I have due respect for the competent people at Reuters, but I have to raise this one.

Reading the news below have disturbed me as a resident in Mindanao and as a citizen relating to many decent Muslims everyday.

There is clearly bias here and stereotype ---working to anticipate a public notion.

If its the hideout that is suspected to be of the terrorists, where is the connection to "Islamic militants?" as presented in the first paragraph? Is terrorism = Islamic militants? Are we sure the government has learned to distinguish between an Islamic militant and a law-abiding citizen?

I couldn't speak for even a Muslim (a believer of Islam), but I can sense the discomfort it will cause in our charged and diverse communities.

You have to look at the last paragraph to see where's the catch.

"The Philippines, a largely Catholic country, is battling Muslim rebels in its southern region. The last time Muslim militant group the Abu Sayyaf targeted the capital was on Valentine's Day 2005 when six people were killed in a bomb attack."

The use of protagonist-antagonist (Catholic-Muslim) has been arranged in such as a way that it would look like we have a religious war going on and that its the entire Philippines vs. the Muslim rebels.

And yet we wish we could have peace in Mindanao?

It feels like its feeding more fire to the furnace --- an unlikely road farther from peace.

FULL TEXT

"MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine police seized a cache of explosive materials during a raid at a suspected hideout of Islamic militants in an agricultural town south of the capital, officials said on Wednesday.

The national police chief said officers searching for a suspected Islamic militant hiding in the province of Laguna, around 60 km south of Manila, discovered hundreds of blasting caps and other bomb-making materials.

"These materials could be used for future bomb attacks in the capital," Avelino Razon told a news conference, displaying an unspecified amount of chemical compounds, detonating cords, time fuses and blasting caps.

The suspected militant fled the hideout minutes before the raid, Razon said.

The Philippines, a largely Catholic country, is battling Muslim rebels in its southern region. The last time Muslim militant group the Abu Sayyaf targeted the capital was on Valentine's Day 2005 when six people were killed in a bomb attack."

The government and private sector of the Davao Region will begin working on a program to be backed by an international financing body which will source the appropriate amount to fund important infrastructure projects in the region to sustain its economic development.

As this developed, a memorandum of agreement was forged between the Davao Integrated Development Program, the Mindanao Business Council and the MCC Capital Projects, Ltd.

The signing of the agreement was held last Wednesday, December 19 during the DIDP board meeting chaired by Davao del Norte Governor Rodolfo del Rosario who represented the DIDP. The other signatories were MinBC chair Vicente T. Lao and the MCC representatives M. Faisal Kasim, chief executive officer and John Tapp, director and company secretary.

Del Rosario in a press briefing after the MOA signing stressed the need to integrate and harmonize various infrastructure projects within the DIDP area.

As indicted in the agreement Del Rosario said the priority infrastructure projects include the Light Rail Transit and the Samal Bridge.

However Del Rosario said under the DIDP Master Plan are several projects but they cited the local railway transit and the Samal bridge as their priority.

He said the parties involved agreed to collectively undertake infrastructure and/or entrepreneurial projects in an efficient and expeditious manner that would benefit Mindanao and help in the growth of the BIMP EAGA region.

As stipulated in the agreement, the DIDP and the MinBC shall undertake initiatives necessary to provide the MCC such guarantees, support and operating environment for the projects to be undertaken in a manner mutually acceptable to the parties and not prohibited by law.

The LRT system that will serve the coastal build-up area of Davao City as well as neighboring areas in Davao del Sur particularly the municipality of Sta. Cruz and Davao del Norte in Panabo City will costs around US$4.49 billion or P240 billion based on 1997 project cost estimate.

The Samal bridge construction with project cost of US$126.9 million or P6.48 billion is about 1,200 meters long of lanes bridge at about 22 meters vertical clearance with suspension of cable-stayed.

A pre-feasibility analysis of the project is available for full blown feasibility study.

Del Rosario however vowed to support the project and to work with the local government units.

Kasim on the other hand said their intention of generating the funds is through the flotation of bonds saying that there are international buyers looking for investment packages.

He said international buyers are attracted to buy bonds that will fund projects especially in countries like the Philippines.

The Philippines he said is attractive to buyers globally and this is an opportune time that sectors like the local government units should consider seriously.

There will be series of briefings and discussions among the LGUs with regards the scheme that will be undertaken and the Department of Trade and Industry is taking the lead of encourage the municipalities to come up with their respective proposals.

By the first quarter of 2008, the parties will consult and coordinate with each other and come up with action plan for the projects to be undertaken.

Tourism hails Cebu Pacific's Davao hub

The tourism industry players welcome the decision of turning Davao as the third hub of Cebu Pacific Air.

