 sa gitna ng malakingprotesta dahil sa mabigatna pataw ng pagkakulongpara sa online libel atpagbibigay ng kapang-yarihan sa estado upangi-shut down ang mgawebsite at subaybayanang mga online naaktibidad.

Noong Oktubre, nag-isyu ang SC ng apat nabuwang injunction sapagbibigay diin namismong si chief lawyer,Solicitor-General FrancisJardeleza ay nagsabingang pagpapasara ng mgawebsites ay maaaringilegal nga.

Gayunman, sinabi rinni Jardeleza na hindi itosapat na dahilan upangibasura ang buong batas.(Nanet Villafania)

New fuel price hike criticizedYouth group Anakbayan criti-cized a new oil price hike as un-justified in the face of claims bythe Aquino administration of animproving' economy and betterpeso-dollar exchange rate.

"In past years, one of themain reasons always given isthat the peso's value versus thedollar is getting lower. Now thatthe peso is supposedly improv-ing, we are still experiencing oilprice hikes. What's the real dealNoy n oy ? " a s k e d Ve n c e rCrisostomo, national chairper-son of Anakbayan.

Oi l c o m p a n i e s i n c re a s e dtheir pump prices by the follow-ing: .45 centavos for diesel, .75centavos for unleaded gasoline,and P1.05 for premium gasolineand worse, the Department ofEnergy has warned of anotherlooming hike in fuel prices, saidCrisostomo.

For his part, Kabataan partyl i s t n a t i o n a l p re s i d e n t Te r r yRidon, said oil price hikes areabsolutely unjustified.

"Time and time again, many

think-tanks and research groupshave shown that the oil cartel isoverpricing their products. Vir-tually all of the petroleum prod-ucts are sold by the 'Big 3' of oilcompanies."

"Whenev er there is an oi lprice hike, they claim that it isa ' n a t u r a l r e s u l t o f m a r k e tforces'. But in truth, they are allc o l l u d i n g w i t h e a c h o t h e r t oraise prices," he said.

P re s i d e n t i a l S p o k e s m a nEdwin Lacierda earlier said thatPhilippine economy grew by 6.8percent in the 4th quar ter of2012, bringing full year growthfor 2012 to 6.6 percent.

"The continued growth ofour GDP is proof positive of oura b i l i t y t o s u s t a i n a u n i t e dm a rc h f o r w a r d s a l o n g t h estraight path toward equitablep r o g r e s s . Re s t a s s u re d t h a twhile our administration is en-couraged by these successes, wew i l l c o n t i n u e t o w o r k e v e nh a rd e r t o m a i n t a i n o u reconomy’s upward trajectory,"he said.

Jan. 14-20, 20136 The Mindanao Examiner

Feb. 11-17, 2013 7The Mindanao Examiner

Translate 'Kasambahay'contract into different dialectsMANILA - The TradeUnion Congress of thePhilippines has proposedto the Department of La-bor and Employment totranslate the employmentcontract between house-hold helpers and their em-ployers into different localdialects to make it moreunderstandable.

“Since they are one ofthe most vulnerable work-ers for very obvious rea-sons, we have to enhancethe protection of ourhousehold helpers frompossible onerous or disad-vantageous contract thatmight arise or be used byabusive employers in try-ing to circumvent the law.They (helpers) must knowwhat they have just en-tered into,” Gerard Seno,TUCP Secretary-General,said in a statement sent tothe Mindanao Examiner.

The Kasambahay Law

is an Act Instituting Poli-cies For The ProtectionAnd Welfare of DomesticWorkers. It was signed byPresident Benigno Aquinointo law on January 18.

The law gave DOLEninety days to come upwith the implementingrules and regulations.

Seno said the TUCPmade the proposalthrough a letter they sentto Labor SecretaryRosalinda Baldoz on theoccasion of the drafting ofthe law’s implementingrules and regulations. Itrequires the DOLE todraft, print and makeavailable the copies of theemployment contract butit does not say what dia-lect to use.

The TUCP is part ofthe technical workinggroup tasked to draft theimplementing rules andregulations.

