DAVAO City Mayor Sara Z. Duterte-Carpio chided the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for the Davao City road going to Paquibato District, which remains unfinished one year later.
“Katong last time mianhi ko diri, kanus-a gani to, Kap? Ang dalan dinha, wala pa nahuman. Hangtud karon wala gihapon nahuman, so anniversary ni sa dalan na wala nahuman dinha (When was the last time I was here barangay Chair Jessielito James Areja? The road was not yet finished. Until now the road remains unfinished, so this is the anniversary of the unfinished road),” the mayor said when informed that her last visit to Malabog was to launch the local government peace initiative Peace 911 last year.
Duterte-Carpio went to Malabog last Saturday, May 25, 2019, to celebrate the first anniversary of Peace 911. Peace 911 was launched in barangay Paquibato Proper last May 17, 2018.
“Sunod tuig, second anniversary sa dalan na wala nahuman. Sakto ra pud kung ako NPA uy, mangampanya ko, tan-awa nang inyong dalan putol unsaon na man na dinha. Sunuga na lang nang mga equipment kay dili man pud mahuman ang dalan (Next year, it will be the second anniversary of the unfinished road. If I were the New People’s Army, I would also campaign against the government and show the people the unfinished road. I will say, burn the heavy equipment anyway the road will not be completed),” she added.
Mayor Duterte-Carpio, while thanking the community, its leaders, and the committees of Peace 911, said the work continues because the decades-long insurgency problem has spawned rebels who are just waiting for the opportune time to campaign against the government again and recruit combatants from the ranks of the residents by pointing out the government’s inadequacies.
That is why the city has to continue its local peace initiative in the hinterlands of Davao City.
“Dili ta pwede muhunong because daghan naghulat. Hulat ra na sila og timing na makaingon na pud, o tan-awa, ingnan mo namo, dili mo mutuo sa amoa. Karon lang lagi na, muhawa lang gihapon na sila (We cannot stop because the rebels are just there waiting to be able to say again, We told you so. Government service will be temporary, they will leave),” she said.
She called on Paquibato residents to work closely as one to ensure that communist rebels can no longer infiltrate their ranks.
Still not believing that there is already peace in Paquibato, saying that as a nine-year-old girl when her father now President Rodrigo Duterte became mayor in 1987-88, Paquibato was already known as an NPA area. This has not changed until Peace 911 came to be.
On its second year, Peace 911 will be covering 32 barangays in the districts of Paquibato, Marilog, Calinan, Baguio, Tugbok and Toril, up from the original 14 that covered all 13 barangays of Paquibato and the adjacent barangay Dominga in Calinan District.
Pace 911 Dos, as the new phase of Peace 911 is called, will be introducing community-based livelihood programs that will focus on sustainability and the environment.