Business leader Mary Ann Montemayor said they encourage more airlines to fly from Davao to others parts of the world as this would increase visitor arrivals.

This will help the industry especially when there will be continuous access within the BIMP EAGA where some aircrafts are considering to serve.

Cebu Pacific Air announced through it president and chief executive officer Lance Y. Gokongwei of the company's plan to make the city a hub.

It will field Airbus A-319, a 150 seater plane at the Davao International Airport inorder to intensify its promotion of the city as its third hub.

Davao will be the airline's hub after Manila and Cebu as Gokongwei said Davao could become tourist destination in the Asian region. Flights between Davao and Hong Kong and Davao and Singapore are all in Cebu.

Meanwhile Philippine Airlines (PAL) senior vice president for Mindanao lawyer Domingo Duerme bared that they are looking into the Davao Hong Kong route which Cebu Pacific Air has started.

The plan is still being studied as to the market, availability of aircrafts and profitability. But the traffic is still low that's why it is still being carefully studied.

If PAL opens that route it would be ideal for a direct route at twice weekly frequency, Duerme added,

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was forged between tourism councils of Sabah and SouthernMindanao to ensure that both sectors support each other's tourism linkages.

Mary Ann Montemayor, chairperson of the BIMP EAGA Tourism Council bared that the Travel Expo (Travex) held in Kuching, Malaysia paved the way for both councils to strengthen their partnership.

The continuing collaboration between tourism industry players resulted to coming up with a plan to converge again in Davao City on February 2008 for the airline sectors and other players to finalize their tourism packages.

It may be recalled that during the 1st BIMP EAGA Airlines Forum held in Davao City this year several airline companies considered for the opening of new routes within the sub region.

The Pacific Airways was one of those that considered the routes and if pushed through will be joining the existing airlines servicing the EAGA routes like Silk Air, Asian Spirit and Sriwijaya Air.

Servicing the routes regularly would allow tourists to come because they will look at connections although airline companies must study the existing routes to avoid duplication if new airlines would come in.

Arreza earlier told MindaNews they didn't want to mention it as it might scare off the investors.  But he told MindaNews Monday that the "silence" was his own lapse. Read the rest of the report on MindaNews.com.

This time, however, it has become official. The government started to include Bukidnon’s mining potentials in its marketing presentations to foreign investors. Read the rest of the post on Bukidnon Reporter blog.

Edilberto Arreza, OIC regional director of the DENR's Mines and Geociences Bureau (MGB) in Southeastern Mindanao identified the areas as North Central Mindanao, Zamboanga Peninsula, Southern Mindanao, and Palawan, and Samar-Eastern Mindanao. 

The five districts are included in the twelve "mineral districts" the government identified in its international roadshow for investors. Read the rest of the report on Mindanews.com.

This signals a return to formal talks before the year ends, and, probably a final peace agreement by mid-2008. Read the report on MindaNews.com.

Antonio Vergara, president of the Davao City Multi-Culture Development Corporation, said they have scheduled agreement signing in December and would proceed with planting operations in January 2008.

He said the state-owned Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) Sabah Sdn Bhd would take charge of providing equipment and financing while the local firm on plantation expertise in the 60-40 ownership joint venture.

Vergara, a former city councilor, said they have an initial capitalization of P35 million for a 1,000-hectare plantation.
 
He said the joint venture would plant jathropa to an area covering at least 60,000 hectares in the Marilog and Paquibato districts in upland Davao City. Read the rest of the report on MindaNews.com.

About 28 of the 39 projects were clustered under the natural resource development sector, according to a list provided by the conference secretariat to reporters.

Only 11 were classified under tourism development, transport, infrastructure and communication. Four of the projects are into mining, including another mining project in Zamboanga Sibugay, two in Compostela Valley under the Philippine Mining Development Corporation, and another one on coal in West Kalimantan in Indonesia.  Read the rest of the report on MindaNews.com.

The 6th Mindanao ICT Conference opened yesterday at the NCCC Mall. I'm joining one track today as panelist on new media and information exchange.

The week started last Sunday with the e-lympic internet games at SM Mall hosted by the Internet Cafe Association of Davao. It would end on Saturday with the 1st Mindanao Bloggers Summit.

The week-long activities also include the 1st BIMP-EAGA ICT Conference which coincides with the Senior Ministers Conference of this ASEAN sub-region comprising Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Also in town are trade delegations from Darwin, Australia and Taiwan, who are likewise participating at the Davao Trade Expo (DATE 2007), the city's biggest trade exhibit.

