Coconut Famers back Dutrete-Cayetano Manifesto on Coco Levy Fund Distribution

PRESS RELEASE

31 March 2016

Coconut farmers back Duterte-Cayetano manifesto on coco levy fund distribution

A known coconut farmers' group today hailed Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano for being the only tandem in the upcoming polls to show political will and offer concrete solutions in addressing the decades-old problem on the undistributed coco levy funds.

In a radio interview on Thursday (March 31), Joey Faustino, executive director of the Coconut Industry Reform (COIR) Movement Inc., lamented how the government had been neglecting their calls to distribute the multibillion-peso fund to small coconut farmers. He also slammed recent statements made by Senators Grace Poe and Francis Escudero absolving Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco, Jr. from any guilt for the delay in the funds' deployment.

"Ikinalulungkot namin ang naging statement ni Senator Grace Poe na tila parang hinihiwalay si Mr. Danding Cojuangco dito sa usapan ng coconut levy, samantalang kami na matagal nang nakasubaybay sa kaso kasama ng mga magniniyog ay alam naman namin na sa mahabang panahon, ang nagpapatagal ng kaso ay si Danding Cojuangco," he said. 

Cojuangco is among those who allegedly used the farmers' funds to buy businesses during the Marcos regime. His San Miguel Corp. (SMC) still owns shares of the total funds. In 2015, two executive orders (EOs) were issued for the inventory of coco levy funds and their subsequent distribution. But these were suspended due to a petition filed by the Confederation of Coconut Farmers Organizations of the Philippines (Cocofed), Cojuangco's alleged dummy organization.

"First 100 days"

Faustino, meanwhile, said their group fully supports the three-point manifesto crafted by the Duterte-Cayetano tandem, which asserts the duo's pledge to end what they described as the "systemic oppression of small coconut farmers.” Faustino was one of the two witnesses who signed the manifesto. The other signatory was Oscar “Ka Oca” Santos, former Quezon Rep. and renowned coco levy recovery advocate.

The document entitled, "Panata para sa Maliliit na Magniniyog," was presented by Duterte and Cayetano during their Ronda-Serye listening tour with coconut farmers in Catanauan, Quezon. They noted that while other candidates prefer to protect the big and powerful, their tandem will protect the small and the weak. “Hindi tulad ng ibang kandidato, hindi kami hawak sa leeg ng kahit sino.”

Through the manifesto, the tandem vowed to implement the following, if elected:

1.) The distribution of the coco levy fund for the benefit of small coconut farmers and in consultation with legitimate farmers' groups in their first 100 days in office 

2.) Additional budget, over and above the coco levy funds, for the development and modernization of the coconut industry; and 

3.) Help pursue the remaining part of the fund

"Mabibigat ang binitiwang pananalita nina Mayor Duterte. Sabi nga niya sa mga magniniyog, itong problema na ito ay kailangang tapusin na. Nagpanata sila na kung sila ay maupo, sa first 100 days ay may matitikman ang mga magniniyog mula sa coco levy. Pangalawa, naniniwala sila sa tinutulak naming paglikha ng trust fund. Pinakamahalaga, sila ay bukas na ang iba pang hindi nababawi na bahagi ng coco levy funds ay kanila ring aasikasuhin," Faustino noted. #

Pirates Hijack Ship in Philippines and Take Several Hostages

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesia said Tuesday that 10 of its citizens are being held hostage in the Philippines after their ship was hijacked in the often-insecure border region between the two countries.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the owner of the hijacked tug boat and coal barge has received two telephone calls, purportedly from the militant group Abu Sayyaf, demanding a ransom.

It said it was unclear when the incident occurred but that the ship owner was first contacted on Saturday. The ministry referred to the hostage-takers as pirates.

Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told a news conference that she is working with Indonesian and Philippine officials to coordinate a rescue.

"Our priority is the safety of 10 Indonesian nationals who are now still in the hands of the hostage-takers," she said.

