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Thursday, March 31, 2016

DepEd-ARMM re-launches safety measures for teachers serving in May polls

COTABATO CITY - An election response mechanism that ensures the welfare and security of public school teachers serving in the May 9 polls, has been reactivated on March 30 by the Department of Education in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DepEd-ARMM).
The DepEd-ARMM’s Election Response Network (DERN) was first launched in the ARMM in April 2013. This mechanism effectively provides technical and legal assistance to teachers in case of problems while performing as election officers. 
The process includes the establishment of an Electronic Results Transmission Services at the division and municipal levels that will keep a directory of teachers’ names and their contact numbers. It also assesses the security situation and threats to teachers serving as Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs). The BEI serves as the panel that conducts the balloting process at the precinct level. 
Operating with personnel from government agencies, specifically the Philippine National Police, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Commission on Human Rights, the Public Attorneys’ Office, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as well as monitors from the United Nations’ Children’s Educational Fund, teachers are better protected.
“It is important to protect the teachers because they are exposed to many dangers,” Alfhadar Pajiji, DepEd-ARMM assistant secretary for special projects said. Out of over 26,000 teaching and non-teaching personnel in the region, Assistant Secretary Pajiji said more than 4,000 will serve in the upcoming elections. He also reiterated that his office is still waiting for the final lists of the teachers from the public school district supervisors.
“The DepEd-ARMM mechanism is a big help to us teachers who will supervise polling precincts. At least with DERN, we know we are safe in the upcoming elections,” Apao Dirangaren, planning officer of Barira South District said.
Under Comelec Resolution No. 10031, the chairperson and members of the BEIs will each receive P3,000 honorarium, P500 for the verification and sealing of the book of voters plus P500 for transportation and another P500 allowance. A support staff of the BEIs will receive a per diem of P500. A polling/voting center supervisor will get a per diem of P1,000 while a supervisor support staff will receive P500. (Bureau of Public Information)


300 Sulu households receive livelihood assistance from PAMANA program through DSWD-ARMM

COTABATO CITY - At least 300 households in Talipao, Sulu received livelihood assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DSWD-ARMM) under the Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA) Program Expansion Cycle 2.

The households are members of 10 beneficiary cooperatives in the town, namely:
  • Andalan Talipao Agricultural Producers Cooperative; 
  • Buntod Agricultural Producers Cooperative; 
  • Kabatuhan Bilaan Abdulsalam Agricultural Producers Cooperative;
  • Jambangan Kabatuhan Tiis Agricultural Producer Cooperative;
  • Kahawa Agricultural Producer Cooperative; 
  • Kandaga Agricultural Producer Cooperative; 
  • Kanlibot Agricultural Producer Cooperative; 
  • Lower Laus Agricultural Producer Cooperative; 
  • Mungit-Mungit  Agricultural Producer Cooperative; and,
  • Upper Kamuntayan Agricultural Producer Cooperative. 

Faida Ensanah, regional PAMANA focal person, said the agency turned over several types of livelihood support machines and equipment, which include 1,399 rolls of hogwires and vulcanizing and sewing machines. She said the assistance will augment the residents’ agricultural production and income.

“The hogwires will help protect the cassava and vegetable plantations of the farmers in the area from stray, wild, and domesticated animals. Meanwhile, the vulcanizing and sewing machines will provide alternative sources of income for the residents,” Ensanah said.

Aiman Abdul Albani, 45, from Batuan-Bilaan in Talipao, Sulu, expressed her gratitude to the agency. She said the assistance will help uplift the economic condition of her family.

Magsarang sukol kami kanyo katan, biang katatabangan nyu kamo, in kame mga taw miskin, natabangan mga makina, mga pukot, grarihilan nyu kame sing kamo nanghinan tasan. Na kina ku ini makina in katabangan kako na magtahi ako. Ipag gas to so mga anak ku nag iskul (Thank you for providing us these machines and equipment. These will help me start a new business and will also assist the schooling of my children),” said Aiman.

Hja. Sitti Raya Tulawie, town mayor of Talipao, accompanied Ensanah in the turnover ceremony held at Talipao gymnasium in Bilaan, Talipao Sulu on March 18, 2016.