Kudos to the organizers led by ICT Davao Inc. and the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Last year, I led the Davao City delegation at the 5th Mindanao ICT Conference at Cagayan de Oro to bid in hosting this year's event.

But what about the Association of South East Asian Nations? What plans does the regional grouping have now?After getting excited by the thought that finally dissent is in motion in the monk-led peaceful protests in the streets of Burma's major cities, the next concern now is safety of the defiant protesters.

In the 1988 student uprisings in Rangoon, at least 3,000 were killed. The military rulers have the record of bloody protest management. The Philippine government already issued statements calling on the Burmese government give way, but after the press release what?

Although it will be an unlikely comparison, the situation in Burma is an apt reflection of what will happen if the people will lose grip of civil liberties that could easily be gulped by the greed of power of the few.
It is also irresponsible to close eyes on the situation in Burma because we have our own share of problems here. It is hard to fathom why we claim to fight for human rights and civil liberties here and we ignore the foul the Burmese people, our ASEAN neighbors, have to bear with.

I think she has an extensive and intensive field work on mining in Mindanao. I have always wanted to cover communities as there are both interesting and shocking stories to tell from the mouths of people there.

She has written on how the mining industry has affected human rights and the lives in general of the indigenous peoples. But most newspapers were not able to publish it for some reasons.

So when I found some of her articles from old files I decided to post them here.

Mining and Mindanao: what fate awaits the communities?
By Penelope C. Sanz/MindaNews
(1st of three parts)

MAKATI CITY -- Inside the ballroom of the New World Renaissance Hotel on February 3, some 200 men in business suits from Australia, Canada, China, United States and Russia were unperturbed by announcements from officials of the Philippine government and the Chamber of Mines that a crowd of protesters was picketing outside the hotel.

In fact, the delegates would never have heard of the protest if the officials didn’t mention it and explain it as proof of a “vibrant democracy.” But even if they heard, not one of them appeared bothered.

Delegates at the lobby would not have known, too, that there was an opposition to their presence as the protesters, among them Igorots clad in G-string, held their picket along Pasay Road, the back of the hotel.

A day earlier, while the businessmen were busy introducing each other at the opening of the international mining conference dubbed “Open for Business: Mining and Minerals as New Drivers of Growth,” men and women in casual attire gathered at the Pergola Grill in Kamuning, Quezon City, a number of them cursing the Supreme Court for dismissing with finality the motion for reconsideration filed by the La Bugal Bla-an Tribal Associations.

In effect, the mining conference’s title, “Open for business” was timely, since the high court had reaffirmed there are no more obstacles to the entry of foreign capital into mining, allowing 100 percent foreign ownership of mining operations, instead of the usual 40% share.

As investors in the Renaissance hotel discussed the prospects of their ongoing and future mining operations in the Philippines, in the restaurant in Kamuning, participants to the forum of the Alyansa Tigil Mina (Alliance to stop mining) cried “rape of the patrimony.”

The Supreme Court decision was handed down on February 1, 10 days after it was filed and just a day before the start of the mining conference.

As if to rub salt to the Alyansa’s injury, Supreme Court Justice Artemio Panganiban, the ponente of the December 1, 2004 and February 1, 2005 decisions, spoke at the mining conference and was in fact introduced to the delegates by Chamber of Mines president Benjamin Romualdez as “a very courageous gentleman who has put together a most compelling, most comprehensive decision the Supreme Court has ever seen.”

Last year, it was the mining industry that cursed the Supreme Court while those against the Mining Act celebrated the high court’s January 27 decision declaring portions of the 1995 Mining Act unconstitutional. That decision also nullified the Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) of the Australian firm Western Mining Corporation (WMC) over a huge area straddling three provinces, and all provisions concerning FTAA and other permits that can be granted to foreign-owned corporations.

The Philippine government through the Department of Environment’s Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau, filed a motion for reconsideration, and on December 1 last year, the Supreme Court reversed its ruling.

On January 22, the La Bugal association filed a motion for reconsideration but this was “thrown away after 10 days by the SC without even summoning the DENR and other parties to respond to the motion,” Atty. Marvic Leonen, chair of the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center, Inc. – Kasama sa Kalikasan (LRC-KsK) and lead counsel for the La Bugal-B’laan Tribal Associations, said.

Leonen noted that when La Bugal won after seven years of court hearings, the SC gave the mining proponents’ motion for reconsideration enough time for intervention and oral argument. In the case of La Bugal, it took only ten days for the Supreme Court to dismiss the petition “with finality.”

That the final decision came on February 1, the day before the opening of the Mining Conference, was a major reason for the mining advocates’ grand celebration, capped with a dinner at Malacanang.

