Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte (Robby Joy D. Salveron/davaotoday.com)
DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Members of the newly-formed Davao City-Local Peace Committee (DC-Peace) is set to conduct its first meeting on Tuesday, October 24.
City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio told reporters after the City Peace and Order Council on Thursday, October 19, that there was a difficulty in setting a common schedule among the members.
She said most of the members have scheduled trips abroad and the earliest possible date for the meeting is on Tuesday morning.
Duterte-Carpio said the committee will discuss their one-year plan.
The mayor has issued an executive order to establish DC-Peace in a bid to conduct a localized peace talk with the New People’s Army (NPA) operating in the city.
However, she stressed that the committee will only last for a year if no “significant development” on localized peace process happens.
“They will discuss their strategy, what they will do for that one year that they will work as a committee,” she said.
Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles, one of the appointed members of the committee, responded positively to the invitation of being part of the localized peace initiative.
“We always look at it in a very positive way rather than shooting and killing each other. To sit down and talk is always a welcome event for development,” Valles said during the Mindanao Sulu Press Conference held at the Waterfront Insular Hotel on Thursday, October 19.
“I think that is our contribution to our desire to achieve peace,” he added. (davaotoday.com)