Mayor Tulawie recognized the support the PAMANA program provides to boost agricultural harvest in Talipao. She extended her gratitude to DSWD-ARMM and the program and has renewed her commitment to the future ventures of PAMANA especially in her municipality.

The PAMANA is a program aimed at making citizens become stronger agents of peace and development in the region, and in the country. This is the current administration’s peace and development framework anchored on providing inclusive growth and lasting peace in Mindanao. (Bureau of Public Information) 


Anibersaryo ng Jesus Miracle Crusade sa Iloilo City tagumpay


















Anibersaryo ng Jesus Miracle Crusade sa pangunguna ni Ministro Wilde James Almeda.
ILOILO CITY – Dinagsa ang ika-25 anibersaryo ng Jesus Miracle Crusade International Ministry dito na kung saan ay dinaluhan ito ni Ministro Wilde James Almeda Jr.
Dumalo rin sa naturang selebrasyon si Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog na kung saan ay nakipag-usap ito kay Ministro Wilde James.
Nabigyan pa ni Ministro Almeda ng best-selling book na “Miracles in Moroland” na  sinulat ni American professor Sam Smith na hango sa tunay na milagrong naganap sa grupo ng ama ni Pastor Wilde Estrada Almeda, ang ama ni Ministro Wilde James, na sumuong sa lalawigan ng Sulu noon 2000 upang mailigtas ang 21 dayuhang hostages ng Abu Sayyaf.
Hindi lamang nakalaya ang mga bihag sa dasal ni Pastor Wilde Estrada at kanyang mga 12 prayer warriors, ngunit na pray-over nito at nabasbasan pa si Abu Sayyaf leader na si Galib Andang at iba pa sa kabundukan ng Talipao. Lahat ng ito ay sa loob ng 100 araw at sa kabila ng matinding panganib ay nanaig ang milagro ng Jesus Miracle Crusade.
Pulos pasasalamat naman si Brother Ronald Homena sa malaking tagumpay ng katatapos lamang na anibersaryo at sa pagdating ni Ministro Wilde James at Mayor Mabilog na kabilang sa “Top 5 Best Mayor of the World” ng City Mayors Foundation at World Mayor Project  at iba pang mga malalaking personalidad.
“Through the first and wholehearted prayer of our dearly beloved and honorable Pastor Evangelist Wilde Estrada Almeda, the end time prophet of the living God and to God be all the praises, honor, power, salvation and worship,” ani Brother Ronald.
Matapos ng anibersaryo ay dumiretso naman si Ministro Wilde James sa Cebu upang pangunahan ang pagtitipon ng mga preachers sa Visayas. Halos kaliwa’t-kanan ang pagdalo at paglahok ni Ministro Wilde James sa ibat-ibang anibersaryo at krusada ng Jesus Miracle Crusade International Ministry.
Nitong Marso 24-27 ay nagdaos rin ang Jesus Miracle Crusade ng healing and prayer service sa Baguio Convention Center na kung saan ay napuno ito ng mga taong may sakit na nagnanais na gumaling sa pamamagitan ng milagro ng Panginoon.
Kamakailan lamang ay nakipagkita kay Ministro Wilde James si Rep. Samuel Pagdilao na ngayon ay tumatakbo bilang senador. Si Pagdilao ang party-list representative ng ACT-CIS o Anti-Crime and Terrorism through Community Involvement and Support.
Nitong Pebrero ay dumalo rin si Senador Bongbong Marcos sa ika-41 na anibersaryo ng Jesus Miracle Crusade na ginanap sa Amora Sports Complex na dinaluhan ng mahigit sa 50,000 katao. Doon ay todo-pasasalamat naman si Marcos kay Pastor Wilde Estrada at Ministro Wilde James sa pagkakataon na makadalo sa anibersaryo. (Cebu Examiner)