And there was a grand reason to celebrate: there was no longer any obstacle in getting foreigners to invest in large-scale mining in the Philippines.

The Philippines’ mineral-rich lands were now “open for business.”

Indeed, the Philippines is now open for business, including its patrimony, says Leonen. The FTAA allows foreign-owned corporations (FOC) 100% ownership of at least 81,000 hectares. It also grants FOCs water rights, timber rights and easement rights.

An 81,000 hectare mineral land is almost thrice the size of Camiguin (29,000 hectares) and Digos City (28,710 hectares) and larger than Valencia City (62,163 hectares)

Leonen argues that this contradicts the 1987 Philippine Constitution which stipulates that the state may “enter into co-production, joint venture or production sharing agreements with Filipino citizens or corporations”.

The exploration, development and utilization of resources is “not anymore Filipino first policy but foreigner-owned first policy,” he said.

Romualdez outlined the contributions of a revitalized mining industry – it could yield about P 57 billion in additional tax revenue for the government, jobs and livelihood especially in far-flung areas, among others.

The next day, glowing reports about the prospects of mining appeared in the national dailies and radio and television networks – how mining could pay for our foreign debt, our budget deficit, how it could generate an estimated 1.2 million jobs, etc..

The reports, filed mostly by business reporters garbed also in business suits, did not mention major policy changes announced during the conference, changes that cannot be quantified monetarily but whose impact on the communities is immense, such as the scrapping of the requirement for mining firms to obtain the free and prior informed consent (FPIC) of the Lumads (indigenous communities) affected by the mining project, during the exploratory stage.

The impact of the revised policies on the lives of the Lumads in the faraway jungles of Mindanao, where most of the mining projects are, apparently could not be felt from the concrete jungles of Makati, where the mining investors, along with government officials, decided, from the confines of an airconditioned ballroom, what fate awaits the Lumads and other communities in mineral-rich Mindanao. (Tomorrow: Mine Mindanao)

SPECIAL REPORT
Mining and Mindanao:
what fate awaits the communities?
By Penelope C. Sanz / MindaNews
2nd of three parts

MAKATI CITY -- Mining oppositionists nationwide would not have been surprised by the Supreme Court ruling on December 1 if they had been monitoring developments in Mindanao’s business sector.

In September last year, the 13th Mindanao Business Conference (Minbizcon) submitted its 13-page eight point action agenda to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in Davao City, “outlining the business sector’s recommendations and commitment in pursuit of federalism and revitalizing the mining industry, among others”.

It called on Ms Arroyo to “facilitate the immediate resolution of the constitutionality issue of the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 to eliminate the apprehensions of investors in mining developments in the Philippines.”

What “facilitate” meant and how it will be done, given that the executive and judiciary are independent branches of government, Minbizcon did not elaborate. At that time, the constitutionality issue was already in the hands of the Supreme Court, the final arbiter.

The MinBizCon also wanted the National Commission on the Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) to facilitate the process of Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) of the Lumads (indigenous peoples) and accelerate the identification of “real indigenous peoples/indigenous cultural communities” in specific areas. It also wants NCIP to “be neutral and objective in arriving at FPIC consensus.”

The Minbizcon also urged the NCIP “to embark on an information program with the Mindanao Business Council, on the benefits of mineral development in accordance with the promotion of the approved ancestral domain management plan” of the Lumads.

Set up simultaneously with the creation of the Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM), the Office of the President for Mindanao (OPMin), the Mindanao Economic Development Council (MEDCO) and the Mindanao Business Council (MBC) during the Ramos Administration (1992-1998), MinBizCon has, over the years, positioned itself to be the voice for Mindanao’s development.

For instance, policies and economic reforms in Mindanao and the Philippines for that matter, are reflected in MinBizCon’s resolutions e.g. oil palm plantations, experimentations and introduction of GMO (genetically modified organisms) in agricultural communities in Cotabato and Bukidnon, roll-in and rollout (RORO) shipping.

In terms of minerals development, it was in the 11th MinBizCon that the issues and concerns of the mining industry in the Caraga Region were endorsed to Ms Arroyo in 2002.

The future is in Mindanao

Globally, the Philippines ranks third in gold, fourth in copper, fifth in nickel, and sixth in chromite, according to National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Romulo Neri

But the Philippine mining industry’s future is in resource-rich Mindanao. The island has 80% of the country’s deposits of copper, nickel and gold according to a policy paper prepared by the MBC for the 12th MinBizCon held in Cagayan de Oro City in October 2003.

Emboldened by the Supreme Court’s “landmark decision upholding the constitutionality of the Mining Law in our country and the extent of foreign participation in large-scale mining,” the Arroyo Administration is now in full gear to sell the mineral resources of the Philippines.

