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54,000 flee homes as tension grips Maguindanao Volume III, No. 217
web portal: www.mindanaodailynews.com
March 4, 2015
By Carolyn O. Arguillas of MindaNews
Maguindanao to declare state of calamity as offensive intensifies against BIFF
DAVAO City––The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s Humanitarian Emergency Action and Response Team (ARMMHEART) has recorded at least 54,370 internally displaced persons (IDPS) or “bakwits” in at least nine towns in Maguindanao province due to armed conflict.
By Ferdinandh B. Cabrera of MindaNews
COTABATO City––A provincial board member is proposing the declaration of a state of calamity in the entire province of Maguindanao as more residents are fleeing in at least nine towns due to armed conflict. The latest wave of evacuations occurred immediately after Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang launched an “all-out offensive” against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) on February 25. Maguindanao board
member Bobby Katambak said the Sangguniang Panglalawigan will hold an emergency session Tuesday to pass a resolution declaring the entire province of Maguindanao under a state of calamity. Maguindanao has 36 provinces. “ This will give the provincial government an authority to use its calamity fund to provide relief assistance to internally displaced persons,” Katambak, a lawyer, told reporters. “We call on the See declare, page A11
See FULL STORY, page A3
CASUALTY OF WAR. Lenny Anayatin, an evacuee, attends to her two-month old daughter in an evacuation center in Shariff Saydona, Maguindanao (March 2, 2015). Thousands of civilians have fled their homes after the military launched an “all-out offensive” against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in Maguindanao. MindaNews photo by Ferdinandh B. Cabrera
Solons want probe on usage of Expanded Senior Citizens Act By Rowena B. Bundang
TWO lawmakers from Mindanao are seeking an inquiry into the implementation of the “Expanded Senior Citizens’ Act” amid reports that some business establishments refused to extend the full 20 percent discount to senior citizens. Reps. Rufus B. Rodriguez (second district, Cagayan de
Oro City) and his younger brother Maximo B. Rodriguez, Jr. (Party-list, Abamin) sought the inquiry through House Resolution 1892 in light of reports that some restaurants are not extending the full 20 percent discount to senior citizens and instead give a flat rate discount for deliveries and takeouts, while others refuse to give the discount if the
senior citizen is a privilege card holder. On top of these unfair practices is the strict policy of establishments of not granting the 20 percent discount if the customer cannot produce his or her senior citizen’s identification cards although they have other IDs or documents stating their date of birth See probe, page A11
Is poverty in PH really decreasing? THE Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), in its official estimated poverty figures for the first half of 2013, reported that 24.9 percent of Filipinos were poor in the first semester of 2013 based on the 2013 Annual Poverty Indicator Survey (APIS). Using these official poverty estimates, government officials suggested that the welfare conditions in the country are improving, and even attributed the reduction in poverty to the impact of the government’s version of the conditional cash transfer program, Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. See poverty, page A11
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