Supreme Court rejects petition by dismissed ARMM school official

MARAWI CITY – The High Court has rejected the petition for judicial review filed by a controversial school official in Marawi City who publicly challenged her removal by the Department of Education in the Muslim autonomous region, officials said Thursday.
Director Amir Mawallil, of the ARMM’s Bureau of Public Information, said Mona Macatanong, the former school division superintendent, was ordered to vacate her office in May 2014 after she reached the compulsory retirement age of 65 in October 2013.
But Macatanong said her public birth records were defective. She went to the regional court and corrected her birth records that would allow her to serve until 2016.
“Macatanong resisted and insisted on the correction of her date of birth, as affirmed by the regional trial court in Marawi in order to extend her tenure until 2016,” Mawallil told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
He said the Department of Education appealed the decision of the regional court and eventually appointed Farida Sansarona as officer-in-charge of the school division. Sansarona was the former assistant school division superintendent.
Despite this, Macatanong continued acting as division superintendent that resulted in confusion among public school teachers and affected the operations of the Department of Education in Marawi City.
“Macatanong also went to the Supreme Court and filed a motion for certiorari, but this was denied by the High Court,” Mawallil said.
He said the legal proceedings against the former education official had dragged on for 2 years and “the decision of the Supreme Court is a welcome development to all and this will set the record straight once and for all.”
Mawallil said ARMM Education Secretary John Magno also expressed relief. “We pursued legal action because we knew that the rule of law was on our side and this Supreme Court decision affirms our position,” he quoted Magno as saying.
He said the Supreme Court also directed the Office of the Court Administrator and the Office of the Bar Confidant to conduct an investigation regarding the regional trial court’s “highly questionable” handling of Macatanong’s petition for correction of her date of birth.
“Macatanong’s case caused a backlog in the Marawi City Schools Division as it interrupted the process of promotion among teachers mandated by law,” Mawallil said, adding, the Department of Education is also investigating reports that aspiring teachers had allegedly paid as much as P300,000 for a job in Marawi City.
There was no immediate statement from Macatanong, but her followers had repeatedly besmirched the reputations of Magno and ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman on social media following her removal from office. (Mindanao Examiner)


Suspek sa 2010 Zambo airport bombing hawak ng NBI




Ito ang kinalabasan matapos ng 2010 Zamboanga airport bombing na kung saan ay isang suicide bomber ang nasa likod ng pagsabog. Nagkalasog-lasog rin ang katawan ng bomber na si Reynaldo Apilado. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)


 Zambo Times

MANILA - Hawak na ngayon ng National Bureau of Investigation ang isa sa mga iniuugnay sa 2010 suicide bombing sa Zamboanga International Airport na kung saan ay 2 katao ang nasawi at marami ang sugatan.
Nakilala ang suspek na si Addong Salahuddin na ngayon ay nasa pangangalaga ng NBI central office. Target ng pambobomba si dating governor ng Sulu na si Sakur Tan at kanyang pamilya.
Palabas ng airport si Tan at anak nitong si Samier ng sumabog ang bomba na bitbit ni Reynaldo Apilado at kasamang si Hatimil Haron. Parehong patay ang dalawa sa lakas ng pagsambulat ng bomba.
Hindi naman agad makunan ng detalye ang NBI sa pagsuko o pagkakadakip kay Salahuddin na sinasabing tauhan ng isang pulitiko sa Sulu na isa sa mga kalaban naman ni Tan. Si Tan ay tumatakbo ngayon bilang gobernador ng Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Ang pagkuha ng NBI kay Salahuddin ay naganap matapos na mapatay sa ambush si dating Pangutaran mayor Ahmad Nanoh nitong Marso 17 sa Zamboanga City. Sakay ng kanyang pick-up truck si Nanoh ng ito'y birahin sa Barangay Tetuan. Hindi pa malaman ang motibo sa atake, ngunit dawit rin ito sa Zamboanga airport bombing.
Nabatid na balak umanong lumabas sa publiko ni Nanoh at magsilbing state witness upang sabihin kung sino ang mastemind ng tangkang pagpatay kay Tan. Noon 2009 ay binomba rin ang convoy ni Tan sa bayan ng Patikul at sugatan rin ito, gayun rin si Pandami town mayor Hatta Berto at 9 iba pa, at ayon sa pulisya ay Abu Sayyaf ang nasa likod ng atake at ang mastermind ay mga kalaban rin ni Tan sa pulitika. (Mindanao Examiner)


Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Women's rights awareness highlights Women's Month celebration in ARMM

COTABATO CITY - Awareness of women’s rights highlighted this year’s regional celebration of the National Women’s Month, an event led by the Regional Human Rights Commission in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (RHRC-ARMM).

