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NGO cries for justice for alleged minor rape victims of priest

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:09:15 GMT

BY XENIA RIBAYA

ABS-CBN Baguio

BONTOC, Mt. Province
-- Today marks the third court hearing of the trial on the three counts of acts of lasciviousness and one count of rape in the case filed by "Lea", a 16-year-old minor against Fr. Gabriel Madangen Jr. of the Bontoc-Lagawe Vicariate.
Innabuyog-Gabriela said it strongly considers such cases of sexual offenses affront to the dignity of a person, especially women.

Vernie Yocogan-Diano, Innabuyog-Gabriela regional chair, said that the alleged offense was even made heavier by the fact that the perpetrator is a man of cloth, thus, a person in authority who exploited the innocence and fragile state of the victims.

"These acts reinforce womens low status in society and the perception that they are weak, vulnerable and no more than a sex object," Diano added.

In the victims pursuit for justice, wholeness and peace of mind, Innabuyog urged the Bontoc-Lagawe Vicariate, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and the Commission of Clergy to apply the Pastoral Guidelines on Sexual Abuses and Misconduct by the Clergy which the CBCP drafted in 1995.

Innabuyog-Gabriela also stipulated the Vicariate should apply its blanket authority by immediately suspending the allegedly erring priest, mete the needed disciplinary action on him and subject him to psychological evaluation and processing.

Last Tuesday was the second year anniversary of "Leas" alleged rape by Fr. Gabriel Madangen Jr. She was 14 years old at the time of the incident that happened in Natonin Mission Convent on July 8, 2006. Her family filed a complaint with the National Bureau of Investigation вЂ“ Cordillera Administrative Region office on December 27, 2006.

On August 3 meanwhile will also be the second year anniversary of the alleged rape of another alleged victim, "Jenny" purportedly by the same priest. It allegedly happened at the Sta. Rita Parish Convent in Bontoc, Mountain Province. She was allegedly repeatedly raped; the last incident was allegedly in December 11. 2006. Her family filed a formal complaint with Bontoc police on February 26, 2007.

Both cases are now in the Regional Trial Court Branch 36 and presided by Judge Artemio Marrero.

Suicide attack in Afghan capital kills six: police

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:51:00 GMT

Agence France-Presse

KABUL - A suicide car bomber rammed a convoy carrying foreign troops near the airport in the Afghan capital Kabul Thursday, killing six civilians and wounding another 18, police said.

The extremist Taliban movement claimed responsibility for the blast, which happened during the morning rush-hour on one of the city's busiest roads and damaged around a dozen vehicles.

"Six civilians were martyred and 18 other civilians were wounded in the suicide car bomb attack against coalition forces," Kabul police chief General Salim Ahsas told AFP, referring to the US-led coalition.

Ahsas told AFP the blast did not harm foreign troops who were travelling on the road to Kabul's international airport when the bomb exploded.

A spokesman for the US coalition could not immediately comment on the incident.

Two armored vehicles, apparently the target of the attack, were damaged, an AFP reporter at the scene said. Blood and scraps of human flesh littered the road along with the wreckage of cars, some of which were on fire.

The force of the blast damaged about 10 cars, General Ali Shah Paktiawal, head of the police criminal investigation branch told AFP.

The wounded were rushed to different hospitals in the city, he added.

The Taliban, an Islamic militant group that was in government in Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, said it was behind the blast -- similar to scores of others carried out by the insurgents.

"We claim responsibility for the suicide attack in Kabul today," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a telephone call from an unknown location.

"The attack was against two foreign military vehicles which killed all the soldiers in the two vehicles."

The Taliban have often made claims about casualties from attacks which subsequently prove exaggerated.

Heavily guarded Kabul has suffered a rash of recent suicide bombings.

The last attack in Kabul was on January 31 when a suicide attacker detonated his explosives-laden vehicle near an army bus, killing a civilian and wounding a handful of people including an army officer.

On January 14 Taliban militants staged a multiple suicide attack on the five-star Kabul Serena hotel that killed at least eight people, three of them foreign nationals.

That brazen attack -- which involved suicide blasts, gunfire and grenade explosions -- was the first of its kind in the city and different in style to the Taliban's regular fare of suicide and roadside bombings.

Last year was the deadliest of an insurgency launched soon after the Taliban's five-year government was ended in an invasion led by the United States with the backing of anti-Taliban Afghan movements.

Around 6,000 people were killed, most of them insurgents but also about 1,500 civilians.

In other violence on Thursday, a roadside bomb killed three policemen and wounded four others in the southern province of Ghazni, police said.

Medical mission treats distressed OFWs in Dubai

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:29:56 GMT

Distressed overseas Filipino workers were treated to a timely medical mission by the Filipino Health Care Providers in Dubai. The medical mission was held at the Philippine Overseas Labor Office-Overseas Workers Welfare Administration . More than 50 distressed OFWs who were suffering from various illnesses were given treatment. The OFWs, mostly women, suffered cough and colds, allergies and low blood pressure. Two were diagnosed as being hypertensive. One of the patients given extra attention was Jovita Benigno, 46, of Pulo in Cabuyao, Laguna. In the past, Benigno reportedly had been rushed to a hospital due to chest pains. Natutuwa po ako, kasi po nagkakaroon kami ng gamot at saka nalalaman naming nade-detect po yong mga nararamdam talaga namin, Benigno said. Benigno said she already felt something even before leaving the Philippines for work abroad. Napilitan po kahit me nararamdaman. Nagpaalam po ako sa kanila. Basta bahala na kung saan makarating basta lagi niyo lang, ka ko, niyo akong ipagdarasal, she said. She was given a months supply of free medicine since she is just waiting for her fare to buy tickets to fly back home to the Philippines.