For starters, the one-stop shop for mining applications is now going to be administered by former Foreign Affairs Secretary and Minerals Development Consultant Delia Albert who was appointed special government envoy to “facilitate and expedite the approval of mining applications”.

According to Chamber of Mines of the Philippines president, Benjamin Romualdez, 11 of the government’s 23 flagship mining projects are found in Mindanao which is also home to “at least least half of the 37 exploration projects.”

At the dinner with the miners in Malacanang on February 3, President Arroyo announced that applications for Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) and Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) will now be approved within six months. This means that the Environmental Compliance Certificate has to be approved in two months while the processing of the Certificate of Pre-Condition and the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) of the Lumads is expected to be completed in three months, Engr. Leo Nazareno, Officer-in-Charge of DENR’s Tenement Division, said during the conference workshop.

Obtaining the FPIC, as provided by the NCIP Administrative Order NO.3 Series 2002, usually takes about 180 days.

The FPIC and the certificate of pre-condition are “instruments of empowerment” under the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997. It aims to protect the primary rights of the Lumads in the “implementation of development projects, programs, activities and other business or profit oriented investments within their ancestral domains to ensure their economic, social and cultural well-being”.

It was enacted in response to the “negative experiences of the indigenous peoples against development projects that destroyed our ancestral domain,” Vicky Tauli, a Kankanaey, who is the Executive Director of Tebtebba Foundation and member of the United Nations’ Forum on Indigenous Peoples, explained.

“Unacceptable”
But at the mining conference on February 3, Environment Secretary Michael Defensor announced that the FPIC of the Lumads will no longer be required of mining firms during exploration stage.

Defensor disclosed that the NCIP had announced during a cabinet meeting in December 2004 that “they will not anymore require the FPIC for the exploration because these are just holes that are being stuck on the ground to test the minerals.”

“What is important for FPIC is when the mining activities commence,” he said.

“But what Defensor is not saying is that the exploratory phase is no longer mineral testing for that is already proven, but an exploration on how the operation is going to be conducted and how it will cost them,” Joan Carling, chair of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance, said.

Exploration activity causes disturbances and makes communities more vulnerable to human rights violations, he said, adding that scrapping the requirement for an FPIC, is “unacceptable.”

“It gives no space for the (Lumads) to say no to activities that destroy their land. Most importantly, it deprives us of our right to manage and develop our resources,” he said.

Tauli noted that even the rights of non-Lumad communities to disagree with mining development will be “railroaded with these new national policies.” (Tomorrow: Mining and Peace)

SPECIAL REPORT

Mining and Mindanao: what fate awaits the communities?

By Penelope C. Sanz/MindaNews

Last of three parts

MAKATI CITY (MindaNews/22 February) – On February 5, when delegates to the international mining conference were given an optional tour of the mining sites, peace advocates from the Mindanaw Peaceweavers network trooped to Davao City from various parts in Mindanao to update each other and to discuss mining and its impact on the peace-building processes in 

Mindanao.

By then, the Sulu crisis had not received full-blown media attention and the peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was moving ahead as both sides were preparing for the resumption of informal talks in Kuala Lumpur this month.

The February 1 decision of the Supreme Court dismissing with finality the motion for reconsideration of the La Bugal Tribal Association, was a cause for worry among peace advocates.

In several areas in Mindanao, the entry of big mining firms has been causing division among communities.

Mining advocates, however, contend that the industry’s promised jobs generation would help bring about peace.

Former President Fidel Ramos, who signed Republic Act 7942 or the Philippine Mining Act of 1995, told delegates of the international mining conference at lunch on February 3 that the mining industry is the key to the Philippines’ economic woes and a “powerful weapon for mass upliftment 

in our fight against poverty.”

At the dinner she hosted in Malacanang the same day, President Arroyo told mining investors that the revitalization of the mining industry "spells more jobs, more roads, more bridges, more classrooms and books and computers in them, and potable water and electricity for every barangay."

Indeed, in theory, the prospects of the mining industry appear very promising, particularly when mind-boggling figures are presented. 

Romulo Neri, director of the National Economic Development Authority, said the potential mining wealth of the Philippines is “estimated to have an approximate value of $ 840 billion or P47 trillion or ten times the annual GDP.”

Neri says this figure is 15 times the total foreign debt of $ 56 billion.

In practice, it has yet to be determined how much of the foreign mining firm’s earnings will be returned to their home countries and how much will be retained in the Philippines.

