Saturday, January 19, 2008 Duterte firm on RPOC resignation By Carlo P. Mallo
DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte has no intention to be cajoled into taking up the chairmanship of the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) again.
"My resignation was a matter of principle," Duterte said.
In an interview Thursday afternoon, the city mayor said his resignation was brought about by the accusations that he might be behind the murder of broadcaster Fernando "Batman" Lintuan.
Lintuan, prior to his death, staunchly criticized the People's Park project of the mayor. The broadcaster alleged that the construction of the P72 million park was anomalous.
Duterte also lambasted the attempts to transfer City Police Director Jaime Morente and the sudden transfer of Chief Superintendent Conrado Laza, then Deputy Regional Director for Administration of the Police Regional Office Southern Mindanao, to the Police Headquarters in Camp Crame.
Reports gathered by Sun.Star Davao showed that some politicians have sought for the transfer of the two police officers. But Duterte did not say what all these mean to his resignation nor did he identify who these politicians are.
With regards to Lintuan's murder, he said: "Alam ko kung ano ang nangyari at paano nangyari (I know what happened and how it happened). But I will keep my mouth shut."
Duterte has vowed to keep his hands off the investigation of the murder case of Lintuan as he has been implicated to be one of the possible masterminds of the murder.
Duterte added that his focus would now only be in Davao City. "The region is not my problem anymore," Duterte said.
The resignation of Duterte as RPOC chair was met with strong opposition particularly from the police force and the governors.
