Lumad, Moro leaders reaffirm kinship, sign covenant

Iligan City-based Datu Diamla Rolando So-ong (right), over-all head claimant of an ancestral domain in Lanao del Norte embraces Hajji Datu Ismael Gonzales after they exchanged tokens during the IP-Moro reaffirmation of kinship in Songco, Lantapan, Bukidnon on March 8.  Bukidnon News photo  SONGCO, Lantapan, Bukidnon  – Representatives of eight Moro tribes and most of [...]

Sugar, corn industries top employers of Bukidnon’s child laborers

MALAYBALAY CITY (Bukidnon News/30 November) -  The agriculture sector, specifically sugar and corn, has the most number of child laborers in the province according to baseline survey commissioned for the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC), a program funded by the International Labor Organization.

Sumilao farmers: marching protesters of the past; today’s agri-entrepreneurs

SAN VICENTE, Sumilao, Bukidnon (Bukidnon News Dispatch/10 October) Every day, Sumilao farmer Wenefrido San-ajan, 39, wakes up at 4a.m. and goes straight to his farm. Jun-jun as he is called by neighbors, tills almost a hectare of corn farm. But he said since he started learning about vegetable gardening in 2008, he has changed his [...]

Malaybalay’s Social Action Center pilots 2 villages in leadership drive

MALAYBALAY CITY – (Bukidnon News Dispatch/07 October) To address poverty and lack of livelihood opportunities at the village level, the church has to do its role in social action. In Bukidnon, the Diocese of Malaybalay has changed tack. Before organizing livelihood projects, they are now engaging the communities in a community leadership drive using ‘model [...]

Kalilangan lumber trader charged for transporting ‘excess’ forest products

MALAYBALAY CITY – (Bukidnon News Dispatch/27 September) The Community and Environment and Natural Resources Office of Malaybalay filed charges against the owner of a truck from Kalilangan town that transported naturally grown forest products beyond allowable excess. According to the criminal complaint filed by Leon C. Equipelag, special forestry prosecutor, before the Office of the [...]

Buseco apologizes; city council: apology not enough on brown outs

MALAYBALAY CITY – (Bukidnon News Dispatch/Sept 30-Oct.1) The Bukidnon Second Electric Cooperative (Buseco) apologized to the members of the Malaybalay City Council amid City Councilor Melchor Maramara’s inquiry on the frequent brownouts in Brgy, Kalasungay, where he lives. The city council invited Buseco officials including Malaybalay branch manager Juancho T. Chiong with public relations officer [...]

Fr. Nery memorial race draws 500 runners

MALAYBALAY CITY –  (Bukidnon News Dispatch/01-02 October) The first ever Fr. Nery Satur memorial run, organized in time for the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of his death, drew more than 500 participants on October 1. The five-kilometer run started around 6:45a.m. at the Freedom Park Covered Court. The Diocese of Malaybalay and the Archdiocese [...]

NCIP revokes compliance certificate issued to Bukidnon ranch occupant

MALAYBALAY CITY (Bukidnon News / 30 Sept) – The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, sitting en banc, decided to annul the compliance certificate it issued to a ranch operator in Maramag, Bukidnon, reversing a verdict it made more than three years ago, according to a copy of its decision furnished by petitioner Panalsalan Dagumbaan Tribal [...]

Rehab of Rio Grande de Mindanao, “a high priority, high impact” project

MALAYBALAY CITY (Bukidnon News Dispatch/ 29 Sept)– The Rehabilitation of the Rio Grande de Mindanao is one of the 10 high priority and high impact proposed projects as presented in the Mindanao River Basin Integrated Management and Development Plan, a copy of which was obtained by Bukidnon News. In the last chapter of the 16-chapter [...]

SPECIAL REPORT: Tribal leaders to withhold support for Pulangui V

By Carrell C. Magno and Laurie Ailynne M. Benito Bangsamoro Center for Just Peace (via Bukidnon News with permission from VERA Files) Leaders of indigenous communities in Bukidnon have refused to engage in any discussion over the planned construction of the Pulangui V Hydroelectric Project (HEP), until dam proponents submit a cultural impact assessment that [...]

Bukidnon, NorthMin organic rice country by 2013, says expert

SINAYAWAN, Valencia City (Bukidnon News Dispatch/28 Sept)— An organic rice expert from the National Irrigation Administration predicted that Bukidnon and the rest of Northern Mindanao’s rice lands will be organic by 2013 with a program boosting the demonstration of organic rice farming throughout the region. Ildefonso Natingga Jr, NIA-10 organic rice demonstration officer, told Bukidnon [...]

PH to use more renewable energy – DOE USec

MAKATI CITY (Bukidnon News Dispatch/ 28 Sept) — “The Philippines is indeed abundant with renewable energy resources.” This was stressed by Energy Undersecretary Jose Layug Jr to regional reporters during the Media Training Program on Energy held at Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Conference Center in Makati City, Sept. 26. Layug added that expanding the [...]

Fr. Nery Satur Memorial Run set on October 1

MALAYBALAY CITY – (Bukidnon News Dispatch/27 Sept) The Diocese of Malaybalay and its media and environment apostolates along with a sports gear partner will be holding a five-kilometer fun run in memory of slain priest Fr. Nery Satur in this city on October 1, Saturday. Dubbed as the Fr. Nery Satur Memorial Run, the event [...]

Localization is key in anti-poverty strategy – NAPC

MAKATI CITY (Bukidnon News Dispatch/ 26 Sept) – The government’s conditional cash transfer (CCT) program and the subsidized universal health insurance under the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) cannot be the end goal of its poverty strategy, the chair of the National Anti-Poverty Commission told a conference here dubbed “Pathways to High and Inclusive Growth.” [...]