Lawyer-anthropologist Gus Gatmaytan, in his discussion of “Resources War: Mining in the Philippines,” told the Mindanao Peaceweavers that in theory, the provisions of the Indigenous People’s Rights Act (IPRA) on Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) “can prevent such an intrusion (of the mining firms) into their territory.”

In practice, however, all communities, upland or otherwise, “are inevitably divided if not by class, then by ethnicity, religious affiliation, access to power or opportunity, among others.”

This division, Gatmaytan said, gives multinational companies “room for inventing or exploiting leaders and local organizations that are supportive of its interests, to attack the unity and cohesiveness of a community, and so confuse the question of free and prior informed consent.”

“With some local people on their side, a company can claim its investment and operations are welcome in the community, contrary to the claims of its detractors,” he said.

Benedict Andersen’s “imagined communities” is known among anthropologists but what is evolving at the moment is being referred to as “invented communities.”

Local Governments Secretary Angelo Reyes’ message to the mining investors on February 3 was very simple: with regards to peace and order which is a concern that has been repeatedly asked during the conference, “the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police will ensure the investors’ safety.”

Reyes was once chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. He also served as Defense Secretary.

It should be noted that countries engaged in Bilateral Investment Trades (BITS), the host country ensures the protection and security of the investments its partner(s) have. The Philippines has at least 40 BITS, among them with Australia, Canada, and the USA.  Many Australian and Canadian mining firms have applied for mining permits in the Philippines.

Whether or not it was in reaction to what Reyes said, no one can say. But in Mindanao, two rebel groups issued statements on the same day, February 7, warning that mining could yet bring more unrest.

The Communist Party of the Philippines in a statement said the Arroyo administration is “strategically deploying its units in areas where foreign mining concessionaires are to operate.”

”With the AFP and PNP serving as the armed mercenaries of foreign mining companies, the Filipino people will never know peace,” it said.

The CPP added that the military is “giving special attention to Mindanao, where there are large deposits of oil, natural gas, gold, copper and other minerals.”

“The people of Mindanao, including the Moro people, are bound to intensify their armed struggle in defense of the environment and their livelihood against the plunder and rape of their resources by foreign mining companies,” it said.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) warned mining companies against exploiting mineral deposits in rebel strongholds pending the resolution of the ancestral domain issue.

Mohagher Iqbal, MILF chief peace negotiator, said exploitation of mineral resources in their areas still need to be addressed when both panels meet to discuss ancestral domain.

“These [mining ventures] can be a source of irritant or armed confrontation and might even seriously affect the talks,” Iqbal warned.

He claimed that “it is not proper” and even risky for the government to approve contracts with any local or international companies to undertake mining activities in areas where many of their forces are located.

He also said many of the still untapped mineral resources such as gold, copper and silver are located in areas with MILF presence particularly in the vast lands between Lanao Del Sur and Maguindanao, in the mountain ranges of Datu Odin Sinsuat, Talayan, Datu Piang, North Upi, South Upi, in Maguindanao; Palimbang in Sultan Kudarat; Columbio, Sultan Kudarat; in the Davao provinces; in the Zamboanga Peninsula; Sarangani, and South Cotabato.

Mining was also among the contentious issues between the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Philippine government.

Although it signed a peace agreement with the government on September 2, 1996, the MNLF, then undivided under Nur Misuari, objected in 2001 to the passage of RA 9054, the law that supposedly amended RA 6734, the Organic Act creating the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), to allow for its expansion based on the 1996 peace pact.

Misuari repeatedly said then that the law rendered the ARMM even less autonomous.

One of the provisions the MNLF objected to was the identification under RA 9054 of minerals, fuels, oils, all sources of potential energy, and other natural resources, including lakes, rivers, lagoons, forests and watersheds as among those exempted from the ARMM’s control, exploration, utilization, development and protection as ancestral domain.

Under the 1996 peace agreement, the control and supervision over these natural resources "except strategic minerals which will be defined later" were to be vested in the ARMM.

The MNLF argued  that the identification of these "strategic minerals" was done "unilaterally, arbitrarily and unconscionably" by the government, thus violating the peace agreement’s provision that the identification be done both by the MNLF and the government "with the positive contribution of technical experts from the Organization of Islamic Conference."

The MNLF then said that this "gross violation of the agreement… strikes at the heart of the jurisdiction of the ARMM over mines and minerals within its territory."

It said the new law would “rob the native inhabitants of the region of their birthright over their God-given natural resources.”

For both the Lumad and Moro in Mindanao, the struggle for land continues. 

(Penelope C. Sanz/MindaNews)

Here, you will be forced to choose to be open-minded, to be culturally-sensitive, and to keep in mind a collective viewpoint rather than just a small village "I" or "mine" outlook.

