Tindog COMVAL! Walang Iwanan!

Comval Gov. Arturo Uy and COA Assistant Commissioner Arcadio B. Cuenco Jr. lead the Ceremonial Ground Breaking of the Commission on Audit office building located at the Comval capitol compound on February 23. (A.dayao, ids comval)

 

(Bulawan Festival)

Preparations for Bulawan festival. The provincial government of Compostela Valley is now all set for the celebration of its 18^thFounding Anniversary and 9^th Bulawan Festival on March 3 until March 8 of 2016. (r.renoblas/ids comval)

 

 

The Race for the Philippine Presidency Has Begun

By Mong Palatino

According to the Philippine Commission on Elections, 130 persons have applied to run for president in next year’s election. The majority are unknown aspirants who will likely be disqualified for lacking the means to mount a nationwide campaign. The election itself is set for May 9.

There are four major candidates with both strong party backing and large public following. The administration candidate is former interior secretary Mar Roxas. Opposition leader and incumbent vice president Jejomar Binay also formally registered his bid for the presidency. Neophyte Grace Poe, a senator and the leading candidate based on several surveys, also submitted her certificate of candidacy this week. But the surprise candidate is Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who declared her intention to run for president only a few days ago.

Roxas is the grandson of a former president and son of a former senator. He topped the Senate race in 2004 and became the leader of Liberal Party, one of the country’s oldest and biggest political parties. He ran unsuccessfully for vice president in 2010.

Binay was a longtime mayor of Makati City, the country’s premier business and financial hub, prior to his election as vice president. Poe is the daughter of Fernando Poe Jr, an actor who ran for president in 2004. Santiago placed second in the 1992 presidential election before becoming senator in 1995.

Roxas has the edge in terms of election machinery, since he is the candidate of the ruling party. President Benigno Aquino III, who enjoys high public confidence based on opinion polls, has also committed to actively campaign for Roxas. But Aquino’s endorsement can also hurt Roxas by turning away voters who are disappointed with the performance of the president.

Binay claims he has the support of the poor, overseas Filipinos, and local government leaders. But his numbers went down after he was accused of being involved in various corruption scandals. Though he insists that these were all politically-motivated, his reputation has already been tarnished.

Poe presents herself as an alternative candidate who has a clean record as a public servant. Tired of the antics of traditional politicians and political dynasties, many urged her to run for higher office. Though she has decided to run, her previous American citizenship was immediately questioned in the court.

Santiago is also seen as an outsider, even though she has been a politician for more than two decades. She is admired by many people – especially the young – who are looking for intelligent and articulate leaders. Santiago’s candidacy was not expected because she has only recently recovered from cancer.

Turning to their running mates, Roxas has teamed up with Leni Robredo, the widow of a respected politician. Binay’s vice presidential candidate is Senator Gringo Honasan. Poe, meanwhile, chose her mentor, Senator Chiz Escudero, to be her vice president. Santiago has reportedly endorsed the vice presidential candidacy of Senator Bongbong Marcos. Marcos is the son of the country’s former strongman, Ferdinand Marcos, who ruled the country for two decades before he was ousted by a popular uprising in 1986.

Campaigning will officially begin next year. But since the candidates are already known, political realignments across the country are expected to reshape the electoral landscape. Political bickering between candidates and parties is also anticipated to intensify.

The FHM Philippines Grind 2015 Gallery

Sun-Kissed Girls And Nightlong Partying: The FHM Boracay Grind 2015 Gallery

By Mary Rose A. Hogaza

After a year of waiting, we finally flew back to the country's premier party beach to host an unforgettable #LaBoracay banger—replete with booze, babes, sun and sand.

The FHM Boracay Grind party was held at Club Paraw last May 1, and it was a night headlined by ear-busting EDM tunes, overflowing drinks from Tanduay, and your favorite FHM girls!

We wish we could take all that awesomeness back in Manila, but nah, all we were able to bring back are these wonderful, wonderful photos. So, if you weren’t able to join us that night, we have here a recap of what happened that fateful summer night!

