Bukidnon bishop: Be clear, transparent on peace proposal

MALAYBALAY CITY – Bukidnon bishop Jose A. Cabantan said he preferred to defer his comment on the proposed Moro sub-state when the proposal is made public, as he is asking for transparency on the proposed peaceful solution to the conflict in Mindanao.

The bishop refused to weigh in his comments to the public discussion even as other officials and personalities react on the issue.

In August 12, Bukidnon Vice Gov. Jose Ma. R. Zubiri Jr. welcomed the idea of granting a sub state to the Moro people as a solution to the 40-year old conflict in the region.

“The creation of the sub-state is the best solution so far. It has never been approached properly before,” Zubiri told reporters here, before meeting with mayors and vice mayors for his plan to form a local political party.

Zubiri made the statement after Mohagher Iqbal, MILF peace panel chair admitted to reporters in Manila that the MILF had incorporated the botched Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) in its draft proposal to government.

The bishop said he and the public needs to know the details to be able to join in the discussion.

“Let the contents of the proposal be known in public so we can participate in the discussion and weigh its pros and cons,” he told Bukidnon News in a text message Monday.

The bishop said he doesn’t want a repeat of what happened to the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) in 2008.

“It was not transparent. Hence, it is good to be transparent and clear on the terms of the agreement like the so-called sub-state, for instance” he added.

In an earlier statement, GPH peace panel chair Marvic Leonen said they prefer that negotiations with the MILF be done at the negotiating table rather than through the media.

He also revealed that the GPH’s proposal to resolve the conflict in Mindanao will be presented to the MILF on August 22,” he said.

“In our view, the MILF’s release of details of their proposal is part of their effort to check the sentiment of various publics for their current positions,” he added in the statement emailed to the media last week by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP). (Walter I. Balane)

See more stories about Bukidnon, visit: www.mindanews.com

Implementation review, planning to precede Bukidnon gov’s SOPA

MALAYBALAY CITY – Bukidnon Gov. Alex Calingasan’s State of the Province Address (SOPA) will come in way behind the others but it will be delivered after the different offices at the Capitol are done with the assessments of the past year’s performance and the planning for next year’s.

The Provincial Planning and Development Office announced this on August 9, day one of the two-day provincial implementation review and 2012 annual planning workshop at The Gardens, this city.

Ma. Carmen Unabia, head of the province’s economic enterprise development and management office (PEEDMO) said in her opening remarks that this is the first time that the provincial government is doing such scheme, although she said they had been doing it ever since in her office.

Calingasan was not around as he was having a meeting in Manila.

The workshop gathered heads of Capitol offices and divisions who were groups according thematically clustered sectors namely; infrastructure, economic, social services, and institutional development.

Gemma Borreros, workshop facilitator, clarified that they intended not to outline activity based accomplishments from each office but significant accomplishments in the sectors and subsectors considered.

Later in the workshop, she said, they will find out what factors facilitated and hindered the performance. The workshop also focused on what needs to be done and what major considerations have to be taken for 2012.

 

In his presentation of the 2010 State of the Local Governance in Bukidnon report, Jesrel Mangubat, deputy provincial planning and development coordinator, said Bukidnon has excellent performance in Human Resource Management and Development, forest ecosystem management, freshwater ecosystem management, participation, and transparency.

But the provincial government was rated “low” in support to agriculture and entrepreneurship, business, and industry promotion.

The SLGR, self-assessment tool for LGUs provided by the Department of Interior and Local Government, is a comprehensive yet concise report, which essentially discusses the LGU state of performance, productivity and development conditions
It covers the provincial government sectors covering administrative governance, social governance, economic governance, environmental governance, participation, transparency, and financial accountability.

According to the SLGR, Bukidnon has “high but not excellent” performance in peace, security and disaster risk management; development planning, revenue generation, resource utilization and allocation, urban ecosystem management, health services, support to education services, and financial accountability.

The presentation drew negative reactions from the other officers present in the workshop.

Mangubat himself admitted that the ongoing workshop dubbed provincial implementation review, not the SLGR alone should be used for planning and budgeting.

One of the sessions on Day 1 was a review on the executive-legislative agenda (ELA) where gains and pitfalls of the provincial government were identified.

Representatives from civil society, the media, tribal associations, academe, and management consultants were also invited to the workshop.(Walter I. Balane)

For more stories on Bukidnon, visit: www.mindanews.com

BSU teacher among PH’s most outstanding in 2011

MALAYBALAY CITY – Another Bukidnon State University mentor has joined the cream of the crop among teachers in a nationwide search.