Everyday will be an exposure to various learning experiences including in unlikely places.

I could even draw lessons from talking to vegetable vendors in Davao’s Bangkerohan market. I mean you could do that in Cogeo, Antipolo City, too.

But hey, public markets here could tell a lot more.

Public markets around Mindanao are schools and museums of learning, too. Everyday, Mindanao’s agricultural products, their producers and marketers converge at the market in cities and towns.

I chanced upon a transaction in Bangkerohan between a producer of sweet potatoes from Marahan and a vendor. Even in transactions like these, there are middlemen and I realized that they are crucial in the price determination of camote-Q in the streets of Davao.

The farmer told stories about sweet potato (camote) production in Marahan, the issues they face such as transportation costs, the use of pesticides and inorganic fertilizers.

For him, there there are effective methods of planting and harvesting their crops. He went on a tell-all sharing of joys and pains in farming and selling his produce in the market.

Stories like this could go beyond Davao’s busy markets. There are other stories from
Mindanao’s taboans (flea markets) such as in Quezon, Bukidnon or in Alicia, Zamboanga del Sur. It is such an interesting facet of Mindanao.

By the way, every time I buy something from the market I make sure I know at least a new story. Every piece of tomato has a story, say, where it came from and where it is going.

This leads me to Mindanao’s wide and productive farmlands. The farms are even wider fields of study not only for those who are into agriculture and business. The farmers, especially those running small to medium size farms, have their own story to tell as Mindanao agriculture changes.

I used to play in our backyard in 1986 Don Carlos, Bukidnon with the backdraft of smaller but diverse farms. To our east, is a corn plantation. In the west, sugarcane. In the south is a fruit plantation. In the southwest is my grandfather’s rice, cassava and corn farm. Next to it is an Ilocano neighbor’s 'singkamas' plantation.

Today, surrounding the location of our old house is a vast pineapple and sugarcane plantation.
Mindanao’s farms are fast becoming mono-crop giants. One of the issues about farming now is whether it is still practical to operate larger instead of smaller farms.

According to an advocate of mono-crop production: The wonders of the “Bahay Kubo” as “a haven of diverse, self-sustaining products” have long been debunked. I took a hard look at the source of that information, especially when I made him reveal that his farm has been producing for exports to
Japan. I detest him hitting that song in the first place.

When I was in Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norte, I got serious lecturing from a Banana farm operator about their choice between export –orientation or farm losses. I was speechless.

I think it is important to know what is going on, what do farmers in
Mindanao produce for whom? Where do we get the food on our tables? It is a good thing that the organic farming movement in Mindanao is growing to balance, hopefully, the equation. This makes the farmlands, now a “battlefield” between plantation-synthetic economy and organic farming, an interesting fieldwork. Of course, we know whose winning it as of now.

Mindanao’s highways and narrow roads, too, reveal many things. Travel will be very worthwhile as the face of Mindanao is changing. There are good roads as there are bad roads. The condition of its roads somehow reflect the condition of Mindanao.

Nevertheless, travel around Mindanao is a virtual history tour. If you stop and ask around, you’ll find that history is unfolding in these places.

In transit, people shift from one reality to another. From work to home. From one community to another. From city to barrio. From known to unknown or vice versa. Sometimes it becomes a shift from one state to another, as people continue to die of bombings. Anyway, its more of the exemption in Mindanao than the rule.

With better roads and better buses, traveling on a 24-hour basis in some areas is possible. It is interesting to see the passengers come and go from a place to another.

Interactions also inside the bus will reveal some ounce of expectations. You’ll see that the passenger are in varying forms, sizes, odors and origins.

There was one occasion when a Christian missionary preacher, maybe unwittingly, made a provoking invitation in a departing bus in Iligan City. He invited the passengers, half of them wearing traditional Moro clothing, to watch a Christian program on TV showing later that night.

I knew it was a tense case. He should have considered that his audience were not all Christians. He could have exercised more sensitivity.

My Maranao seatmate, however, told me it was OK. He said he got used to that particular intricacy in living in Mindanao.Of course, he clarified later that, "OK" meant tolerable but not acceptable. Anyway, the preacher went down the bus alive.

Inside the bus, the scene looked relieved. If you look closer you'll see you're just into a study of diversity and it is such a stimulating microcosm ofMindanao.

Formal education in Mindanao would also be interesting. The growing disparity of students in private universities and state colleges would be a study in contrast. For basic education, the same contrast holds true as more and more students in the rural areas are left behind by their counterparts in more urbanized areas. The issues of lack of school buildings, teachers, books among others-- widen the gaps.