BBBBBinatikos ng pamu-nuan ng Alab ng

President Aquino binatikos dahil sa FOI Bill

Pres. Benigno Aquino III

Mamamahayag (ALAM)party list group angmalamig na pagtanggapng Malacañang sapaglalabas ng isang Ex-ecutive Order nakahalintulad ng Freedomof Information (FOI) Bill.

Ayon kay ALAM Chair-man Jerry Yap, ayaw nanga itong sertipikahang

ang sinasabi niyang tuwidna daan? Parang hindinaman,” ani Yap.

M a t a t a n d a a n gipinanukala ni Sen.Edgardo Angara na kunghindi kayang maipasa angFOI Bill bago mag-recessay gawin na lamang itongEO.

Gayunman, sinabi niDeputy PresidentialSpokesperson Abigail Valtena kahit walang EO aymatagal nangnagpapatupad ng trans-parency measures angadministrasyong Aquino,kung saan ang halimbawaumano nito ay ang advo-cacy site ng Department ofBudget and Managementna Budget ng Bayan, zero-based budgeting at angpagsali sa mga stakehold-ers sa paggawa ng budgetng gobyerno.

Binanggit din niya angpaglalagay sa website nggobyerno ng inilalabas naPriority Development As-sistance Fund o pork bar-rel ng mga mambabatas.

Gayunman, sinabi niYap na ang mga inilalagaysa website ng gobyerno ayang nais nilang malamanng bayan. Nakatago pa rinumano ang mgaanomalya, na makikitalamang kung huhukayingmabuti.

Idinagdag pa ni Yap nakakaunti na ang sessiondays ng Kongreso at hindina kakayaning ipasa angFOI Bill.

Ayon naman kay

ALAM President BerteniCausing, parang maykinatatakutan si PNoy kayahindi niyamasertipikahang ‘urgent’ang FOI Bill.

“Sa dami ng mga batasna hindi naman gaanongmahalaga nasinertipikahan niyang ‘ur-gent,’ bakit itong FOI Billlagi na lamangnasasantabi?” ani Atty.Causing. “Sa tingin namin,ayaw rin ni PNoy namaipasa yan. Bakit kaya?May itinatago rin ba siya?O baka may kinalaman nanaman dito ang KKK niya.Yung mga Kaibigan,Kamag-anak at Kabarilan.”

Nagkaisa ang mgapamunuan at mgamiyembro ng NationalPress Club, Alyansa ngF i l i p i n o n gMamamahayag, NationalUnion of Journalists in thePhilippines, PhilippinePress Institute atKapisanan ng mgaBrodkaster ng Pilipinas naigiit sa Kongreso namaipasa ang FOI bill bagoang kanilang mahabangbakasyon bilang pag-hahanda sa eleksyon saMayo.

“Alam naming nag-kakaisa at umaasa anglahat ng miyembro ng me-dia - print man, radio, TVat online – sa kahilingangipasa ang FOI Bill ngHouse of Representatives,”ani Yap. “Isa itong constitu-tional obligation na hindidapat naka-aapekto sa

pansarili nilang concerns.Hindi sila dapat matakotna maaabuso sila ng mediadahil kung wala namansilang bahong itinatago,kahit ano pang gawin ngkahit sino ay wala silangmahuhukay na skeleton inthe closet.”

Sa administrationdraft ng FOI Bill naisinumite sa Congress,hinihingi ang online pub-lication ng Statements of

urgent ni PresidentBenigno Aquino,ibinabasura pa ang isangopsyon upangmaipatupad ito.

“Nasaan na angsinasabi niyangpumapanig siya sa me-dia?” ani Yap. “FOI Bill ngalamang hindi niyamapayagang maipasa,paano pa malulutas angmga media killings? Ito ba

Assets, Liabilities and NetWorth ng pangulo, VicePresident, miyembro nggabinete, mgamambabatas, miyembrong Korte Suprema, mgaopisyal ng Armed Forces ofthe Philippines na angranggo ay mula sa heneralhanggang flag officer, atmga miyembro ng Consti-tutional commissions aatiba pang constitutional of-fices. (Nanet Villafania)

Feb. 11-17, 20138 The Mindanao Examiner

AkbaAkbaAkbaAkbaAkbayyyyyan memberan memberan memberan memberan members ins ins ins ins inAquino gAquino gAquino gAquino gAquino gooooov't criticizv't criticizv't criticizv't criticizv't criticizedededededMANILA - A youth groupcalled Anakbayan has re-leased a supposed list ofthe members of the partylist group Akbayan, an allyof President BenignoAquino, in the NationalAnti-Poverty Commission,holding sensitive positionsin the government agency,with some being in chargeof the distribution of thecontroversial coconut levyfunds.

