Barangay Lumbia, Cagayan de Oro City — The whole Xavier Ecoville community cele-brated Dayun, Padayun: The Xavier Ecoville Hope Festival and Blessing of Permanent Houses with much enthusiasm on July 6.

All were in high spirits as a mass and the much awaited blessing of the 568 permanent houses kick-started the festive event, followed by an array of food outlets, fun-filled family ac-tivities, live music, sky lanterns, and topping off with a fireworks display as the proverbial cherry. During the mass, Fr. Roberto “Bobby” Yap SJ pondered on what authentic Christian living truly meant in his homily.

“Jesuit and Catholic identity are not primarily about public labels, but about a spirit, a way of

way of living and serving in commitment,free-dom and courage. These are not external brands, but a depth of response to an interior call from God,” said the university president in his encouragement in continuing support in the community.

In response to issues on sustainability for the program, agreements were signed between Xavier Ecoville Multipurpose Cooperative (X-EMpCo) and the sponsoring partners, granting the livelihood center a proposal that will help sustain the project for another six months, and the former acting as facilitator of operations.

“The University will continue supporting the XE Community,” said XU’s Vice-President for Research and Social Outreach, Ms. Hilly Ann Roa-Quaoit, ending the turn-over in high hopes and making XU’s active efforts to gain long-

term sustainability for the project apparent by way of entrusting XEMpCo with the management of the labor budgets and upcoming grants, that will pro-vide residents proper training in hopes of better chances for employment.

These efforts are not lost on the families resid-ing in the village. “We are very grateful. Although, it was a difficult process, all I knew was that we had to be in this Lumbia site, if I wanted a sure-proof chance to really move on,” says Analisa Patiño about her good fortune to be one of the 500 families permanently housed in Xavier Ecoville.

Good fortune was the theme of the festival for the rest of the night. Though reminded of their plight the day’s festivities proved that a prospective future was indeed cemented in their new homes.

Xavier Ecoville’sFestivities CementsSustainability forResettlement ProgramBy Starlight Tolenno

THE

ous public candle lighting and silent prayer for peace. No speeches, no statements, prayer in silence.”But what can a bunch of few candles do?But what can a bunch of few candles do? Well, like with gift-giving, “it’s the thought that counts”. Sure ignited wicks and balls of wax have no effect whatsoever on blood-thirsty minds but it does tie everyone in a sense of unity. Even the North has come to pay their respects and show their concern for us here in the South. And that truly is an uplifting thought. Once a peace agreement that everyone can see eye-to-eye on is signed, things will improve, so praying is a eye-to-eye on is signed, things will improve, so praying is a welcome alternative for the time being.

A Candle for Your ThoughtsBy Starlight Tolenno and Client Ray Cosin

A handful of faithful gatherers attended a candle-lighting ceremony that included offering prayers and fasting, all for the dream of peace in Mindanao. “Through this ritual of light-ing candles we remind the people to continue trusting one an-other to have peace,” says Basilan Bishop Martin Jumoad. The MNLF-Military stand-off may come to a close, but it has left many civilians with no homes to get back to. To say that, the nightmare is over may be a gross understatement for those who know of the current attacks last week happening in Cen-tral Mindanao, caused by yet another Moro faction, the Bang-samoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), which unlike that of the MNLF stand-off (where all hostages were rescued), ended with one hostage left decapitated before releasing the many teachers and students they took hostage, but the nightmare is over for Zamboanga nonetheless.

It surely is truly depressing to think that the peace settling over this part of Mindanao could just be a mirage, lulling us into thinking things have settled then leaving us empty-hand-ed with nothing but blood and tears. “The crisis is still there,” says Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles. He further adds that “We are pushing through with the Mindanao-wide simultane-

ike in Limp Bizkit’s song “Behind Blue Eyes”, no one really knows what it’s like "to be a sad man", unless you are the butt of jokes, ridicule and bullying. A common and yet, mostly ignored issue for budding teens of a more flowery orientation. The issue: homophobic remarks that have incorporated themselves within this generation’s common terms of slang. Most teens of the so-called “third” gender, but most preferably and collectively called LGBmost preferably and collectively called LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender) teens, feel that a certain bias has some-what crept into the teen vernacular, slowly poisoning what could have been witty banter or casual repartee into invasive inquisi-tions and offensive comments. And the sad part is, the attackers almost always have no clue whatsoever of the emotional and psy-chological damage they have inflicted on their vulnerable peers because these so-called “slang” have become so common to teen-agers nowadays that they ..just don’t know what it’s like.

It seems unfair, that, unknowing bullies are unfazed just be-cause of the fact that they are unaware of their actions. So what does one do? To the dungeons for these hooligans, hold no trial, and be off with their heads? Seems a bit too drastic and a little too Game of Thrones.