But even in a school in relatively urbanized Toril, Davao City, science education is still lackluster.

As a teacher, too, I had serious contemplation on whether students in Mindanao possess a “Mindanawon consciousness”. In my advanced journalism class, I got an empty stare from the whole class when I mentioned the words “Bud Dajo”.

That prompted me to dedicate half of the time for the next session to share the story of that historic place in Sulu and drew from them some reactions.

I really shift gears and modes between my journalism students in Ateneo de Davao University and our basic documentation and reporting trainees in Upi, Shariff Kabungsuan; Caraga, Davao Oriental; and Tandag, Surigao del Sur.

I’m just glad that the academe, civil society, government, media and other sectors meet in some venues, like in cyber space alleys such as Mindanao 1081 to discuss some issues and along the way bridge some of these divides. Cyberspace has also become a growing venue for learning in
Mindanao.

But, in our Amul-amul Bukidnon e-group, there will be silence as soon as issues about the community bypass postings on soft topics as “Davao’s best coffee shops among other things”.

There are other venues to learn about Mindanao. Just look at its health centers, hospitals churches and even funeral houses, they will reveal many things that we cannot read in books and watch on Manila-centered TV programs.

The whole gamut of learning avenues is characteristic of Mindanao’s diversity and learning may come as fluid and in informal notions. I think there is a greater need for religious if not cultural sensitivity here than elsewhere in the Philippines. And people demonstrate it.

My work as a journalist helped me see things that went past the ordinary. It gave me wide-ranging opportunities to listen, to question, to interact and to connect. As I connect to the different shapes and forms of Mindanao and its peoples and their issues, I become both a recipient and a carrier of messages.

I also become a message myself. No, I didn't want to be too presumptuous. I meant that, how I look, react and act on a thing relays so much on what I want to happen.

Anyway, the lessons are boundless and the results are priceless in Mindanao. But the demands are high, too, for a student of Mindanao.

Thinking "out of the box" meant to think differently so to achieve desired yet different outcomes. You have to think in a manner that catches up with the evolving realities.

Honestly, what I get from events and interactions in Mindanao contribute to my growth and maturity.

But much as I learn, the lessons should also be shared and relearned. A present-day Mindanawon should never cease thirsting for learning and should always be ready to share it to others as well.

Datu Haron Bandila, chair of the ARMM Business Council, said the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) must stay focused on the peace process for an immediate signing of the peace agreement.

He told MindaNews Thursday the biggest concern of the business community in the ARMM is the ongoing conflict.

He said they are calling on the government and the MILF to stick to the peace process and never to allow any more delays. Read the rest of the report on MindaNews.com.

Tony de Guzman, chief science research specialist of the DOE Mindanao office said a nine-member team called the Energy Resources Development Utilization Division was tasked to search and validate possible new sources of energy, specially hydro power around Mindanao.

Instead of looking at bigger sources such as Pulangui and Agus rivers, De Guzman said they are also in search of sources for mini-hydro plants. Read the rest of the report on MindaNews.com.

Mindanao’s growth rate was a marked increase from the 4.2 percent in the island’s gross regional domestic product (GRDP) in 2005.

Read the rest of the report on MindaNews.com.

Angara criticized major players such as Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines for centralized decisions on matters affecting directly Mindanawon borrowers. He said the problem is exacerbated by red tape.

The senate's committee chair on agriculture and food gave the keynote speech at the Mindanao Food Congress on Wednesday. Read more about a report on his speech on MindaNews.com.

Sebastian Angliongto, MinBC chair emeritus and chair of the 6th Mindanao Food Conference, told MindaNews that the fast conversion of rice lands should be checked to help protect both the interests of the banana growers and the people of Mindanao.

At the press briefing Monday on the Mindanao Food Congress scheduled on August 15 to 16, Angliongto said the conference is a contintuation of the dialogue between the government and the agriculture industries for policy changes to ensure food security.

Read the rest of the report on MindaNews.com.

He told MindaNews he was also in town to discuss with the governors of the
four provinces surrounding the Mt. Apo Range Natural Park, which is also
being promoted as an eco-tourism destination.

The tourism official opened the Second Mindanao Travel and Tour Expo at the
SM City Davao Entertainment Plaza on Aug. 10.

The expo is part of the city's annual celebration of the renowned Kadayawan
Festival.

He told reporters covering the event that DOT will bank on the gains of the
Asean Tourism Forum in 2005, where Davao City was launched as among the key
players of the industry in the world owing to its being an international
tourism destination.

Durano said the talks for the new air connection with the Chinese city are
part of the continuing efforts to promote Davao. (To be updated)