Wednesday, August 22, 2007 (Philippines)

It wasn't just the flower, fruit, and souvenir vendors who came out by the truckloads to sell their wares during the Kadayawan Festival, even the ukay-ukay vendors were all over town. Indeed, Kadayawan has become a festival for all -- young, old, rich, poor, visitors, and residents alike. A woman ukay-vendor lords it over her sacks of merchandise. (Sun.Star Davao/Rene B. Lumawag) KIDAPAWAN CITY -- Two local operatives of the Indonesia-based militant Jemaah Islamiya (JI), one of them a foreign-trained bomber, have been identified as behind the recent blasts in key cities in Central Mindanao, police said. Tacurong City Police Chief Joel Limson identified a certain Toliah whose base is in Cotabato City and a certain Tongan Fatima, a local JI trained abroad for bomb making, as the ones behind the explosions that rocked central Mindanao since May this year. Arroyo Watch: Sun.Star blog on President Arroyo Updates on the Kadayawan Festival 2007 [full story]