The problem is that these words and terms are so meshed into the teen vernacular that it is seen as hardly harmful. Especially in social media, these words are constantly used like toilet paper. But it should be the metaphor of soap that should be used on their cyber potty mouths because the consistency has become just as appalling as Miley Cyrus in the VMA’s. As of writing, the words: “fag”, has been used 3,607 times; “dyke”, has been used 453 times; “so gay”, has been used 1,271 times; on twittetimes; “so gay”, has been used 1,271 times; on twitter. If these facts aren’t alarming for you, better get new batteries for that old tick-tock because that is 5,331 hateful words posted on a social

L a social networking site often used by teenagers. This demographic alone adds to ThinkB4YouSpeak.com’s claim of LGBT students to “feel unsafe, miss school, receive lower grades, not want to attend college”, and worst of all, commit suicide because of the use of such words in school. Plus, 86.2% and 44.1% LGBT students experi-enced verbal abuse and physical abuse, respectively; and 60.8% feel unsafe and 22.1 % have been physically assaulted, both at school because of their sexual orientation.because of their sexual orientation.

Although no one will truly know “what it’s like to be mistreat-ed, to be defeated” unless you or someone you care about is found in that position, and that this problem is mostly unknown or uncon-cerning to non-LGBT teens, it is, however, not to grown-ups and teachers. There has been a “variety of methods” employed, and such are: trainings on LGBT issues for teachers and school staff, creating school- and district-level policies that specifically address anti-LGBT bullying, and directly intervening when they witness an-ti-LGBT language and behavior. Student organizations have also become active in opposing anti-LGBT bullying, by organizing within their student governments Gay-Straight alliances or GSA’s, to the ever-so-slang teenagers. These Safe School Movement pro-grams encourage students to join or create organizations within their student bodies to ensure safe environment and instill acceptance within its own members regardless of gender identity or expression.

Since measures have been taken to monitor and ensure school and social safety for our LGBT peers, what else is to be done? I’m sure stuffing all these bigots (young or old) into a time capsule and sending them back to the neanderthalic ages where they can grunt and moan as much as they want to, is highly immoral and as of now, scientifically improbable . So, sticking to human reality and regard-less of the saying that sticks and stones may break our bones but words could never allegedly hurt us, it really wouldnwords could never allegedly hurt us, it really wouldn’t hurt for us to say sorry.

No OneKnowsWhat

It’s LikeTeen slang:

Unintentional butcommonly homophobic

By Starlight Tolenno

arda. Describing her first semester as a DevCom (Development Communica-tion) freshman to be “crazy” and being a scholar to boot. “I was cul-ture-shocked, it was really different –it was really hard for me to cope up,” Sal-arda recalls, of high school being much lighter than her college experience. “It was the commute that was really diffi-cult.” Living in Villanueva, it was easy to find the latter comment understand-able. “In high school, I went to St. Mary’s Academy in Tagoloan, and was just a few minutes ride from home,” Salarda explains further.

When asked if at that time, she could define college as the best time of her young adult life, “College was more of a time for me to prove some things to myself and those around me,” Salarda says. “That I could do the things I set my mind to.” College, for her, was more of like a juggling act of: time, more of like a juggling act of: time, pressure, demands, and health.

Yes. You read right. Health. A little puzzling, if considering that she was a young healthy girl of 17, fresh out of high school, ripe for the college life –but if one adds a tedious subject called Physical Education to the equation, then that would enlighten a lot of us. It seems ironic that she became sickly beseems ironic that she became sickly be-cause of exercise. Theoretically, being subjected to the strenuous demands of dancing to Olivia Newton’s “Let’s Get Physical” in an aerobics pro\gram

CharisseSalarda

could make anyone feel a bit under the weather. It even led her to believe she had the swine flu at one point. “That was my lowest QPI (Quality Point Index) that sem for the entire time nag-college ko,” Salarda despairs over the teensy spec of dirt created in her other-wise immaculate academic record.

A grayscale

Aside from that she admits the rest of her undergraduate years to be “unevent-ful”, only succeeding to bag the dean’s listers spot for a consecutive amount of times in between rendering a 10-hour service at the university’s book center running errands and doing clerical work while being involved in the Central while being involved in the Central Student Government (CSG) events committee, interning for the Interna-tional Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and acting as the DevCom So-ciety’s (DevCom Soc) constitution as-sociate (very “uneventful”, indeed).

When asked if college was the best time of her life, admittedly, though she was affable to talk with, she never thought of herself as a social butterfly amidst the blossoming garden of her clique. “I’m not really a socialite. I don’t really go to parties,” Salarda re-peatedly emphasizes.peatedly emphasizes. The most fun she could remember would be her time spent with friends, a summer before her senior year started.

