PASAKA scores Quiboloy, 84th IB soldiers for bulldozing ancestral lands
Welcome to the new Mindanao Magazine
Today, I am happy to announce a brand new look and feel to the Mindanao Magazine! The site is greatly expanded from what it was previously, and has a brand new look, which I think is a huge step forward. I hope you think so too!
I have been publishing this site since 1996 and it has gone through a number of reincarnations over the years. From 1995 until 2005 is was more of a standard “website” that only changed from time to time. It was pretty static, and not too much reason to keep coming back. In 2005 I went to a Blog format, with new information being published daily. Sometimes in 2007 or 2008 I upgraded the site to what I called Mindanao Magazine with a larger Magazine style format. Today, we are unveiling the latest incarnation of Mindanao Magazine after some relatively hard work by myself, and my niece Bebe. We put in a lot of hours to make Mindanao Magazine what you see today, and I believe it was time well spent.
We decided a few weeks ago to make some changes when I got a report from some of the site’s regular guests that they were having problems when trying to leave a comment. I looked into it and made a few changes which I thought would help, but there were still technical issues creating a problem on the site. While the issues were intermittent, they were happening and I wanted to fix them. As I looked into the back end of the site, I realized that we had around 10,000 articles on the site, and a number of articles had nearly 1,000 comments! The site had simply outgrown what was intended, and I knew that a change was needed. So, now, the site has been split up into 11 different sites, yet all tied together in a way that few people would realize that the site is really 11 different sites tied into one. I think it came out pretty good.
For those who are unaware, I am an American, but I have lived in Mindanao for over 10 years now. I operated the site for the first 5 years or so from my home in the USA, but have been able to expand the site greatly while based here in Mindanao. I have really had a love affair with Mindanao for over 20 years now, and it continues. While living in Mindanao, I have traveled the island extensively, and I think it is a simple fact that I have probably seen more of Mindanao than the vast majority of Filipinos! I am proud of having seen so much of Mindanao, and I hope to see more. To date, of the 27 Provinces on the island, I have been to 25 of them. The only two Provinces that I have yet to visit are Camiguin and Sulu. Of course, Camiguin is a place I can visit any time. It is safe and peaceful. I just have yet to make it there. Sulu, on the other hand is a place where I need to make sure the timing is right before I visit. I do plan to visit Sulu someday, though. I have been in the Sulu area, though, in 2007 I visited Basilan and Tawi Tawi. Both visits were super, and I both learned a lot and enjoyed myself greatly. I feel certain that Sulu will be the same when I feel the time is right to visit.
Please view the photos below to see just a few of the places I have visited in Mindanao:
Every place that I have visited around Mindanao has been a wonderful time for me. I have not only seen a lot of great places, but I have met so many wonderful people too, both through my travels and through this website. I am often surprised when I visit a place and find that there are people who recognize me because they have seen this Mindanao Magazine. Every time that somebody approaches me and knows who I am it is both thrilling and also humbling. I still do travel Mindanao whenever I can. If you happen to see me in your town, please come up and say hi! It would be my pleasure to meet you.
In the meantime, please enjoy this new Mindanao Magazine format and look! I hope that you enjoy it as much as I enjoy bringing it to you!
Preface of the book Postscripts from Mindanao
by: Wilma Basan Villanueva
Pitong taon na halos ang lumipas magmula nang tahakin ko ang landas ng mga Bagong Bayani. Malayo na ang aking narating, malawak na rin ang paningin, ngunit sa bawat araw na lumilipas, wari ko’y napapalayo ang mundong aking pinagmulan.
Di kaya ako lang ang dahilan?
Kaya sa aking pagbabalik, sana’y samahan nyo ako at ating balikan ang Ating Mindanao.*
Books
But returning to one’s roots takes more than just retracing one’s steps or reliving childhood memories. If there is one thing I have learned in being far from home, the journey inward requires a vision forward.
Not so long ago, our forefathers dreamed of a Land of Promise —- a land of our own where there is bounty for all. They found the seeds of that promise in Mindanao.