BSU grade school teacher Lora E. Añar, 32, won as one of the 2011 Metrobank Ten Outstanding Teachers of the Philippines, the Metrobank Foundation, Inc said.

Añar and another grade school teacher from Panabo Central Elementary School, Djhoane C. Aquilar, were the two winners from Mindanao in the annual search to “promote a culture of excellence in education by recognizing the country’s best mentors who can be upheld as models not only for educators but for other community members as well.”

Aniceto M. Sobrepena, MFI president, informed Añar about her selection in a letter dated July 26, which was personally delivered to her on August 1.

The foundation’s Final Board of Judges selected 10 out 24 who were shortlisted as national finalists of the 27-year old search.

The winners will be honored in Malacanan Palace and will receive a cash prize and others on August 24. They are also expected to attend the Winner’s Forum on September 1, also in Manila. As a winner, Añar will become a member of the Network of Outstanding Teachers and Educators (NOTED).

Añar is the class adviser of BSU-Elementary School Laboratory’s Grade 2 Humpty Dumpty. She teaches Mathematics and English. She has been teaching in BSU since 2000. She finished her Master of Arts in Education major in Guidance and Counseling in BSU. She is presently completing her doctoral studies.

She is married to a teacher and is a mother of two. She is the third from the Bukidnon State University to win the award after Nornie Micayabas in 1994 and Mercidita Villamayor in 2009. Both are from the university’s high school department.

Malaybalay produced four winners all in all for the annual search, including Leticia N. Palle of the Malaybalay City Central School, who won in 2007. (Walter I. Balane)

 

You can also find this story in: www.mindanews.com

Task Force formed to reinvestigate killing of Sumilao farmer-leader

MALAYBALAY CITY – A nine-member multi-sectoral task force was formed in time for the second death anniversary of  Sumilao farmer-leader Renato “Ka Rene” Peñas, said Napoleon Merida, Jr., chair of the Panaw Sumilao Multipurpose Cooperative.

Merida said Peñas’ family and supporters decided to create the task force because the Sumilao station of the Philippine National Police did not conduct a reinvestigation even if provincial prosecutor Mirabeaus Undalok, now a Regional Trial Court judge in Gingoog City, ordered a reinvestigation of the incident after the court dismissed the case against Alipio Tumangday, one of three suspects.

Undalok moved for the dismissal of the case against Tumangday when Samson Dollete, one of the survivors of the attack identified him in an affidavit as one of the suspects. But Dollete executed another affidavit retracting his previous statements.

Dollete retracted “due to serious threat and intimidation,” the Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka (Pakisama)-Palambu and Balaod Mindanaw alleged in a statement dated June 9.

Merida said sectors/ parties represented in the Task Force include Panaw Sumilao, MAPALAD and San Vicente Landless Farmers Association, Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka (PAKISAMA)-PALAMBU, Balaod Mindanaw, PNP Sumilao, Christ the King Parish of the Diocese of Malaybalay, and the Penas family.

He said their main task is to ensure that the authorities will conduct a reinvestigation on the case including old witnesses like Dollete and suspect Tumangday. He said they are also responsible to find new witness.

Merida said local police said absence of new witness and allegedly an authorization from superiors to reinvestigate the case were among reasons why no reinvestigation was held.

Two years after his death, justice has remained elusive for a farmer-leader in Sumilao, Bukidnon who helped organized a march from the province to Manila to dramatize their quest for land under the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.

Renato “Ka Rene” Peñas and two companions were ambushed in Barangay San Vicente, Sumilao midnight on June 5, 2009. His companions survived the attack which took place some 200 meters away from the house of Alipio Tumangday, one of three suspects.

But the Pakisama and Balaod Mindanaw statement said the police have not made a reinvestigation.
A fact finding mission led by Balaod Mindanaw in July 2009 recommended that a full-blown multi-agency investigation be conducted “in order to explore other possible angles and motives for the killing.”

The mission also pushed for then PNP Director General Jesus Versoza to “investigate the Sumilao and Bukidnon police, particularly those involved in the Rene Peñas case, and order their immediate relief and replacement, as necessary, to ensure impartiality and the adequate protection of the community.” It further asked the NBI to “effectively protect all vital informants
and witnesses”.

Meanwhile, two other suspects have remained at large. Penas’ belonged to a group called the Mapalad farmers which demanded the full redistribution of 94 hectares of the 114-hectare Quisumbing estate in San Vicente, Sumilao. The farmers staged a grueling Sumilao to Manila march in 2007 to press their demand.

In 2009, Penas’ family called for a deeper investigation of the case even if the police were zeroing in on Tumangday and his alleged accomplices. (Walter I. Balane)

Find this story also in: www.mindanews.com