“I was really excited because I was so close to graduating,” Salarda explaining how the start of her first semester as a graduating student went smoothly, with her birthday celebration in June and a re-laxation period before thesis starts, all was peaceful in the land of Cha. She, least of all kneof all knew, that things would turn out for the worst, come July.

Red alert!

As scholastic challenges go, her number one hurdle was her issue with keeping healthy. It was the bane of her existence, the magnifying glass to her ant hill, and the Voldemort to her Harry. Stress became both a symptom and a cause for unhealthy upheaval, but never did she dream that it would threaten her dreams of graduating would threaten her dreams of graduating with honorable mention.

“Everyone was so worried that I wouldn’t graduate in time, after seeing me at the Xavier-Maria Reyna hospital, where my aunt served nursing duty,” Salarda says. “The doctor kept telling me that I’m really lucky. It was a miracle.”

AA vehicular accident just a month shy after her birthday was definitely not in her daily to-do list as she was preparing for school that day. Heading to the Manresa farm, she worried about getting there on time and didn’t bother herself with being all too picky with the jeepneys that usual-ly brought her to her early morningly brought her to her early morning AnSci (Animal Science) class. Little was expect-

“The mission of the operation was really to rescue and ensure the safety of the hostages.” --Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin

The Zamboanga crisis. Three weeks of hostility, 23 soldiers, 166 rebels, 182, hostages, and over 200 homes razed to the ground. with all these numbers threatening to damp even the brightest of moods, the only thing to do is to take consolation from the fact that it’s “better late than never”, which, for me, just raises the question of how many more numbers would it have took if it was even more late? But, hey, at least it wasn’t “never”, right?

I donI don’t mean to rain on the government’s parade, but how many times have negotiations with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) have been botched before they finally sealed the deal? Did they try their hardest when it came to prevent the casualties that were gained? Was it really as impossible to negotiate with the rebels as they made it seem? The government isn’t exactly sure-proof when it comes to dishing out the dits on the situation, really, with their evasive responses and not-so-forthcoming plans for further talks with the MNLF.

Has peace become too murky of a reality in Mindanao that those in oHas peace become too murky of a reality in Mindanao that those in office are just dumb-founded as to what they should do in times like the Zamboanga crisis? I think not, it’s ghost and fairies that are fictitious not peace. Peace is the absence of violence, but it’s peace that has become absent. What has been lost to us, is competence. Competence to immediately take action and respond to hostile treatment. I don’t know if it’s totally the government’s fault, but it has to start somewhere, and where better to start than with our leaders, really. It’s all too silly, how they try to paint themselves a in a more flattering light by exaggerating facts such as “over-shooting” the number of hostages they “rescued”. I doubt they’d be doing the same thing if it had all gone souhostages they “rescued”. I doubt they’d be doing the same thing if it had all gone sour, though.

I’m sure they did their part, clearly with the crisis concluded, but how fast could it have been, for negotiations to wind out as long as three weeks? Lives were at stake and it just wasn’t fast enough. They did their best but a lot has to be answered for. there are over hun-dreds of thousands of Zamboangan residents that are homeless or cramped up like a bunch of sardines a can in the 50 or so shelters around Zamboanga. The war may have ended but the victims are still hung over. in the 19 days of fighting, many were wounded and homes were desecrated.

So, it’s “better late than never”, huh? According to Inquirer News, “138 MNLF rebels were killed, 223 captured, and 52 surrendered”, much more so, compared to the military’s losses, which were “19 soldiers and 5 policemen” plus the 9 civilians that were killed during the many crossfires that occurred on the streets of Zamboanga. Kudos to those who made it all happen, things could really have been a lot worse, but with the lives lost, it isn’t what you could really call “better” either. But as all things happen for a reason, this could defi-nitely be taken as a lesson learned, reviewed, re-examined and filed under one’s bookmarks bar.

The solution? Simple cooperation. Not just within our offices, but with everyone involved. The MNLF has continuously held countless negotiations hoping for a human rights intervention and to come into agreement with our government on the administration of justice, peace and order and it is high-time that it should be signed sealed, and delivered for peace to be truly ours.

By Starlight Tolenno

MissionImplausible:Lost

Protocol

Kuala Lumpur --Both government and Bangsamoro panel, were hard-pressed to negotiate for peace and order, among the other many things of highest priority during the 10-day annex. Much was discussed during the talks but ended with "no major breakthrough" with the proposals, opting for further re-discussion and review in light of the Zamboanga aftermath. Earlier last September, peace talks were at a stale-mate as both panels were personally concerned with the rebel and military coalition in Zamboanga, though cer-tainly not hindering the event. Both panels of the pow-er-sharing annex had addressed their focus on "the pur-suit of the peace process to its just and rightful conclu-sion", and their wish to bring those responsible for the stand-off to "be stopped and be held accountable for their acts". Despite recent events, members and representatives of the Moro and government factions are unfazed and remain unblinking towards their ultimate goal for an im-proved Moro-Islamic government. Proper distribution of power between the respective governments, Bangsamoro and central, were also discussed and further debated on, treading a sensitive line of ambiguity.