Thus, if I was to truly reclaim my birthright, I would need to look back into the dreams forged by our forbears and take the task of continuing to build on that dream and bring it into the future.
“Ang Ating Mindanao”, incidentally, is also a national initiative program of the government to fulfill Mindanao as the Land of Promise. It aims to ‘mobilize the local government, civil society and the business community for the economic development of Mindanao and its environs.
Such local initiatives, and the current progress in the areas of foreign service indicate substantial benefits forthcoming in this region. Under this situation, the private sector is duty-bound to initiate the tourism industry’s revitalization, by providing the expertise and additional funding or investments which the government may be restricted to provide, especially with this current gloom in the global economy
Among the members of the private sector, the 10 million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have the resources, the widest contacts and the global reach to initiate the much needed world-wide marketing campaign, in order to elevate our country’s international status as an eco-tourism destination and a highly competitive investment hub in the Asia Pacific region.
With these thoughts in mind, ‘Postscripts from Mindanao’, the coffee table book was born.
Mindanao Bob’s Great Seminar
A Voice from the Voiceless and Unheard
by Ben Serrano – August 11, 2008
Last August 9, 2008, exactly culmination day for our three-day 4th Mindanao Media Summit, I attended held at Waterfront Insular Hotel in Sasa, Davao City sponsored by Asia Foundation and Canada International Development Agency or (CIDA), I immediately rushed to Bob’s place registered in my mobile phone as No. 4 Ruby St., Marfori Heights Subdivision.
Aboard a taxi so that I can arrived on time as I don’t want an impression from American Bob now Mindanao Bob that Filipinos don’t value time even if I knew my money fare is only exact enough for my bus fares backed home here in Butuan City.
Arriving at Ruby Street (somewhat hilly) from Waterfront, me and the taxi driver had to ask every Dabawenyos at Ruby Street where is house number 4 and finally I personally saw House Number 4. I disembarked and soon enough I knocked the red gate.
A woman, an American I presumed, appeared after making, “Ayo! Ayo!” a lot since there was no gate door bell I saw. And when the Caucasian Woman appears I greet her good afternoon and asked if it was Mindanao Bob’s house as it was marked number 4.
MindanaoBob
The woman told me it was not and two Filipinas appeared and pointed to me the house of Mr. Bob Martin saying the gate was also colored red. I thanked them and proceeded.
Finally after a hilly walk, I reached Mindanao Bob’s house and to make the long story short, I was able to reach the place in time and attended finally the Business Seminar originally scheduled to be held at K1 Coffee Shop but Bob explained it later to participants why the change of venue.
Bob introduced the participants and I was amazed on the memory recall of Mr. Bob as he was able to call their names one by one. Normally a seminar like that must have name plates paste on every participant visible for others to read.
There were two Caucasian participants in the seminar, I understand they are Bob’s friends. Well, welcome to the Philippines guys and I hope you can visit Caraga Region one of these days.
I find the two foreigners friendly to say the least as of the moment as we don’t have a chance to talk longer and very active in their participation during the seminar.
The seminar was simply amazing as it teaches us how to earn legitimately (while learning and yearning as Bob and two Caucasian friends added).
I have learned that there are many ways to earn in the internet. Oh! You guys better attend on Mindanao Bob’s Seminar if he schedule next time to yearn and learn while earning.
The seminar fee one will pay will 100% compensate as it is not only educational and informative but interesting too especially to business minded individuals.
Why go abroad that will lead you to dangerous social cost of leaving your family here in the Philippines with drug addicts around crawling like cockroaches ready to invade your homes and influence your kids?
And leaving abroad to earn a living especially to mothers is a great loss to one’s family because mothers as supposed to be the shinning light of the home!
So the next time, you want to earn while yearning to learn, who you wanna call? Mindanao Bob!
Thanks Bob and to lovely and very accommodating Filipina wife, Feyma and kids! Thank you!