Acting on confidentialtips from disgruntledNAPC employees,Anakbayan have so far un-earthed 9 Akbayan and af-filiate leaders among the149 contractual and part-time employees of theagency, and among them

were lawyers."This confirms what

coconut farmers and peas-ant groups have been say-ing all along that Akbayanis out to hijack part of thecoco levy fund for their2013 election campaignand other nefarious pur-poses," Vencer Crisostomo,national chairperson ofAnakbayan, said in a state-ment sent to the MindanaoExaminer.

"We cannot blame thefarmers for demandingthat the coco levy funds begiven directly to them, in-stead of passing throughthe corrupt hands of Presi-dent Aquino's favoriteparty list group," he said.

According to

Crisostomo, the tipsterswere inspired after lastyear's efforts to disqualifyAkbayan from the 2013party list race included anexposition in the irregularpractice of hiring 100 con-tractual personnel, includ-ing 19 consultants.

He said no less thanthe Commission on Auditquestioned the expendi-ture of P27.97 million insalaries for the said em-ployees for 2011. This wasthe biggest item in theNAPC's budget for the saidyear, he said.

There was no immedi-ate statement fromAkbayan about the allega-tions. (Mindanao Exam-iner)

Lanao security heightenedahead of poll campaignPAGADIAN CITY - The Phil-ippine Army has tightenedits security in the southernprovince of Lanao del Nortein anticipation to the start ofthe political campaign forthe May general elections.

Military and policecommanders have met withpoll officials to discuss secu-rity measures to ensure thecampaign period and theconduct of elections arepeaceful.

Just last week, a motor-cycle packed with explo-sives went off outside a res-taurant in the town of Tubodin Lanao del Norte andwounding at least 5 people.Officials said no individualof group claimed responsi-bility for the attack that tookplace outside Ysmael Res-

taurant.The identities of those

wounded in the blast werenot immediately known,but the army said amongthose in the restaurant wasformer Salvador mayor Sul-tan Jhony Tawantawan andhis lawyer Yusop Omar. Itwas unknown whetherTawantawan or other indi-vidual was the target of thebombing or if the attack wasrelated to terrorism.

The blast occurredahead of the political cam-paign. Elections in thesouthern Philippines aretraditionally violent be-cause of warring politicalclans and the presence ofdifferent rebel groups.(Mindanao Examiner. E.Dumaboc)

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Po-lice said at least 21 gunmenwere killed in sporadicclashes between formerMuslim rebels and mem-bers of the al-Qaeda-linkedAbu Sayyaf group in thesouthern province of Sulu.

Senior SuperintendentAntonio Freyra, the provin-cial police chief, said 8members of the formerrebel group Moro NationalLiberation Front and 13from the Abu Sayyaf groupwere confirmed killed infierce battles since Sundayin the hinterlands ofPatikul town.

“Official police reportsput the casualties at 21 onboth sides and many oth-ers wounded in the fight-ing between the groups ofMNLF and Abu Sayyaf,” he

told the Mindanao Exam-iner.

Freyra said policeforces have secured civil-ians areas in Patikul andneighboring towns. “Wehave secured civilian areasin Patikul and other neigh-boring municipalities toensure the safety of civil-ians,” he said.

The fighting eruptedafter MNLF forces attackedAbu Sayyaf militants whoare holding several kid-napped foreigners – twoEuropean wildlife photog-raphers, a Malaysiantrader, a Jordanian jour-nalist, a Japanese treasurehunter, and an Australianadventurer.

The MNLF under NurMisuari previously de-manded from the Abu

Sayyaf to release all theirhostages, but the militantgroup flatly rejected thedemand.