Abu Sayyaf, which is on U.S. and Philippine lists of terrorist organizations, is notorious for bombings, extortions and kidnappings for ransom in the volatile south of the Philippines. It has been weakened by years of U.S.-backed Philippine offensives but remains a security threat.

If the Abu Sayyaf is confirmed responsible, the number of hostages would be among the largest it has seized since 2001.

In the Philippines, army Maj. Gen. Demy Tejares said troops were trying to verify reports that the Indonesians were taken to the southern province of Sulu and that an Abu Sayyaf commander notorious for ransom kidnappings, Alhabsi Misaya, was involved.

"There is information pointing to Sulu as the destination so we're monitoring it," Tejares said of the predominantly Muslim province 590 miles (950 kilometers) south of Manila, where several other kidnapping victims are believed to be held by Abu Sayyaf militants.

Philippine military chief Gen. Hernando Iriberri flew to Sulu on Monday to meet commanders and their troops involved in efforts to locate the Indonesians.

The tug, Brahma 12, and the Anand 12 barge were going from Sungai Putting in Kalimantan, which is the Indonesian part of Borneo island, to Batangas province, south of the Philippine capital.

The Facebook page of the Brahma 12's captain, Peter Tonsen Barahama, shows smiling photos of him and the crew on the vessel preparing for the voyage and good luck wishes from friends commenting on a port clearance document he posted. The document shows the vessel and its barge left a port in southern Kalimantan on March 15.

A Philippine police report said a villager sighted an unmanned boat marked "Brahma 12" on Saturday drifting in waters off Languyan town in the southernmost Philippine province of Tawi Tawi, near Sulu, and the vessel was taken by police to a Languyan wharf.

Indonesia's Foreign Ministry said it believes the barge, carrying about 7,000 tons of coal, is still under the control of the hostage-takers.

Philippine security officials suspect the Abu Sayyaf was responsible for last year's abductions of two Canadians, a Norwegian and a Filipino woman from a marina on southern Samal Island. The victims are believed to be held in the jungles of southern Sulu province.

In a recent video posted on a Facebook account linked to the militants, they threatened to kill the hostages unless a large ransom is paid by April 8. The Philippine military said the government continues to observe a no-ransom policy.

Indonesia has been helping the Philippines forge a peace agreement with Filipino Muslim rebels by sending soldiers to join an international group that helps monitor government and rebel adherence to a cease-fire.

© 2016 The Associated Press.

Filipino Nailed to Cross on Good Friday Prays for Belgium

Ruben Enaje is untied and lowered down by a volunteer dressed as a Centurion after he was nailed to a wooden cross during a reenactment during Good Friday rituals on Friday, March 25, 2016 at Cutud, Pampanga province, northern Philippines. (AP /Linus Escandor II)

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Rene Casibang, The Associated Press 
 

SAN PEDRO CUTUD, Philippines -- A Filipino devotee was nailed to a cross for the 30th time in an annual Good Friday ritual, which he dedicated to peace in Belgium and other countries targeted by Islamic extremists.

Ruben Enaje and 14 other men, some screaming in pain, were nailed to wooden crosses by actors dressed as Roman centurions in San Pedro Cutud and two other rice farming villages in Pampanga province north of Manila, according to organizers.

Thousands of foreign and local tourists snapped pictures of the devotees, who re-enacted Jesus Christ's suffering and death in scorching heat. Other devotees flogged their own bloodied backs with whips while walking barefoot around the dusty villages.

PHOTOS

Filipino penitents are nailed to wooden crosses during a reenactment during Good Friday rituals on Friday, April 25, 2016 at Cutud, Pampanga province, northern Philippines. Several Filipino devotees had themselves nailed to crosses Friday to remember Jesus Christ's suffering and death, an annual rite frowned upon by church leaders in this predominantly Roman Catholic country. (AP /Linus Escandor II)

The gory spectacle reflects the Philippines' unique brand of Catholicism, which merges church traditions with folk superstitions. Many of the mostly impoverished penitents undergo the ritual to atone for sins, pray for the sick or for a better life, and to give thanks for what they believe were God-given miracles.

