Pagadian bishop, Moro group call for Fr. Sinnott’s release

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/14 Oct) -- Bishop Emmanuel T. Cabajar of the Diocese of Pagadian, in a letter circulated among religious leaders, appealed to the suspected abductors of Irish Columban missionary Michael Sinnott to free the priest and "have pity on him."

The Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS), meanwhile, called for the “immediate-unconditional release” of the priest even as it cautioned the military and the police to spare the civilians from harm should they launch a rescue mission against the abductors.

Sinnott, 79, was abducted by three or four armed men while he was walking around his convent 7:30 p.m. last October 11 at Pagadian city.

"He is a peace-loving priest and has been sincerely serving our communities for some time in good faith," Cabajar said in Cebuano. [More at MindaNews]

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DepEd reviews condition, multigrade strategy in remote Iligan schools

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews / October 9) - Officials of the Department of Education here went on a sortie in the remote hinterland schools of Iligan city on October 7 and 8 to review the teaching strategies used, including the multigrade system, and to validate their situation compared to the reports filed at the city office.

The October 7-8 visit was accompanied by a medical team from DepEd-Iligan to conduct deworming of nearly 100 pupils in Dulag Elementary School. They also had dental check up.

“Multigrade is a difficult classroom strategy because you’d see here varied grade levels sharing the same classroom and teacher at a time,” said Adelina de los Reyes, education supervisor and
member of the Task Force 4774-1 (Iligan). The task force is a multi-stakeholders network that aims to reverse the dismal situation of education in the city.

Delos Reyes said, however, that the multigrade strategy has to be used to help address the problem of accommodating the increasing number of pupils as against only a few teachers. [More @ MindaNews]

Civil Society reps meet to respond to climate change concerns

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/03 October) -- Representatives of civil society here gathered Friday to respond to growing concerns on climate change.

Mark Cervantes, program officer of Disaster Risk Reduction under Ecoweb Inc., said “civil society will be joining the worldwide call to prioritize the enforcement of environmental protection policies.”

Cervantes bared that Global Climate Risk Index ranks the Philippine archipelago as fourth in terms of risk and vulnerability to climate change impacts, thus its essential for us to be part in a global action though we will be drumbeating local movements.”

Cervantes added that 50 of our country’s 80 provinces are predicted by scientists to experience the effect of one-meter sea level rise based on research.

“The Asian Development Bank says that the Philippines, along with Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia will experience a decline in rice productivity by as much as 40 percent to 75 percent by the end of the century, owing to changing climatic patterns in Southeast Asia,” he bared. [More at MindaNews]

Environmentalists criticize gov't neglect to prevent disasters

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/1 Oct) -- Environmentalists here expressed alarm over the government’s neglect in putting up measures to prevent disasters, like what happened when Typhoon Ondoy hit Metro Manila.

Mark Cervantes, project officer of Ecoweb Inc., an NGO specializing on disaster risk reduction, said disasters happen because Filipinos love to talk about how to manage it, but “there is a need for all of us to start thinking and responding to natural hazards through mitigation and preventive measures.”

Cervantes said that “addressing vulnerabilities during hazards like increasing survivability and community readiness capacities is a must. Local governments should start coming up with their contingency plans and comprehensive plans on disaster risk reduction.”

He pointed out that disasters are “not natural” and that “people have control.” He said that natural hazards are there, but these will become worse because of human actions, like in the case of climate change that is largely blamed on human activities. [More at MindaNews]

MILF division commander dies of illness at 51

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/26 Sep) – A ranking commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front operating in Lanao del Norte died at a hospital in Manila last September 5, belated reports said.

Yahya “Kayamura” Lucsadatu, an MILF division commander, succumbed to hypertension and diabetes while being treated in the hospital. He was 51.

Lucsadatu, according to Acmad Macatimbol of the Lanao Human Rights and Alliance (LAHRA) based in Iligan City, was buried at the town of Munai in Lanao del Norte the day after his death.

He was formerly brigade commander of the MILF during the all-out war in year 2000 and became a division commander in 2003. [More at MindaNews]

NPC increasing generation rates to hasten sale?

