Iligan, Philippines

Iligan City (29 May) — Mayor Lawrence Ll. Cruz of Iligan, together with other officials of the city, led the simple celebration of the National Flag Day today, 28th May, at the city public plaza.

“The reverence and respect for the accepted symbols of national solidarity are indicative of true patriotism and love of country. In order to develop and consecrate such sublime virtues and inculcate in the minds of our people a just pride in their native land,” Mayor Lawrence said.

The program started with the evolution of the Philippine Flags, followed by the re-enactment of the making of the present Philippine Flag.

The raising of the Philippine was executed by the city’s chief executive, accompanied by the city vice mayor together with the city councilors, and the national and local government heads of offices.

Domingo V. Samson, schools division superintendent, Department of Education (DepEd), Iligan City, who chairs the committee for this celebration, said that part of the activity was the ceremonial burning of old and tattered flags. The Panunumpa sa Watawat ng Pilipinas, and the reading of the Flag Code was conducted by the Boy Scouts of the Philippines Council Scout Executive of Iligan.

Samson said that the local government of Iligan has been celebrating the National Flag Day every year, and DepEd has been assigned to take charge of the program. Also, we collect old flags from the different schools here and encourage other offices from the local and national line agencies endorsing old flags to our office, and have it dug in the soil, said Samson.

This year’s celebration bears the theme: “Igalang ang ating Watawat, sa Isip, sa Salita at sa Gawa”. (PIA Iligan City)

TUBOD, Lanao del Norte — Polyglot Mindanao once more yielded to the power of sports in bringing people together in a way that can cross boundaries and break down barriers.

More than 2,000 athletes are vying for the 12 gold medals at stake in the Mindanao qualifying games of the 3rd Philippine Olympic Festival, which opened Wednesday (May 21, 2008) at the Mindanao Civic Center, here.

The various competitions slated in the event include athletics, archery, arnis, badminton, baseball, football, gymnastics, sepak takraw, softball and table tennis.

Philippine Olympic Committee and POF Chair Robert Aventajado, who graced the opening program, affirmed the power of sports as a great unifier. He cited the unprecedented zero incidence of crime in the country being noted during the sensational fights of Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao.

Congressman Abdullah Dimaporo and his son, Governor Moh. Khalid Dimaporo, were proud of the legacy of the province as host of big sports events that has unified the people of Mindanao, who come from various cultural and political backgrounds.

“With this sports complex here, we have shown to all and sundry that Lanao del Norte is not an area of conflict, but a place of peace and development,” Gov, Dimaporo noted.

Chairman Aventajado said peace and unity are desirable offshoot of the qualifying games. He said the primarily aim of the event is to select the best and the brightest athletes from the region who can be eligible to become members of the national team, who will be sent to prestigious international sporting events.

Specifically, the event is an important element in building the necessary groundwork for the development of Filipino athletes towards the aim of finally ending the country’s long drought in the Olympic games.

To date, the Philippines has yet to win its first Olympic gold medal.

Aventajado cited the importance of aligning the sports vision of the respective LGUs with that of the POC.

“Sports is a serious business, which is something that you have to prepare for not only for days and months, but years before any major athletic event to be successful in your quest for medals,” he challenged the LGUs.

The top competitors in the event will join the medalists of the other qualifying games in Central-Northern Luzon, Visayas, Southern Tagalog-Bicol and the National Capital Region in the national championships set at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in October.

Also present during the opening program were Philippine Sports Commissioner Eric Loretizo and other top provincial officials.

Davao del Norte protest

The qualifying games formally started on Wednesday with basketball match between Davao del Norte and Misamis Oriental.

But, the very visible absence of a scoreboard was noted causing confusion in the announcement of scores. Also, there were only two table officials present, where one is doing the work of both timekeeper and scorer.

This prompted the coach of the Davao del Norte team to officially place the game under protest.

Provincial Sports Coordinator Anthony Del Rosario stressed that the officiating referees and the POC should have placed a scoreboard in order to avoid confusion.

“Naglalagay nga tayo nang scoreboard kahit pa sa ating basketball tournament sa mga barangay, dito pa kaya,” he observed.

Davao del Norte, which is dubbed as the rising sports power in Mindanao, sent 156 athletes.

The province envisions to be the next sports capital of Mindanao, if not in the whole country, with the proposed construction of a modern sports complex worth more than P200 million. (N. Baguio-PGO/ID-PIA XI)

THE Libyan government will be sending 25 additional ceasefire monitors to Mindanao, Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza yesterday said.

Malaysia heads the IMT aside from hosting the negotiations.

“The Libyan government agreed to send 25 ceasefire monitors to assist, sustain the ceasefire in Mindanao,” Dureza said, quoting National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales who is in Tripoli, Libya.

“I received a call from NSA Bert Gonzales who is in Tripoli that the Libyan government will send an initial contingent of four monitors. At present six Libyan monitors had been assigned to man the International Monitoring team site in Iligan City and the arrival of four more will complete the 10-member contingent Libya committed in 2004,” he added.

Libya made the offer after Malaysia pulled out its monitors last week. Malaysia heads the international monitoring team that is observing the peace process between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

“We welcome this good news. We (are thankful for) this gesture of faith to our peace process and we continue to hope for Libya’s sustained and deepening participation in the IMT. The actual deployment will have to depend on mutually agreed arrangements with the proper levels of the MILF,” Dureza said.

Aside from the Malaysians and Libyans, the IMT is also composed of contingents from Japan and Brunei Darussalam. By: Jester P. Manalastas

Journal Online

A militant transport group said Monday the transport strike had completely paralyzed Iligan City in the southern Philippine province of Lanao del Norte.

“Sa Iligan City, 100 percent na po ang tumitigil sa pamamsada. So wala na pong namamasada doon ngayon (In Iligan City, 100 percent of all jeepneys have stopped plying their routes),” said George San Mateo, secretary general of the Pinagkaisang Samahan ng Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (Piston), in a radio interview.

Citing reports reaching Manila from their regional chapters across the country, San Mateo also said that operators and drivers in other cities in the Bicol Region and Mindanao were on its way to effecting a total transport halt.

“Sa ka-Bicolan, tumigil na po ang 90 percent ng pamamasada ng mga tsuper sa Naga City. At 97 percent ay tumigil na rin po sa lungsod ng Legaspi City. At 97 percent po ay tumigil na rin po sa buong lalawigan ng Sorsogon,” he added.

(Over at the Bicol Region, 90 percent of transportation in Naga City, Camarines Sur has stopped. Also, 97 percent of transportation in the city of Legaspi City, Albay and the entire Sorsogon province has been affected)

Down south in Mindanao, San Mateo said that figures continue to indicate a looming full halt anytime soon, citing that 98 percent of transportation had already been immobilized in Davao City.by  Mark Merueñas

GMANews.TV