SANTA CRUZ, Laguna—Sen. Loren Legarda on Wednesday  met local leaders and government officials here to find solutions to the rice fields being flooded during typhoons.

Rice fields surrounding Laguna de Bay, the largest freshwater lake in the Philippines and the third-biggest in Southeast Asia, have been flooded for more than a month now since typhoon Ondoy lashed Northern and Central Luzon.

DAVAO CITY—The onslaught of development projects, especially mining, and media reporting about the Mindanao conflict have been blamed for fanning violence in many areas in Mindanao, according to the findings of a survey on the peace process in Mindanao. The survey was commissioned by a group of Christian bishops and Muslim ulama.

Although the survey largely concentrated on the critique of local communities about the conduct of the peace negotiation between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, participants also identified mining, plantations and other development projects, as well as warlordism and tribal vengeance killing, as the other sources of conflict in Mindanao.

Under the item “Other sources of conflict,” participants of the 311 focused group discussions (FGDs) conducted by Konsult Mindanaw! between April and June 2009 said they have faced varying issues in their places. These include environmental conflicts on mining and plantations in the Caraga, Northern Mindanao, Zamboanga, Davao  and Southern Mindanao regions; arms trade, illegal-drug trade, warlordism and election cheating in eastern and northern Mindanao; kidnapping issues in the southwestern island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi and the Zamboanga Peninsula; and the traditional rido or clan war to exact vengeance in many Moro areas.

ZAMBOANGA CITY—A councilor from this city’s First District is looking at advancing local tourism by developing prospective destinations suited for agri and ecotourism.

Councilor Rogelio Valesco said Zamboanga City, with its 98 barangays, is gifted with many natural sites waiting to be developed and can help boost this city’s promising image as a tourism destination in Western Mindanao.

Valesco identified the areas that have the potential to become agri and ecotourism sites of Zamboanga City as the agri farm in sitio Buenagatas, Boalan, the caves in the barangays of Cabaluay, Lamisahan, Quiniput and Salaan, Bog Lake in San Roque, the Merloquet Falls in Sibulao and the scenic Monte Santo in Lumayang.