Panay News

Bayan-Negros: Martial law prone to abuses

-  By Mae Singuay

BACOLOD City – The Islamic State- l i nked Maute group operating in Marawi City must be stopped, according to the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) Negros.

The reported “burning of civilian facilities” must be condemned, and President Rodrigo Duterte was “right to cut short his trip (to Russia) and return to Manila to oversee the resolution of the crisis,” it said.

But Bayan- Negros was against t he declaratio­n of martial law in the entire Mindanao. The martial rule “is open to all sorts of abuse by state security forces notorious for human rights violations,” it said in a statement Secretary- General Christian Tuayon emailed to News. Tuayon said they joined

Panay a “nationally coordinate­d indignatio­n protest” against

NEGROS/16 the martial law.

Organizati­on members who gathered at the Fountain of Justice fronting the old city hall on Wednesday expressed fear that Duterte’s pronouncem­ent will result in “widespread human rights violations.”

“It is a blanket endorsemen­t of so many abuses arising from warrantles­s arrests, searches and seizures, and the filing of trumped- up charges,” the

BACOLOD City – Health risks come with the indiscrimi­nate throwing of garbage.

Improper waste disposal causes drainage systems to stagnate and turn into a breeding place of dengue- carrying mosquitoes, said Dr. Grace Tan, chief of the City Health Office’s (CHO) Environmen­tal Sanitation Division.

Tan observed that many canals in the metro were clogged.

People tend to throw their group said. “It threatens to unleash more violence against the people.”

Bayan-Negros also worries that martial law will be used against “various other armed conflicts and struggles not related to” terrorist groups.

“How will that sit with the peace negotiatio­ns Duterte is undertakin­g with the NDFP (National Democratic Front of the Philippine­s), MILF (Moro waste just anywhere thinking that somebody was going to sweep up after them, she said.

Tan advised everyone to find an appropriat­e receptacle for their garbage.

Dengue cases  in the city this year reached 310 with five deaths as of May 20, records from the CHO’s Epidemiolo­gy and Surveillan­ce Unit showed.

One hundred fifty- eight cases with one death were recorded in the same period Islamic Liberation Front) and MNLF ( Moro National Liberation Front)?” it said.

That the Armed Forces claimed to have the situation in Marawi City “under control … makes the basis of the martial law … even more questionab­le or suspect,” said Bayan-Negros.

Various armed conflicts in Mindanao were rooted in decades-old problems of poverty, inequality, discrimina­tion, and in 2016.

This year the five fatalities were from Barangays Sum-ag, Singcang- Airport, Granada, Handumanan, and 14.

Villages with the most number of cases were Handumanan, 33; Mansilinga­n, 25; Mandalagan, 23; Granada, 22; Alijis, 21; Estefania, 20; Villamonte, 19; Sum-ag, 18; and Tangub and Vista Alegre, 17 each.

The CHO was providing larvicides to barangays that need violations of the right to self- determinat­ion, it said. “These will ultimately require more than just a military solution. Martial law is not the answer.”

“We express our solidarity with the people of Marawi who have been witnesses to and victims of the attacks,” said the group. “We call for peace and justice in Mindanao by addressing the roots of the armed conflict.”/ them and conducting fogging in public elementary and high schools in time for the opening of classes next month.

While it may not protect the schools for the entire year, the fogging will abate the growth in mosquito population, said Tan.

Tan was also glad the Sanggunian­g Panlungsod passed a resolution urging barangays to hold “intensifie­d informatio­n and education campaign” on dengue./

a P1.25 increase from the P188.13 per-kilogram price two months ago.

Earlier Decena said the increase in price of pork and other livestock and poultry products was a “normal trend” during this period. Consumptio­n requiremen­t during summer increases due to the influx of tourists and fiesta celebratio­ns, he said.

Effective animal disease control, monitoring and quarantine services programs of the provincial government make the swine industry in Negros Occidental strong, said Decena.

In 2016 the province topped t he Philippine­s’ backyard swine production with 448,657 heads.

 ?? PULITZERCE­NTER.ORG ?? Garbage clogging drainage systems cause water to stagnate and turn them into mosquito breeding sites, the Bacolod City Health Office says.
PULITZERCE­NTER.ORG Garbage clogging drainage systems cause water to stagnate and turn them into mosquito breeding sites, the Bacolod City Health Office says.

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