Just recently, the AbuSayyaf released two Fili-pino assistants – freed kid-napped victims RolandoLetrero and Ramelito Vela- of Jordanian journalistBaker Atyani, who is AlArabiya TV’s bureau chief

in Pakistan.The trio was held pris-

oners in June last year af-ter secretly went to inter-view MNLF and Abu Sayyafleaders in Sulu. The AbuSayyaf demanded $3 mil-lion for Atyani’s safe re-lease, but authorities couldnot say whether the Jorda-nian has been freed or not.(Mindanao Examiner)

Over a dozen killed in MNLF - ASG clashes

Zamboanga City

9The Mindanao ExaminerFeb. 11-17, 2013

Crane barge to pull out groundedUSS Guardian in Tubbataha Reef

USS Guardian (US Navy website)

MANILA - The PhilippineCoast Guard said one oftwo crane barges con-tracted by the UnitedStates Navy to retrieve itsminesweeper USS Guard-ian stuck on a coral reef inSulu Sea has arrived.

Coast Guard comman-dant Rear Admiral RodolfoIsorena said the barge,which came fromSingapore, is now in PuertoPrincesa City in Palawanprovince. The secondbarge is now on its way tothe Philippines.

The 68-meter USSGuardian, which camefrom Subic Bay inZambales province inLuzon Island, hit the pro-tected atoll of TubbatahaReef last month after ignor-ing warning from parkrangers and Filipino au-thorities that the ship isnearing the marine sanc-

tuary.Park rangers said they

tried to approach the shipto talk to its officers, butthe crew instead went tobattleship position forcingthe Filipinos to back off.The arrogance of the offic-ers and crew of the shipdrew wild protest fromvarious patriotic and envi-ronmental groups.

The ship, manned by acrew of 62 officers and sail-ors, is based in Japan andequipped with Mine neu-tralization system and two.50 caliber machine guns.

Tubbataha, a marinesanctuary, is just 98 nauti-cal miles southeast ofPalawan province.

U.S. troops are de-ployed in the Philippinesand training Filipino sol-diers in anti-terrorismwarfare. (Mindanao Ex-aminer)

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A Tale of Two ReefsBy Perry Diaz

IN A MATTER of days, the Philippine government tookstrong actions against the two most powerful countriesin the world – the United States and the People’s Re-public of China. Now, that’s what I call “wow, wow!” Yep,a double wow, indeed. But as it turned out, the countrywas hit with a double whammy!

The first whammy was China’s seizure of theScarborough Shoal (Panatag Shoal) that is within thecountry’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Last August,after China tricked the Philippines into withdrawingher vessels from the lagoon, China roped off the onlyentrance into the lagoon; thus, preventing other fish-ermen from getting in. Only Chinese fishing boats areallowed to enter the lagoon. In effect, China has takende facto possession of a piece of Philippineterritory…without firing a shot.

Bajo de Masinloc, as Scarborough Shoal wasnamed as far back as 1734 during the Spanish era, is124 miles west of Masinloc, Zambales in the SouthChina Sea. The shoal is a triangle-shaped chain of reefswith a circumference of 34 miles and an area of 58square miles. Many of the reefs are just below water athigh tide. The lagoon contains a large variety of fishand other sea life including endangered species suchas sea turtles, sharks, and giant clams.

ArbitrArbitrArbitrArbitrArbitrationationationationationHelplessly unable to defend her territory, let alone

recover those she already lost, the Philippines had noother recourse but to turn to the United Nations to re-solve the territorial dispute.

Last January 22, the Philippines’ Foreign SecretaryAlbert del Rosario formally notified China that the Phil-ippines is bringing the case before the Arbitral Tribu-nal of the United Nations Convention on the Law ofthe Sea (UNCLOS). The issue is China’s claim to about90% of the entire South China Sea delineated by animaginary – and arbitrary – “nine-dash line” drawn byChina.

In reaction, the Chinese ambassador to the Philip-pines, Ma Keqing, reasserted China’s “indisputable sov-ereignty” over the South China Sea. However, she saidthat China supports a negotiated settlement through“peaceful means.” Well, with several Chinese warshipspermanently deployed inside the lagoon, “peacefulmeans” might just be another convenient tool fromChina’s bag of tricks.

DoublespeakDoublespeakDoublespeakDoublespeakDoublespeakLast January 28, China’s supreme ruler, Xi Jinping,

told the 25 members of the ruling Communist Party’sCentral Committee Political Bureau (Politburo): “Chinawill stick to the path of peaceful development. No for-eign country should expect us to make a deal on ourcore interests and hope we will swallow the bitter pillthat will damage our sovereignty, security and devel-opment interests.” And as before, “core national inter-est” is not negotiable, peacefully or otherwise.