Later this month, another talk will conducted, which will be sitting on everyone's high hopes for an actual signing of a law, with the consent of all parties con-cerned and where negotiations will continue until it passes through legislation. Once, signed by the presi-dent, the Bangsamoro government will be officially se-lecting its leaders for office, this coming 2016 elections.

BangsamoroTalks Peace afterZambo CrisisBy Starlight Tolenno

PeaceBe With“Youth” By Starlight Tolenno

It’s more fun in the danger zone In the current light of events this past month, Mindanao has never looked better. Please insert dripping sarcasm here and a tearful face-palm here. With bombings popping up like Whack-A-Mole’s here and there, ambush attacks waiting like Easter eggs under every bush and rock, and rebel outbreaks spreading like wildfire, how can our beautiful Mindanao ever clean up its violently tarnished reputation, when all people can recall of us is our shrapnel-collecting, triggerecall of us is our shrapnel-collecting, trigger-happy, and gre-nade-launching folk? Is that all there is to Mindanao? Sure, if it was Rambo or James Bond, babes would come a-flockin’ and men would envy our “living on the edge” lifestyle, but we’re not, we’re just a bunch of friendly people who just happened to live on the wrong end of the archipelago.

Beauty and the peace As beautiful and as full of natural resources Mindanao may be, the rest of the country seem to have forgotten we’re just as Filipino as they are. Maybe even more. Why, you ask? Because the most Filipino thing to do is to look for the silver lining, and last September 21 was a huge testament. On a global scale, ev-eryone knows it as World Peace Day or the International Day of Peace, dating way back in 1982. This year though was a little didifferent, the United Nations had planned to spice things up by dedicating that day to peace education, in addition to the usual ceasefires in combat zones. Okay, so where does our battle-scarred region get into all this, you’re probably thinking? Well, staying true to this year’s motif, even though we’re smack dab in the middle of rebellious uprising and bomb threats, a youth organization centered on the belief that “Peace can and is to be built” called, Pilipinas Natin organized an event in partnership with St. Mary's Academy of Jasaan as hosts. The day was fat with peace-centered agendas. In the morning, Pilipinas Natin held a forum that talked about In the morning, Pilipinas Natin held a forum that talked about Nation Building as a tool for building Peace, with the theme being: "The more we sweat for peace, the less we bleed in war". Not at all expected from youngsters today? Then, you’re in for a delight because that’s not all they did. Later that day they launched the first ever Student Peace Council (SPC), a Council

of High School student leaders with the SSG moderators of each school acting as advisers, that plan to “Convene and organize activities that is geared towards building the spirit of Bayanihan in the different schools of Jasaan”, explains Mark Daquiz, an active member of Pilipinas Natin. Peace-keepin’ power rangers As a young teenager, responsibility is usually thrown at your face and passed around like a hot potato infected with cooties, but these youngins chose to take the mantle themselves, amaz-ing, because there is no mother bribing them they’ll get a new PSP if they do. Pilipinas Natin plans for the youth to get more involved in building peace by encouraging for them to act as Peace Initiators for the schools. For a council that’s just starting, itit’s amazingly clear that they really try to think ahead. Keeping the peace isn’t what it’s cracked up to be, and in order for it to work, there should be a sense of unity within. “And just in case there would be conflict among students sa different schools, the Peace Council will be the one to resolve it kay mag sign man ang different representatives/council member ug peace covenant na mura ug agreement between the schools na no to fighting among the schools”, the point further proved by Daquiz.among the schools”, the point further proved by Daquiz.

Peace be with “youth” Since precautions like these are taken, it’s an easy assump-tion that things will be looking good and will be for the long haul. From this year on, September 21 will not only be World Peace Day for these inspiring youngsters but a day for them to convene once a year to share the different Peace Initiative proj-ects they conducted in their respective schools annually. It all seems just so juvenile how grown-ups nowadays are: at each other’s throats; pointing fingers; and guzzling all the cash they can with their grubby paws. Instead of trying to pull each other down we should definitely learn to take after Pilipinas Natin’s example, and show what Mindanao has got to offer. Sure, we won’t be able to change people’s minds easily, but with the clouds of gun powder and smoke swallowing our fresh Mindan-ao skies, a little line of silver may just be what the doctorordered.