The group said that most of the medicines donated to the FHCP by pharmacies were for patients suffering from hypertensive and diabetes. Rachel Salinel, ABS-CBN Middle East News Bureau, Dubai

Shutdown Day advocates say go offline, get outside

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 03:15:03 GMT

Reuters Life!

TORONTO - Tune out, turn off and get away from addictive electronics for 24 hours on May 3 and enjoy the outdoors.

That's the message from organizers of the second annual global Shutdown Day who say using computers, televisions and electronic gadgets is having a negative impact on society.

"People are failing to socialize with each other and they are becoming outcasts, they are becoming more and more introverted," said Montreal-based Shutdown Day co-founder Ashutosh Rajekar in an interview.

Last year the group received 50,000 pledges worldwide on their website http://www.shutdownday.org/ from people who said they would not use electronic gadgets for a day. So far this year, almost 12,000 have committed to going 24 hours without using a computer.

The group plans to clean up parks and plant trees on Shutdown Day in the Montreal area, but they hope advocates of the event will organize a variety of events around the world.

"It's an exercise in spreading awareness, so the first few times it's going to be a very new experience for people who've never been away from their computer, and they will hopefully realize it's not such a dangerous thing," Rajekar said.

The 29-year-old MBA student at McGill University works as a file systems architect for high-performance computing products. Last year, along with colleague Denis Bystrov, a software developer, and some friends, they came to the conclusion they were spending too much time in front of their computer screens.

They decided to hold Shutdown Day as a challenge to see how many people could go without a computer for an entire day.

Rajekar took up landscape photography in his spare time and Bystrov started playing soccer, fishing and cooking.

"We are not anarchists," Rajekar said, explaining that the group doesn't oppose practical computer use for such things as operating power plants or completing school assignments.

But if people are using computers to waste time on social networking sites or trolling the Internet and "basically finding an excuse not to socialize, then we believe things are not going well," he said.

New $465-M bid for miner Indophil trumps Xstrata

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:39:47 GMT

Reuters

SYDNEY - Competition for a giant undeveloped copper mine in the Philippines heated up on Friday, with Australia's Indophil Resources receiving a A$488 million bid that trumped a hostile one from Xstrata Plc.

At stake is ownership of a third of the Tampakan lode in the southern island of Mindanao, which if in production today would rank as one of the world's richest.

The new offer, from a consortium of investment groups Crosby Capital Ltd and the Alsons Group and Indophil Chief Executive Richard Laufmann, pushed Indophil's stock up as much as 20 percent to A$1.39, its highest price ever. It closed at A$1.385.

"This is a big deposit and, given the outlooks for copper and gold going forward, quite a prize for whoever gets to mine it," said Gavin Wendt, a mining analyst with Fat Prophets in Sydney.

"I wouldn't be surprised to see even higher offers coming from Xstrata or other interested parties," Wendt said.

Indophil, which co-owns the lode with Xstrata, advised shareholders to accept the latest offer unless a higher one came along.

The consortium is offering A$1.28 cash per Indophil share. Xstrata offered A$1 a share in May.

"The proposal vindicates the directors' consistently held view that the Xstrata offer is low-ball and grossly inadequate," Indophil Chairman Brian Phillips said in a statement.

Lion Selection Ltd is Indophil's largest shareholder with 25.4 percent. Last month it agreed to sell 17.8 percent to Xstrata. Lion's shareholders are due to vote on the sale to Xstrata on Monday.

Xstrata said it was is considering its options and would review its position after the Lion Selection meeting.

Xstrata has been buying copper, zinc and coal mines in Australia and nickel deposits in Canada and Africa as it builds up a diversified commodities powerhouse.

Xstrata is not alone. Miner BHP Billiton Ltd is offering $170 billion in its shares for rival Rio Tinto Ltd/Plc. BHP launched its offer shortly after Rio acquired Canadian aluminium group Alcan, paying $38 billion.

Xstrata already owns a big chunk of Tampakan after paying Indophil $41 million for a 62.5 percent stake. Indophil retained 34.2 percent, with a right to acquire a further 3.3 percent. The deposit holds 11.6 million tons of copper and 14.6 million ounces of gold, which geologists believe can be extracted at a cost that is a fraction of today's copper and gold prices.

Discovered in 1991, the mine has never left the drawing board, dogged by environmental and economic problems, political instability and laws restricting foreign ownership.

Last week, Philippines bishops asked provincial leaders to stop development of the mine, saying it would cause environmental damage and hurt the local farming and fishing industries, according to a June 15 report in the Manila Times.

Philippine President Arroyo ordered the military in February to create a special armed force to protect mines after communist rebels attacked Tampakan on New Year's Day.

Xstrata estimates it will be 2014 before the mine is running.

Indophil is being advised by Gresham Advisory Partners. Deutsche Bank is advising Xstrata.

Rambo the elephant takes Danish toddler for a ride: report

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 10:18:18 GMT

Agence France-Presse

COPENHAGEN - A two-year-old boy got the fright of his life when a circus elephant named Rambo picked him up in his pushchair at a Danish leisure park, local media reported.

"I had to fight like a madwoman to free my son," Henriette Lundager told the regional daily Dagbladet Holstebro-Struer after the incident in which the pram was lifted two meters in the air.

Lundager and her son Malte suffered bruising in the struggle with the 27-year-old female pachyderm, described as the "nicest elephant in the world" by circus official Isabella Enoch.

The management of the park where the circus is located has offered the family free circus tickets and around 500 euros to replace the badly damaged pushchair, the newspaper's website reported.

Enoch, however, said she believed the incident had been exaggerated, adding that Rambo normally liked children.

"Rambo just wanted to see if there was anything to eat in the pushchair," she said.