With finality I salute! Mindanao Bob, American in looks but very Filipino by heart, I pray that impression stays!
Cash prize for Pacquaio!
Boxing great, Manny “Pacman” Pacquaio, who hails from General Santos City will be arriving home soon. He actually will be landing in Manila today, and will soon be headed to General Santos City for a warm welcoming to the City.
Manny Pacquiao
According to SunStar General Santos City, as part of his welcoming ceremony, Pacman will be given a ceremony at Oval Plaza in the City, along with a P30,000 cash prize from the City Government. Wait…. P30,000 to the Pacman for winning his recent fight and gaining the WBC Championship? How many Millions of Dollars did he just win in Las Vegas for the fight?
Don’t take me wrong, I like Manny Pacquaio, and I think that he does a lot of good for the Philippine psyche. He is a hero for the nation, after all. But, frankly, he doesn’t need the P30,000, does he? Wouldn’t it be better for the City to do some pro-poor work with the money in Pacman’s name? Who came up with the idea to give Pacman P30,000? Did they really think it out? I feel quite sure that the amount is quite paltry for Pacman, yet it would go a long way to feeding a bunch of poor people for a day or two.
What do you think?
Maitum’s atrium
Maitum's Atrium
MAITUM, Sarangani (February 4, 2008) – Municipal officials join students and teachers at Maitum’s town hall atrium Monday, February 4, during the opening of Culture & Arts Month celebration.
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(Photo by MAITUM INFORMATION OFFICE)
Eidul Fitr Almubarak!
Alhamdulillah! The Darul Ifta in the Philippines has officially declared just now that the moon as been visible and that Ramadhan 1428h ends today.
Tomorrow October 12, 2007 is a holiday. Its end of fasting. Tomorrow is a big fiesta! Tonight has been busy preparing for foods. I’m back here in Iligan just this morning.
Eidul Fitr
One of the guest we invited in our house is the International Monitoring Team – Team Site 2 (Iligan City) headed by a Libyan Colonel. I forgot his name so i’ll ask him again tomorrow. I’ll take some pictures and will be posted at my flickr account, here and my personal blog.
Eidul Fitr Almubarak! Wassalam.
American Servicemen face possible expulsion
I really am having a hard time understanding this event, but let’s see what we can decipher from it. Recently, five US Servicemen who are stationed here in the Philippines went into a Restaurant in General Santos City, the Orange Bistro. Based on news reports, the Americans walked in, and had their sidearms holstered on their body. According to Philippines law, American Servicemen who are here to aid Philippine Troops are allowed to carry firearms for protection, but must be accompanied by Philippine soldiers at the time.
The whole issue of these guys carrying firearms is getting a lot of press here in the Philippines. Although reports have not been clear, these guys must not have been accompanied by Philippine Soldiers, otherwise the guns would have been a non-issue. Now, here is the thing, though… when they walked into Orange Bistro, Colonel Gaudencio Pangilinan was in the Restaurant at the time meeting with reporters there. So, technically, these US Servicemen were indeed in the company of somebody from the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines), the Colonel himself.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer even had this to say:
One of them (US Soldiers) even approached Pangilinan and asked him how the food was, even if there was still no food on the table, it said.
American Servicemen in Mindanao
Personally, I don’t see what the problem is with this statement. The way I look at it, the US Soldiers could have been saying “We haven’t eaten here before, but perhaps you have. How is the food here?” That is feasible to believe that the US Soldiers meant that with their statement. It just seems like somebody was looking for the Americans to do something wrong by criticizing such a statement, which really meant nothing.
Now, Sarangani Province Governor Migs Dominguez is calling on the Philippine Government to expel these soldiers from the country, because they “do not respect the law” of the Philippines. Personally, I don’t see where such a statement comes from. The actions of Governor Dominguez surprise me, because Sarangani Province has received a lot of Aid from the United States, and with no strings attached to that aid. We are talking about aid that has flowed to Sarangani Province for decades now. Currently, we have featured stories here on this site recently about footbridges and other US Aid funded projects in Sarangani. Yet, for a seemingly minor incident in a restaurant (in which I don’t believe any disrespect was intended), the Governor is calling for expulsion of the Americans.