Check out more:

www.FHH.com.ph

Military Verifying "Proof of Life" of ASG-held Germans in Sulu

 

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines  - - Police and military intelligence  officials are verifying what could be a “proof of life” picture of two German nationals held by the Abu Sayyaf group in Sulu.

The picture was posted on the internet and was discovered by authorities, officials said.

Capt. Ma. Rowena Muyuela, spokesperson of Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom), believes that the intelligence community has a copy of the picture that shows German nationals Dr. Stefan Viktor Okonek, 74, and Henrite Dielen, 42, seated and holding a German flag with about 10 masked gunmen believed to be Abu Sayyaf members in an unknown location.

Muyuela said government troops have been pursuing the Abu Sayyaf group to rescue hostages, including the two German nationals who were initially declared missing after sailing aboard their yacht near Rio Tubataha off Palawan toward Sabah last April.

Muyuela declined to give further comment or details, saying that any operational information leak might pre-empt the safety of the victims and the military's pursuit.

“We can only say in general that efforts have been ongoing to recover the victims,” Muyuela said.

Senior Superintendent Abraham Orbita, Sulu provincial police director, also confirmed the presence of the two German hostages held by the Abu Sayyaf group in the province and a tracking operation is underway to locate the victims.

“Intelligence operatives are working to locate the victims,” Orbita said. He did not elaborate.

The presence of the two captive Germans was initially confirmed by Octavio Dinampo, aprofessor at Mindanao State University (MSU) and an active peace advocate in Sulu,  sometime in May following tips by informants on the ground detailing how the victims were brought to the province.

Dinampo, also a former kidnap victim of the Abu Sayyaf, disclosed earlier that the two German captives arrived in the coastal village of Barangay Buhanginan, Patikul town with their captors led by Jihad Susukan alias Iddang  last Arpil 14 and brought to the group of Abu Sayyaf leader Radullan Sahiron.

He said  the two captives then joined the group of other captives, including  two European bird watchers -  Dutch Elwold Horn, and Swiss Lorenzo Vinceguerra, and  a Malaysian maritime police officer.-  Roel Pareño, Philippine Star

Rising Number of Trafficked Fishermen in Tawi-Tawi

by Jake Soriano

 

BONGAO, Tawi-Tawi—Tawi-Tawi authorities are alarmed at the growing number of fishermen from the Visayas who end up here after being recruited by human trafficking syndicates to engage in dangerous compressor diving.

The latest case involves 13 fishermen rescued from a fishing village here on March 15 by a team composed of the Tawi-Tawi Provincial Police Office (PPO), Philippine Marines and the Bongao Inter-agency Task Force Against Trafficking in Persons (BIATFAT).

The case is the eighth recorded by BIATFAT since December 2012, and brings the total number of rescued fishermen to 80, all of them from Cebu and Bohol.

 

 

 

Not just a backdoor transit point, Tawi-Tawi is also a destination for human trafficking victims.

“They have taken a huge risk in accepting compressor diving work here,” said Inspector Elmira Relox, chief of the Tawi-Tawi PPO Women and Children Protection Desk, who led the rescue.

Compressor diving, a dangerous deep-sea fishing method, requires the fishermen to dive into the water without any gear, except for a plastic hose attached to an air pump on the surface. The diver inhales air through the hose when deep underwater.

Police said compressor diving killed one fisherman and incapacitated another. The casualties, both of who had been recruited along with the 13 rescued fishermen, were not identified.

The rescued fishermen told police they started working for a certain Nelson Mohammad in September 2013, with the contract supposed to expire last February.

Mohammad, however, reportedly detained them in his residence after they complained of unfair pay and refused to extend their contract. He also claimed the fishermen still owed him money he had advanced to them in Cebu and their transportation expenses going to Tawi-Tawi.

