By Cheryll D. Fiel
davaotoday.com
DAVAO CITY — Mayor Rodrigo Duterte does not think President Gloria Arroyo’s all-out war policy against the Communists and the release of 1 billion pesos of additional funds for the military as a good idea. He said the only effective means to deal with the insurgency is to continue talking with the rebels “without surrendering the authority of the government.”
“What is that 1 billion for? To attack more people? Is every single amount of the one billion peso be spent to buy bullets?” the mayor said during a press forum this week.
The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) in Southern Mindanao, meanwhile, said Arroyo’s latest move to augment the governments counterinsurgency fund is proof of the vindictiveness and fascist character of the regime.
“It is obvious that the target of the war fund are the unarmed, noncombatant or civilians perceived by the Arroyo regime as its enemy,” Ariel Casilao, Bayans secretary general, said.
Casilao said the fund should have been allotted to address the problem of inadequate school facilities, deteriorating quality of public education, health and other social services. (Cheryll D. Fiel/davaotoday.com)