Enaje, a 55-year-old sign painter, began the annual ordeal after he fell from a three-storey building in 1985 and survived nearly unscathed.

Asked what he was praying for this year, Enaje said he was saddened by the recent bombings at the Brussels airport and subway station and other attacks in the Middle East that hurt innocent people.

"What are they fighting for?" Enaje asked, referring to Islamic State group militants who have claimed responsibility for the Brussels attacks. "Even the innocent are not spared. They want to lord over the world but that can't be allowed to happen."

He expressed concern over reports that Islamic State extremists may have already influenced Muslim militants in the southern Philippines.

The Lenten rituals are frowned upon by church leaders in the Philippines, Asia's largest Roman Catholic nation, especially if the religious spectacle is used to boost tourism. The event, however, has persisted and has become an awaited tourist attraction in San Pedro Cutud village, about 70 kilometres (45 miles) north of Manila.

After 30 years, Enaje said he has thought of ending his involvement in the crucifixions in the next few years, although he remains physically fit to endure the experience, which has deepened his faith.

The intensity of the pain, he said, has never changed in each of the year that the four-inch stainless steel nails were hammered through the same spot in his palm and feet. When the cross is hoisted up, the movement adds to the suffering, he said.

"The only thing in my mind is that God went through worse," Enaje said.

The Sulu Side of the Story

BY PHILIP GOLINGAI

Sulu Sultanate claimant Muedzul-Lail Tan Kiram (raised hand)

 

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A self-styled sultan attempts to clear his name and explain the role of his people in Sabah.

LAST week, I received a polite “royal” rebuke from one of the claimants to the Sulu throne.

Via Facebook messenger, “sultan” Muedzul-Lail Tan Kiram wrote, “Dear Philip, I read your write-up and it makes me sad. I was condemned without trial and so were my people.”

The “sultan” was referring to my article, “It’s actually not as bad as it sounds” published last Saturday. Quoting a Malaysian intelligence officer, I wrote that people in Sabah claiming to be panglima (commanders) of Sultan Muedzul-Lail were criminals and not a threat to internal security, unlike the family of the late self-styled Sultan Jamalul Kiram III.

“Can I interview you to write about your side of the story?” I replied to the Tausug man I met in Jolo, Sulu province in 2013.

Here’s the 50-year-old self-styled sultan’s side of his story.

Muedzul-Lail lives in Jolo island, southern Philippines.

He has many rivals – some of whom are conmen – claiming to be the legitimate Sultan of Sulu. One of his main rivals is the family of “Sultan” Jamalul. The family hit the headlines when the “crown prince” Agbimuddin led some 200 followers in the occupation of Kg Tanduo in Lahad Datu, Sabah in 2013.

Muedzul-Lail’s claim to royal legitimacy is that he’s the son of the 34th Sultan of Sulu Mahakuttah Kiram. He was Sultan from 1974 to 1986.

“Now that the two interim Sultans, the brothers Jamalul Kiram III and Sultan Esmail Kiram II are both dead, I hereby assert my birth right as a legitimate Sultan of Sulu archipelago and North Borneo, being the son of the late Sultan Mahakuttah Kiram, the last Sultan recognised by the Philippines Government, and the grandson of the late Sultan Ismael Kiram,” he said.

It was his grandfather who transferred the sovereign authority of North Borneo (renamed to Sabah after it formed Malaysia in Sept 16, 1963) to the Philippines government in 1962.

Muedzul-Lail is related to the late Jamalul, as his uncle is the first cousin of Mahakuttah. He said his uncles – Jamalul and Esmail – stole the sultanship from him after his father died in 1986.

“That time I was a minor. Now it’s time to regain that sultanship from them,” he said.