The celebration was attended by more than 100 participants – mostly women from Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao – and was held at the town's gymnasium on March 29.

Atty. Abdulnasser Badrudin, RHRC-ARMM chairperson, encouraged the participants, to exercise their rights, and respect other people’s rights too.

“March is recognized as women’s month. This recognition comes with the acknowledgement and respect for women’s rights, functions and responsibilities in society,” Badrudin said.

The celebration, which bears the theme ‘Kapakanan ni Fatima, Isama sa Agenda!’, also aims at inspiring women in asserting their rights for the fulfilment of their obligations, and to strengthen the advocacy of women’s month.

“The essence of the celebration is to help each other and build each other to improve our welfare through awareness of women’s rights,” said Zuhairah Abas, head of RHRC-ARMM's Education, Communication and Linkages Division.

Shari’ah Counselor Bai Indira Sharrah Ibrahim-Sinsuat gave a lecture on women and inheritance rights in accordance with Presidential Decree 1083, or the Code of Muslim Personal Laws in the Philippines.

Thirty-six years old Abneria Undong from Brgy. Tambak said the lecture provided useful and enlightening information, especially about the mutual rights and obligations of a Muslim couple.

“Makadsukor sukor ta ka nakasiya silan namandu sa kawagib na Muslim a egkalumaya (We are thankful that they went here to teach us of our rights,” Undong said. “Masela e kinapamandu nin sa lekami egkalumaya (The lecture was appropriately educative for us couple),” Undong added.

The celebration included the artwork exhibit of Islamic calligraphy artist Zohayma Montaner, Al Hadj, who won 11 international and two national awards for visual arts.

The program was conducted by RHRC-ARMM in partnership with the local government unit of Datu Odin Sinsuat, Datu Odin Sinsuat Women Producers Cooperative, Bureau on Cultural Heritage-ARMM, Del Monte-Delinanas Development Corp., and Regional Commission on Bangsamoro Women-ARMM. (Bureau of Public Information)


3 killed in police shootout in Zamboanga





Aftermath of the police operations in Zamboanga City. (Mindanao Examiner Photo - Ely Dumaboc)

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Police killed 3 people, including a naked woman, in shootout before dawn Wednesday in Zamboanga City in southern Philippines.
It was unclear if the woman attacked the policemen or caught in the crossfire in a house in Baliwasan Tabuk village where two men allegedly engaged the raiders in a gun battle. News reports said the woman was shot in the back.
Police said 4 people were also arrested in the anti-drug operations. One policeman, PO1 Jurakman Juhayli – assigned in Tungawan town in Zamboanga Sibugay province - jumped in the river upon hearing gunshots, but was also taken into custody and is being investigated too.
Juhayli – who was in Zamboanga City attending a seminar - said he thought rebels had attacked the neighbourhood so he jumped in the river to save his life.
The operations were part of the anti-criminality campaign dubbed “Oplan Lambat Sibat” of the Philippine National Police. (With a report from Ely Dumaboc)


Indonesia readies elite commandos to rescue 10 Indons held by Sayyaf in Philippines


Peter Tonsen Barahama and Brahma 12 tugboat in these photos from his Facebook account. 

