IT WAS not just an ordinary Saturday morning where young people, mostly students, stay late in bed to make up for sleep they were deprived of during school days.

"I GET an allowance of 50 pesos (about one US dollar) a day, of which 20 pesos (40 US cents) is for fare," says 17-year-old Dana Jane Estrada.

MONDAY morning, staring at the sun, the mist tempering its rays making it look like the moon. But not for long...

KUNG asa ang agila, dunay bulawan (There's gold where the Philippine eagles are)," said Datu Gayuting Tomanding, barangay captain of Tomanding in Arakan Valley, North Cotabato, when asked if gold can be found in their land.

SA SINUGDAN, murag natingala pa ang mga tanom (At first, the vegetables we were growing appeared to be in a quandary)," was how Thelma Cordova Tambis, an organic farmer from Toril, described how it was when she first returned to organic farming.