Perhaps there is more to the incident than I know. I only know what I read in the papers and see on TV. If I am not fully informed, I apologize for that. But, on the face of it, I don’t see why this should be a major incident.
Basilan Dream
Yesterday, I got an e-mail from my friend, Rico Valmonte. Rico is an NGO worker in Basilan, and he was my guide when I went to Basilan last February (2007). Rico had written a short article about Basilan, and the present situation there. He asked that I share it with our readers here on Mindanao Blog, so here it is.
Bob
After more or less 3 years of seemingly living in a peaceful environment, Basilan is once again in danger of becoming a haven for war and terror, a battleground between the Philippine Government and organized lawless elements.
Three years ago or so, I came to Basilan complying to a call by a dear family friend who was the Project Manager of the Christian Children’s Fund Projects in Basilan and incidentally the Executive Director and Founder of the Maluso Outreach Program – then under the umbrella of the Prelature of Isabela’s Isabela Foundation, Inc. I was then designated the Project Development Officer and Technical Assistant to her for the CCF in Basilan.
Rico Valmonte (right)
We had special projects for children and their families in the Island together with the Philippine Army then headed by Col Raymundo Ferrer (now, Maj. General of the 6ID in Cotabato City).
Having been so much involved in community development projects, I saw myself being in one of the Philippine’s “Paradise Island” helping children and their families pick up the pieces of their lives after 30 years of war and aggression. Our partners – the Philippine Army’s 1st Division headed by then Brigade Commander Ray Ferrer. We brought the soldiers to the hearts of the people whom they have feared for so long and gained their trust.
My boss would call me anytime and ask me to sit with her to plan for projects for communities which will always involve the military and the lay people especially community leaders who are well respected by their peers. We’d sit from 4:00 in the afternoon until the mostly passed midnight, planning for whatever projects we can have which will involve the “once-dreaded military men in uniform”.
With the on-going regular programs of the CCF in Basilan, penetrating the most elusive clans in the area to join in some of the projects and bestow trust and confidence between themselves were easy as it was contrastingly looked like. Soon people came to realize the true meaning of “Peace” will always start from what they believe to be peaceful and collaborative.
Unfortunately, it was short-lived. With the death of my boss, I was supposed to be left with that great task of filling in her shoes-that was never realized because of some perpetual belief from the higher authorities.
Struggling to stay alive and visible to the people of Basilan who have known me to be the right-hand of the “mother” whom they have trusted their lives and children including their communities, I stayed and tried to work things out the way “she” wanted it for Basilan. Former employees and friends who were now disgruntled decided to leave the organization and settled to register the Maluso Outreach Program as an organization with its own identity. Fund savings from the original Maluso Outreach Program were never brought with the organization’s registration as an entity. Then we started from scratch without support from known individuals who could have been a great deal of help to get projects for the “newly” organized Maluso Outreach Program, Inc.
Struggling to have projects for the communities in Basilan was still excruciating and painful, as I would beg from organizations to help the people through our organization whom people have seen mingling around with them and even staying with them for a week or two- a thing that no other community worker would dare do in the Island of Basilan unless his or her roots come from that community. Soon a project came. An 8-month implementation for children’s education which would involve Government Agencies and other stakeholders of the community. It was short-lived.
During that time, I stayed in Basilan for more than two years and found myself so much involved with the people’s craving to have MOPI do projects for their communities-one which I would only have to silently cry for trying to make myself believe that “I will get those projects for you”.
I watched in awe and disbelief when the Philippine Army was pulled out of Basilan. Not wanting to believe, after 3 years of working their hearts out to have peace and serenity with the people, there they go! For them, the New Brigade Commander would say, “ I have yet to see Basilan as is when I see a foreigner roaming around without any bodyguards with him”. Soon, after a week came, I brought the first ever foreigner to Basilan without even a single bodyguard walk the street from the Port to a fast food restaurant (PGMA’s “ sign of progress” – Jollibee) and waited for our ride.