There were so many fake sultans coming out like mushrooms, according to Muedzul-Lail, because Jamalul and his brothers didn’t respect the law of succession.

“All the fake sultans want to gain United States support to claim back Sabah and Sarawak by all means. But for me as a legit sultan, I don’t want to wage war with Malaysia and Sabahans as I want respect, peace and harmony.”

The three Kiram brothers – Jamalul, Esmail (who succeeded him as Sultan) and Agbimuddin – are dead. Their brother Phugdalun is now the family’s self-styled Sultan of Sulu.

Muedzul-Lail claimed that Phugdalun wants Philippine Vice President Jejomar Binay to win the presidential elections in May because Binay is committed to help him claim Sabah.

“But I can assure Malaysia that I’m the biggest blocking force and opposed to their moves,” he said.

(“Princess” Jacel Kiram, the daughter of the late Jamalul and the niece of Phugdalun, is with Binay and she’s using the Sabah claim as her campaign promise in her bid to be a Senator.)

On Feb 13, Malaysian security forces launched a massive pre-dawn operation in the Telipok Filipino refugee settlement, about 25km from Kota Kinabalu. Armoured personnel carriers entered the settlement, known to harbour criminals, as early as 3am.

The settlement was built in the 1970s for Muslim refugees fleeing southern Philippines during the Moro National Liberation Front war against Manila. Six people, linked to Muedzul-Lail, were among 520 people arrested.

“Who are the six people? What is their link to you?” I messaged the sultan.

“The six people are my panglima and maharaja and their families,” he said. “My only sentiment is the Sabah authority has no respect for my stature.

Let me be clear that all my officials are of good moral character and law-abiding citizens and whenever we find one violating the law, we immediately remove him from our roster.”

According to Muedzul-Lail, his panglima told him that they were arrested due to false intelligence that they were supporters of the family of Jamalul who launched the Tanduo intrusion.

That’s not the perspective of Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

On Tuesday in Parliament, the Home Minister revealed that Sulu terrorists had appointed a commander for each state constituency in Sabah, towards establishing a Sulu sultanate in the state. Bernama reported him as saying that “the information was derived during interrogation of six terror suspects arrested by security forces in Sabah, besides evidence like thumb drives and several documents”.

“What’s your response?” I asked Muedzul-Lail.

“The panglima is just like a district officer. According to our tradition, their duty is to maintain the good relationship of the people within that region, to maintain peace and order of the region and they are not a commander or a terrorist,” he said.

Muedzul-Lail then explained the roles of the titles that he had bestowed to his followers.

The panglima’s duty is to promote good relationship with the fellow Tausugs (the major ethnic group in Sulu province) monitoring the bad elements in Sabah. The maharaja is the deputy to the panglima. And the paduka are the community leaders who will update the panglima on the situation in their respective areas.

“How do you recruit your panglima, maharaja and paduka in Sabah?” I messaged.

“Before the standoff in Lahad Datu I would always come and go to and from Sabah and Sulu. I would choose a poor person but with good moral character who can be of help to fellow Tausug, convincing others not to be involved with lawbreakers.”

After the Tanduo standoff, Muedzul-Lail stopped visiting Sabah as he was instructed by “some top officials in KL to clear my name first because all Kirams were branded as conspirators”.

Muedzul-Lail might be out of Sabah but some of his panglimas are still in the state.

Former Rebels Receive Goverment's Assistance

Fifteen New People’s Army (NPA) rebel returnees from various areas of the province receive cash and livelihood assistance from the national and provincial government of Comval under the Comprehensive Local Integration Program (CLIP) at the Social Hall, Capitol building on March 22. (a. dayao/ids comval)

 

By: Rey Antibo

Compostela Valley province – Fifteen New People’s Army (NPA) rebels from various areas of the province go back to the folds of the law and receive cash and livelihood assistance from the national and provincial government of Comval.