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Indonesia has said it is ready to send elite police commandos to the Philippines to rescue 10 of its citizens being held for ransom by the jihadist group Abu Sayyaf.
Manila and Jakarta have confirmed that the Abu Sayyaf kidnapped the Indonesian tugboat crewmen off Tawi-Tawi province near the Malaysian border.
Jakarta said police commandos are ready to rescue the hostages who are being by Alhabsi Misaya, a notorious Abu Sayyaf leader tagged as behind the spate of terrorism and kidnappings in the restive Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao.
A report by the Straits Times on Wednesday has quoted Indonesian police spokesman Anton Charliyan as saying that elite squads from an anti-terrorism unit and a police mobile brigade are ready to assist in the rescue of the crewmen of the tugboat Brahma 12.
The boat was heading to Batangas province in Luzon in the Philippines gunmen intercepted them near Languyan Island on March 26. It was unknown why the Philippine military and police forces failed to protect the Indonesian boat despite the huge presence of security forces in Tawi-Tawi due to nickel mining operations in Languyan.
Indonesia said it is also coordinating with the Interpol after the Abu Sayyaf demanded P50 million ransoms for the safe release of the hostages.
The Abu Sayyaf, whose group is coddling Malaysian and Indonesian militants in southern Philippines, has pledged allegiance with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and fighting for a caliphate in the troubled region where security forces are also battling communist insurgency.
The report of the hijacking was first reported by Peter Tonsen Barahama, the tugboat’s skipper, after he wrote on his Facebook account that “Tug boat Brahma 12 is being hijacked, all crew are being held hostage by Abu Sayyaf. Pray for our safety and God’s protection.”
The Jakarta Post, in a report, also said information about the hijacking first came to light via the Facebook account of Barahama. “The information then spread to an Indonesian sailors group. However, Peter’s friends have not been able to contact him to obtain further information. Peter is from Sangihe Island in North Sulawesi,” the report said.
The tugboat, owned by Patria Maritime Lines, is reportedly negotiating with the hostage-takers to secure the safe release of the victims. One of Barahama’s friends, Welmy Loway, said the tugboat was carrying coal. He and other friends then contacted the Indonesian foreign ministry and authorities in Sangihe to check the information and seek help for the crew members.
Pirates and other criminal gangs are also actively operating in Tawi-Tawi, one of five provinces under the restive Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. 
In February 2012, Abu Sayyaf rebels under sub-leader Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan and Moro National Liberation Front members kidnapped two European wildlife photographers Lorenzo Vinciguerra, from Switzerland; and Ewold Horn, 54, from Holland, in the coastal village of Parangan in Panglima Sugala town in Tawi-Tawi.
Vinciguerra had escaped from his guards in December 2014 after he allegedly killed one of his guards - Juhurim Hussien - with a bolo and recovered by soldiers. The fate of Horn is still unknown, and aside from him, the Abu Sayyaf is still holding several other foreigners in the Muslim region. (Mindanao Examiner)


Tuesday, March 29, 2016

10 Indonesian tug boat crewmen seized in Southern Philippines

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Jakarta and Manila were verifying reports about the abduction of 10 Indonesian tug boat crew members off Tawi-Tawi province in southern Philippines.
The Indonesian foreign ministry said the tug boat Brahma 12 came from Kalimantan and was heading to Batangas province in Luzon when it was hijacked over the weekend.
It said the owner of the boat received telephone from men who claimed to be members of the Abu Sayyaf and were demanding P50 million ransoms for the safe release of the Indonesians.
But the Philippine military headquarters in Manila has not confirmed the reports and even the Western Mindanao Command in Zamboanga City in southern Philippines did not release any report about the abductions to the press.
The report of the hijacking was first reported by Peter Tonsen Barahama, the tug boat’s skipper, after he wrote on his Facebook account that “Tug boat Brahma 12 is being hijacked, all crew are being held hostage by Abu Sayyaf. Pray for our safety and God’s protection.”
The Jakarta Post, in a report Tuesday, also said information about the hijacking first came to light via the Facebook account of Barahama. “The information then spread to an Indonesian sailors group. However, Peter’s friends have not been able to contact him to obtain further information. Peter is from Sangihe Island in North Sulawesi,” the report said.
The tugboat, owned by Patria Maritime Lines, is reportedly negotiating with the hostage-takers to secure the safe release of the victims, who were being held on an island in southern Philippines.
One of Barahama’s friends, Welmy Loway, said the tug boat was carrying coal. He and other friends then contacted the Indonesian foreign ministry and authorities inSangihe to check the information and seek help for the crew members.

Pirates and other criminal gangs are also actively operating in Tawi-Tawi, one of five provinces under the restive Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
In February 2012, Abu Sayyaf rebels under sub-leader Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan and Moro National Liberation Front members kidnapped two European wildlife photographers Lorenzo Vinciguerra, from Switzerland; and Ewold Horn, 54, from Holland, in the coastal village of Parangan in Panglima Sugala town in Tawi-Tawi.
Vinciguerra had escaped from his guards in December 2014 after he allegedly killed one of his guards - Juhurim Hussien - with a bolo and recovered by soldiers. The fate of Horn is still unknown, and aside from him, the Abu Sayyaf is still holding several other foreigners in the Muslim region. (Mindanao Examiner)