VOL. 9 ISSUE 252 • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2017
P 15.00 • 20 PAGES
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WELL-GUARDED. Personnel of Task Force Davao stand guard outside a crowded shopping center along R. Magsaysay Avenue in Davao City. Security forces in the city are in full alert status since President Duterte’s termination of peace negotiations with the communist rebels and following the government’s declaration of all-out war against the New People’s Army (NPA). Lean Daval Jr.
DUTERTE’S HELP SOUGHT TO END LAPANDAY ROW Mayor Rellon warns of volatile peace order situation By JIMMY K. LAKING
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RESIDENT Duterte had been asked to help bring about a ‘comprehensive approach’ in resolving the Lapanday land conflict in the face of conflicting orders and processes “that created more tension on the ground.” In a letter addressed to President Duterte, Tagum City mayor Allan L. Rellon warned that the heightening conflict between Lapanday Food Corporation, the Hijo Estates Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Cooperation (HEARBO) and the Madaum Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Association (MARBAI) may escalate out of proportion resulting to possible loss of lives and limbs. Mayor Rellon said the three parties are locked in con-
flict over a vast tract of land covering 450 hectares more or less. “The local government of Tagum City, through the undersigned, had gone out of its way exerting every effort imaginable to settle the conflict to no avail,” Rellon stressed. He said the conflict among the three parties was a justiciable issue “had it not been for its overriding social and political concerns and a volatile peace and order situation.” He added that the conflicting orders arose from a cease and desist order issued by Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael V. Mariano on Dec. 14, 2016 that prohibited Lapanday from forcibly evicting members of MARBAI from the
landholding. Another, this time issued on December 21,2016 by the Regional Trial Court in Davao City directed the sheriff (with the assistance of the Philippine National Police) to disperse the barricading members of HEARBCO. Mayor Rellon told the President that his office took substantial actions to help solve the conflict by facilitating negotiations between the parties involved “but with no fruition in sight.” On Monday, Rellon told reporters he had no other alternative except to bring the matter to President Duterte in the light of the conflicting orders and processes. He said that in addition, he
had coordinated with both the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to strengthen checkpoints in the vicinity of Lapanday to ensure that firearms are not being brought inside the contested area. “We have to ensure that the lives and limbs of our people are not endangered,” he said. He said he also asked the AFP to ensure that Lapanday employs only the required number of security personnel enough to guard the plantation. “We would like also to ensure there will be no human rights violations on the part of the security personnel,” he said.
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Cacao growers to field best entries to France
Four RP participants are all from Davao region By JERMAINE L. DELA CRUZ
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S part of the efforts of the Philippine Cacao Industry Development Council to uplift the country’s cacao industry, several cacao growers in the country will be sending their entries to the biennial International Cocoa
Awards in Paris, France. These are Puentespina Farm, Kennemer Foods, Chokolate de San Isidro, Filipinas Oro de Cacao and KVT Farm, all from Davao Region. PCIDC President Valente
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