The 15 rebel returnees were presented by Colonel Macairog Alberto, commander of the 1001st Infantry Pag-asa Brigade of the Philippine Army (PA) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to Vice Governor Manuel E. Zamora representing Governor Arturo T. Uy during the Comprehensive Local Integration Program (CLIP) at the Social Hall, Capitol building on March 22.

Each of the rebel returnees received P5,000 as immediate cash assistance, food packs and other materials such as mosquito nets, blankets  and others, for their respective families.

The rebel returnees were also given temporary shelter by the provincial government, meals and other livelihood assistance through a “half way village” somewhere in Nabunturan.

Vice Governor Zamora urged the rebel returnees to completely abandon armed struggle and to become productive members of their respective communities and hoping that this will encourage others.

“Salamat nga inyong gireplayan akong pag sampit kaninyo, salamat pud sa pag testing unsay kinabuhi sa gobyerno kay nalipay ko nga nagbalik-loob mo kay makita ninyo nga kaming naa sa gobyerno kanunay nagalantaw sa inyung kaayohan,” Zamora told the returnees in his message.

Provincial Director PSSUPT Albert Ignatius D. Ferro said Filipinos, whether from the government or rebel sides, have been fighting for years yet the armed confrontations have given nothing but the loss of precious lives to the country.

“Tama na ang patayan at pag-aaway away sa kapwa natin Pilipino, sana yung mga kapatid natin na nasa bundok pa ay bumaba na para magkaisa na tayo dahil pangit tingnan na kapwa Pilipino ay nag papatayan,” Ferro said.

The rebel returnees will also undergo seminars and trainings as part of the evaluation of the Comval Support Units for their educational background. Such as on agricultural production, electrical and other skills and technical education under the CLIP program of the government.

The DILG said the technical education will help the returnees become productive when they are reintegrated to their respective communities.

Also attending the ceremony were Deputy Brigade Commander of the 1001^st  Brigade Col. Gilbert Saret, Executive Officer Battalion Commander of the 46IB Major Crismond Mercado, Provincial Administrator Virgilia S. Allones, Provincial Social Welfare and Development (PSWD) Head Josephine Frasco and other members of the armed forces of the Philippines. 

Duterte-Cayetano Bats for Department of Fisheries to cut Red Tape and Protect Fisher

Vice presidential bet Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano speaks before Duterte-Cayetano supporters during a grand rally in Ormoc, Cebu. The senator visited the city as part of their "Ronda-Serye" listening tour, where they listen to the plight of local sectors and present their platform aimed at creating real change and restoring order in people's lives.

PRESS RELEASE

22 March 2016

A department solely dedicated to address the concerns of small fishers and protect the country's marine and aquatic resources. 

This is one of the latest "bold solutions" unveiled by the tandem of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo "Rody" Duterte and Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano during their "Ronda Serye" listening tour with fishermen in Ormoc City on Tuesday. 

Duterte and Cayetano said that, if elected, they will create a Department of Fisheries separate from the Department of Agriculture (DA) to give the fishery sector in the country a more focused attention and reduce red tape which greatly contributes to corruption.

Cayetano said that the present DA is huge, prone to corruption and unmanageable. The senator also said that for a country surrounded by water, proper management of aquatic resources should be a priority, both for food security and livelihood improvement.

"Our plan to create a department of fisheries is an acknowledgment that the 

fishery sector has distinct problems and issues apart from land-based farming. It is also part of our effort to curb corruption sourced from unnecessary bureaucracy," Cayetano explained. 

Cayetano said that they will also expand available credit instruments for fisherfolk to provide them the needed capital to sustain their livelihood and protect them from 5-6 loan sharks. 

The vice-presidential candidate also vowed to ensure the fishermen's safe working conditions, healthcare benefits and seriously study providing fixed wages to handline fishermen. 

"Through bold solutions based on strong leadership, Mayor Duterte and I will end the disorder and corruption in the fisheries sector and ensure a better future for our fisherfolk communities," Cayetano concluded.