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/31 August) – Various sectors here including city officials have cried foul over the alleged “internal collusion” behind the plan to increase the generation rates of the National Power Corporation, now the Generation Corporation (GenCo) to reportedly make the firm attractive to bidders in a bid to hasten the deregulation of the country’s power industry.

The Agus and Pulangi hydro complexes will be sold by 2011 based on the Electric Power Industry Reform Act under the discretion of Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation in consultation with Congress, said Melchora Ambalong of Lanao Power Consumers Federation (Lapocof).

PSALM Corp. which is tasked to sell 70% of the state-owned power firm’s assets by the end of the year “to fully deregulate the power industry and ease government burden brought by NPCs debts, has been ordered by Malacanang to complete the sale of assets to bring about true competition and lower rates.”

Lapocof suspected that there is an internal collusion to increase generation rates to make it attractive to bidders “for expected return of investment” if purchased. [More]

Iligan’s Dyandi Festival opens by honoring media

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/31 August) – It was the turn of media workers here to be feted to a night of songs and dances when the city opened the month-long Dyandi Festival with Pakighimamat sa Prensa (Meeting the Press) at Elena Tower Inn.

Erlito Dalangin, barangay captain of Suarez and head of the Dyandi Festival management declared “tonight is the opening salvo of Dyandi, our feast. And we dedicate this night to media workers of this city.”

“With the theme ‘Tuyhakaw Iligan, Cge Go!’, this city must rise for peace and development through media’s indispensable role to showcase the city’s wholesome image and subsequently help improve our economy by enticing investors with what we could offer,” Dalangin said.

He said “Cebu succeeded when media workers helped promote its potentials as an island. We hope we could do the same.”

“We hereby declare the Dyandi festival open with media workers eager and zealous to promote the glory of this city,” he said.

Media workers received a red carpet welcome and were ushered in by the top twelve candidates for the Miss Iligan beauty contest. [More]

MSU-IIT’s Octava wins gold, silvers in int’l choir tilt

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/24 August)—The Octava, resident choral group of Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology and the representative of Mindanao to a five-day International Choral Competition at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) won two silvers and gold medals.

Professor Rhodora N. Englis, MSU-IIT campus secretary announced “the Octava won in all the three categories of the competition. They got two silvers and one gold.”

“This is something for Mindanawons to be proud of because the gold certificate is given only to those who have reached the international standards. There were five renowned judges of the competition, two of whom came from Europe and two from Asia,” she said.

Prof. Francisco Englis, director of the Octava and also an English professor at the university, said “the contest also graded the contestants and it can make us to the World Choir Olympic.” More at MindaNews

NGO to LGU’s: integrate DRR in development plans

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/16 August) -- A non-governmental organization in Lanao del Norte has asked local government units in Lanao and Zamboanga Sur to integrate disaster risk reduction (DRR) in their development plans.
“The erratic changes of our climate which is creating abnormal hydro-meteorological hazards like floods, droughts and typhoons, and in the case of Mindanao it is being aggravated by human induced hazards like armed conflict and other forms of violence. Most often, communities could not cope up when such hazards hits them because there is no systems or mechanisms in place to respond to such hazards. Because of this, communities are vulnerable and would usually be facing imminent disasters,” said Mark Cervantes, project officer of Disaster Risk Reduction of Ecoweb Inc., a non-government office operating in Lanao del Norte provinces, Mismis Oriental and Josefina town of Zamboanga de Sur.

“Risk reduction is the concrete translation of precautionary principle,” Cervantes told 60 local officials in a two-day conference on DRR orientation that ended last August 11 at Ma. Cristina Hotel of Iligan. More at MindaNews

17 students in Iligan recover from swine flu

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/11 August) -- Seventeen students from four schools here who were infected with the influenza A(H1N1) virus have fully recovered after undergoing medication, the city health office said.

Dr. Livey Villarin, city health officer said patients came from St. Peter’s College, La Salle Academy, Mindanao State University-IIT, and City Central Elementary School.

Villarin said that “although the virus manifestations are mild, still, precautions are needed especially by those considered as high-risks specially the infants and the aged. More at MindaNews