Police said one of the fishermen escaped by swimming in the shallow waters off the edge of Bongao island and alerted the local authorities to the group’s situation.

Prosecutor Ivy Damayo of the Sea-based Anti-trafficking Task Force said hundreds more fishermen are trapped in dire working conditions on the islands.

The 13 rescued fishermen are from Lapu-Lapu City. The youngest is 19, the oldest 48.

“They were exploited and harassed by their employers,” Relox said.

According to police, fishermen from Cebu and Bohol are lured by recruiters who are known or related to them.

These recruiters advance the fishermen a portion of the promised salary ranging from P10,000 to P15,000 to get them to agree to work in Tawi-Tawi usually on a six-month contract. The fishermen are also promised a share of the profit from the catch.

But the agreements are made only orally. Once in Tawi-Tawi, the deep-sea divers are left to the mercy of their employers, and the promises forgotten.

BIATFAT focal person Rosabella Sulani said the fishermen usually work from 3 p.m. until 7 the next morning.

When their contracts are about to expire, the fishermen are told they still owe their employers money and they would have to stay to be able to pay their debts. The victims, therefore, get caught in a vicious cycle of debt bondage, Sulani said.

 

 

Fishing is a leading source of livelihood in Tawi-Tawi.

 

Fishermen are also regularly threatened with violence, according to police. Their employers usually carry firearms and claim to have a network of contacts among the local authorities in Tawi-Tawi.

Mohammad managed to evade capture when local authorities raided his residence to rescue the 13 fishermen and, according to Sulani, has become the newest addition to the growing list of suspects behind the trafficking of fishermen from Cebu and Bohol to Tawi-Tawi.

He is the first to be identified operating in Languyan town near Bongao, capital of Tawi-Tawi, said Sulani.

The victims told police that Mohammad lives in Sama-Kasulutan in Simandagit, Bongao, reputedly a den for lawless elements, including members of the Abu Sayyaf. He is known to carry firearms, and once fired a gun in the air when he got mad at his employees.

One of the rescued fishermen told police that Mohammad also claims to be well connected to law enforcement officials in Tawi-Tawi.

Three other suspects identified by Sulani allegedly employing compressor divers in the island municipalities of Sibutu and Sitangkai are Anthony Jumat and the brothers “Ugly” and Jimmy Haibit.

BIATFAT records of Bongao cases referred to Zamboanga City show that Jimmy Haibit was charged with human trafficking on July 16, 2013. The case is awaiting resolution.

Also charged was Policarpio “Paul” Mantos, who reportedly recruits fishermen from Cebu and Bohol.

BIATFAT, meanwhile, referred on Jan. 29 a trafficking case against Jumat to the Zamboanga City Prosecutor’s Office. Task force officials said Jumat is also known as a notorious drug pusher in Tawi-Tawi and that he allegedly works with recruiter Jefferson Daño.

Last Sept. 5, BIATFAT rescued a fisherman from Bohol who said as payment for the amount given to him in advance in Bohol, Jumat made him peddle the illegal drug methamphetamine hydrochloride, also known as shabu.

Sulani said some fishermen are forced to use “shabu” to combat tough sea conditions, particularly the extreme cold at night.

No cases have been filed against Mohammad, his recruiter, identified as Eduardo Tumulak, and “Ugly” Haibit. They are at large.

The Tawi-Tawi PPO and the BIATFAT turned over the 13 rescued fishermen to authorities in Zamboanga, who in turn facilitated their return to Cebu.

Relox said catching the employers and recruiters remains a problem for the police. “They are just too good,” she said, referring to human traffickers’ skills at evading authorities.

While many victims have been rescued, only a few are interested in pursuing cases, Damayo said. Among the 80 rescued, she said, “only about three are interested” in legal action against their former employers and recruiters.

(This story is part of VERA Files' project “Human Trafficking Casewatch” supported by the U.S. Embassy's Small Grants Facility and the Embassy of Canada. VERA Files is put out by senior journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. VERA is Latin for true.)