Bob Martin, an American, who now lives with his wife and children in Davao City, author and web master for www.mindanao.com traveled with me around Isabela City, from the center where the Cathedral is located, the Provincial Capitol, the market site, and long the highway to Lamitan. – Incidentally, he was the first foreigner to go to “Lamitan City” as a City. I brought him to the popular scene of the “Lamitan Siege” where two American missionaries were kidnapped and brought and eventually dragged along in the so-called “great escape”. Before going back to Isabela City, Bob and I were brought to the beautiful place of Bulingan where Bob took pictures of the Bulingan Falls by the driver-engineer, Mr. Oscar Illustrado. What seemed to be a short journey back to Isabela, have otherwise been a long one. We suffered three flat tires coming from Bulingan Falls back to the City of Lamitan. And once waited for a tricycle driver to bring our tire back when we asked for a favor to have it patched.
On the way back to Isabela City, we were praying that no flat tire would again happen during our long travel from Lamitan City. Fortunately! The flat tire really did happen! For the last time we experienced the flat tire, but this time we were back in Isabela city where vulcanizing shops were present. Bob and I rode a tricycle back to the “Landmark of progress of Isabela City-Basilan” for a quick meal before boarding the fastcraft back to Zamboanga City.
During our travel back, I remembered the Brigade Commander of the 103rd Brigade and sent him a teasing message though SMS. “Sir, I brought the first foreigner tourist in the Island of Basilan, I am sorry I had to do it on my own since you are not there anymore.” He then congratulated me. Funny but beautiful and amazing experience.
That was about a year ago. Now, back to the old ways and ZERO. I had to leave Basilan because I am a father of four beautiful growing kids and a wife who has always been so supportive of me and my dream of helping the oppressed. Now is Cebu, earning a meager salary to help my wife and kids back home In Zamboanga City, I still try to continue to plan for what MOPI should be good in doing for the Island of Basilan. A true “Island of Paradise”.
I am still dreaming of the possibility of working together with the Military present in Basilan to come to a peaceful solution for the benefit of the children who are the ones suffering for their deeds.
Pity the children of Basilan and the families who have yearned to have peaceful and dignified place to live in.
As I write this dream, MOPI is implementing a project for health and nutrition in the Municipality of Maluso funded by the Children’s Hour Philippines for 8 months until February, 2008.
(dedicated to the children of Basilan and Elisa del Puerto’s love and dream for Basilan)
RDV
Stroll at Abreeza Mall
Over the last few weeks, I was excited for the opening of the largest mall (Abreeza) here in Davao City. It is located in J.P Laurel Ave. Davao City. Since this year started, people are talking about this new mall, how big and nice it will be. I heard that it will be huge and there will be nice stores in it. Such as Taco Bell, Starbucks, toys R us, True Value, Paris Hilton, Philip Stein and many more.
To satisfy our curiosity and excitement, we went there last Saturday, two days after its grand opening. I found lots of good stuff that i didn’t find on the other malls. They have more choices and more imported stuffs compared to other malls. But the price is indeed imported as well
. There are some fruits thats worth a P1000 per kilo. Which is if you just buy local fruits like mango, you can buy like 16 to 17 kilos.
I expect the cup/tumbler of Starbucks coffee would run up to P300, but I was surprised because the price is just almost the same with the price of the nice local coffee shops here.
We went from store to store to compare and see new products. One of my highlights is the potato twister (I’m a potato lover) that comes with five different flavors. I hope the taste and quantity would not change since its famous here that once it becomes famous and profitable, they changes the taste.
Its only been a week from its opening and yet the number of people going there are rising. If it continue like this, there will be less traffic here in downtown Bajada. Right now there are kiosk/stores that are yet to open. In the next days or weeks there will be lots of choices in Abreeza so I’m looking forward for all the stores to open. Hopefully it will all be open next month.