As China had demonstrated in the past three de-cades, her salami-slicing tactics of grabbing othercountries’ territories – Paracel Islands, Mischief Reef,Macclesfield Bank, Scarborough Shoal -- have beensuccessful. And now her biggest – and most ambitious– goal is to annex the South China Sea and the EastChina Sea all the way to the Okinawa Trough as a pro-longation of China’s continental shelf. That would bethe fulfillment of China’s dream.

Evidently, China’s “talk and take” approach is pay-ing dividends… until Japan decided to use force -- ifnecessary -- to counter China’s aggressive attempt tograb the Senkaku islands near Okinawa in the EastChina Sea.

Recently, during Japanese Foreign Minister FumioKishida’s visit to the U.S., Secretary of State HillaryClinton issued a “veiled warning” to China not to chal-lenge Japan’s control of the Senkaku islands. She saidthat the islands were under Japan’s control and there-fore protected under the U.S.-Japan Treaty. Her re-marks instantly ignited a war hysteria in China. XiJinping ordered the People’s Liberation Army to getready for war, quickly!

TTTTTubbataha Rubbataha Rubbataha Rubbataha Rubbataha ReefeefeefeefeefMeanwhile, about 600 south in the Sulu Sea,

Tubbataha Reef is getting a lot of attention since anAmerican warship, the minesweeper USS Guardian,

ran aground in its vicinity. The reef consists of twocoral atolls five miles apart and each reef has a singlesmall islet protruding from the water.

More than 1,000 species inhabit the reef of whichmany are considered endangered including mantarays, tortoises, clownfish, lionfish, and sharks. Thereare 350 coral species and 500 fish species. It is one ofthe Seven Natural Wonders of Asia and inscribed onUNESCO’s World Heritage List. It is called the “CrownJewel of the Coral Triangle.”

On January 17, 2013, the USS Guardian ranaground on the reef. An initial visual inspectionshowed that at least 10 meters of the reef were dam-aged. Aerial photographs made by the Philippine mili-tary showed the “ship’s bow sitting atop corals in shal-low turquoise waters, with the stern floating in thedeep blue waters.” The warship was bound for PuertoPrincesa after routine refueling and supply replenish-ment in Subic Bay.

Initial reaction from Malacañang defended theGuardian’s presence in the protected area. “I con-firmed with Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin thatthere was such a port call request made for PuertoPrincesa by USS Guardian,” presidential spokesmanEdwin Lacierda said. “There was a request made andthe request was granted.”

AAAAApologypologypologypologypologyThe following week, U.S. ambassador to the Phil-

ippines Harry Thomas Jr. apologized for the incident.When the apology was relayed to President Benigno“P-Noy” Aquino III -- who was attending the WorldEconomic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland at thattime – he told reporters who were covering his trip thatan apology was not enough. He wanted a thoroughinvestigation to ascertain how the USS Guardian ranaground on the reef.

But the United States Navy already made its com-mitment to do everything it can to repair the damagecaused by the minesweeper. Didn’t he know that? YetP-Noy continued to question, “How it could happenwhen the minesweeper, a U.S. made vessel, was sup-posed to be possessing of high technology militarynavigation devices?” He said that the U.S. would haveto comply with Philippine laws regarding the incident.“They violated it, there are penalties. Then they willhave to address all of these violations of our pertinentlaws,” he said.

But P-Noy didn’t realize that the Tubbataha Pro-tected Area Management Board (TPAMB) had alreadyfined the U.S. Navy for “unauthorized entry.” However,it did not disclose the amount of the penalty. UnderPhilippine law, the maximum penalty for unautho-rized entry is of up to a year in prison plus a fine of upto P300,000 ($7,300). The TPAMB decided not to in-clude the jail option in the penalty.

VFVFVFVFVFAAAAAWhen a reporter asked P-Noy about the call of

some groups to review the Visiting Forces Agreement(VFA) between the U.S. and the Philippines in the af-termath of the Tubbataha incident, he toned downand said that the VFA only governs the conduct of vis-iting American troops when they're in military exer-cises in the Philippines. He explained that the VFA hasno connection to the Tubbataha incident; it’s a ques-tion about violating the country’s ecological laws.

