COTABATO CITY (BPI-ARMM/23 Feb) -- New officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao are calling for an urgent veto of what they lamented yesterday as "grossly punitive” provision in this year’s General Appropriations Act (GAA) governing fund releases to the ARMM governance.

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/23 Feb) -- Families of journalists killed in the Ampatuan Massacre criticized on Tuesday, on the third month since the incident, the alleged special treatment accorded to Andal S. Ampatuan Sr.

The prospect of forging a final peace agreement between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) within the current Arroyo administration is getting slimmer as the national May 2010 presidential elections draw nearer. Talks have resumed but only after a tumultuous 18 months that almost shattered every single gain that the peace process managed to build. Time is not on the side of the Peace Panels as they face the challenge of forging something concrete and actionable. The idea of an interim agreement has been floated to reflect the need to transition the talks safely from the current to the next administration.  

Danny M. Javier of the Apo Hiking Society, a band which became popular from the 1970s to the early 1990s, has been working since last year as communications and stakeholder engagement adviser to SMI.