Sunday, February 25, 2007 Mayor not needed in Diwalwal By Ben O. Tesiorna
DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, also regional crisis manager, is not needed in the gold-rush mountain of Diwalwal since there is stable peace and order situation in the area.
Village chief Franco Tito issued this statement amid reports that a few weeks from Sunday, the government will take full control of the gold site.
During Thursday's Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) meeting, Duterte, who chairs RPOC-Southern Mindanao, said if he will have his way he would implement the full force of the law and not let anyone get in his way, even the New People's Army.
In a telephone interview Saturday, Tito however said Duterte's style of governance is not needed in Diwalwal.
He suggested for Duterte to instead look into the spate of killings in the whole of Monkayo rather than focus on Diwalwal alone.
"Regarding peace and order, Diwalwal is already peaceful and we believed that Duterte is no longer needed here but probably he will be needed in Monkayo since there are many killings in Monkayo. There has 42 killings recorded in Monkayo excluding those that not recorded by the PNP (Philippine National Police)," Tito said.
The village chief said they are also not against the entry of the government in Diwalwal for as long as they do not bring in foreign mining investors in the area.
"Government's entry is okay but not multi-national. However, we want it clear because they (multi-national) might use government as façade when in fact the people behind are the greedy ones," Tito said.
Tito said they have only two demands from the National Government -- first, clear-cut program for the small-scale miners of Diwalwal and second, sincere implementation of the said programs.
The National Government is reportedly selling its stake in Diwalwal to foreign investors through an initial public offer.
Tito said though that officials from the Natural Resources and Mining Development Corporation, the business-arm of the government in Diwalwal, assured them few weeks ago that the initial public offer would not be conducted as scheduled.