Meanwhile, Fernando Hicap, the chairman of thePambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ngPilipinas, called for the filing of a “millennium classsuit” against the US Navy for damaging the reef, say-ing that the US should pay the country a considerableamount following the destruction of the reef. P-Noywas also criticized by Anakbayan national chairmanVencer Crisostomo and Kabataan Partylist nationalpresident Terry Ridon for his statements, which theyclaimed was tantamount to a “whitewash” on the in-cident.

But what is interesting to note is that these leftistgroups are quick to attack the U.S. for any “infraction”but are quiet about China’s aggression against thePhilippines. What would they do if one day they wakeup to see an armada of Chinese warships in the SuluSea on their way to Puerto Princesa?(PerryDiaz@gmail.com)

Founded 2006 mindanaoexaminer.com P10/RM1Zamboanga City, Philippines

MindanaoDaily

Feb. 11-17, 2013

ARMM Northern Mindanao Davao Manila Zamboanga Peninsula

SULU FOCUSES ON DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

Sulu Governor Sakur Tan and Jolo Mayor Hussin Amin and other municipal and provincial officials during the inaugurationof the road project in Jolo town and the hand-over of a pump boat engine to Kabukan Elementary School. (Ahl Salinas)

SSSSSuluuluuluuluulu G G G G Gooooovvvvv. S. S. S. S. Sakur akur akur akur akur TTTTTan has inauguran has inauguran has inauguran has inauguran has inaugurated a newly con-ated a newly con-ated a newly con-ated a newly con-ated a newly con-strstrstrstrstructed ructed ructed ructed ructed road proad proad proad proad project in Joject in Joject in Joject in Joject in Jolo that will noolo that will noolo that will noolo that will noolo that will now connectw connectw connectw connectw connectsevsevsevsevseverererereral villages and ease tral villages and ease tral villages and ease tral villages and ease tral villages and ease traffic congestion in theaffic congestion in theaffic congestion in theaffic congestion in theaffic congestion in thecapital tocapital tocapital tocapital tocapital town.wn.wn.wn.wn.

The road project willalso give access to the re-cently inauguratedWomen’s and Children’sCenter in downtown Jolo.Mayor Hussin Amin, ofJolo, and other provincialand municipal officials at-tended the inauguration.Provincial engineerAbdurasad Baih said moreprojects are to be inaugu-rated soon.

Tan also donated apump boat engine to theKabukan ElementarySchool off Panglima Tahiltown.

Teachers have re-quested a pump boat en-

gine that they can use fortheir wooden boat intransporting students andfaculty members from thetown to the island ofKabukan.

Tan saidthe projectsare part of thegovernment’s peace anddevelopment efforts andanti-poverty programsthat will benefit the locals.

“We are concentratingon many developmentprojects and there are stillmore projects pending in-auguration,” he told theMindanao Examiner.

Last month, Tan alsodonated 10 computer sets

for the Kawmpang El-ementary School in thetown of Patikul in an ef-fort to promote Informa-tion technology amongthe young students in thesouthern province.

Gabir Sarajali, theschool principal, praisedTan for the donation, say-ing “it was a dream cometrue” for students andteachers. “It was really adream come true to all ofus in Kawmpang Elemen-tary School and wethanked our beloved andhardworking Governorfor donating these com-puter sets,” he said.

Tan handed over thecomputer sets, includingtables and chairs, to theteachers and students

headed by Sarajali in aceremony attended byover a hundred students,who cheered to the sightof the donation.

“I challenge all of youto be competitive andproductive in today’scomputer world,” Tansaid to the students andteachers at the schoolcompound.

Tan also told provin-cial engineers headed byAbdurasad Baih to draw aplan for the school’s cov-ered court where studentsand teachers can holdtheir important activitiescomfortably. Some of thestudents were moved totears by the generosityband support of the gov-ernor as they chanted

Tan’s name and thankedhim for his benevolence.

Kawmpang is onlyone of many government-run schools in Sulu thatTan donated various

equipment and sup-ported. He also builtmany schools that benefitthousands of Muslim stu-dents. (Mindanao Exam-iner. Ahl Salinas)