Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte has scrapped the localized peace talks with the the New People’s Army (NPA) after her father President Rodrigo Duterte declared the communists fighters as terrorists.
“Since the policy of the government is to never negotiate with terrorists, what we are going to do is to talk to the community about their issues through the DC-PEACE Dev,” Mayor Sara said.
She renamed the Davao City Peace committee (DC-PEACE) that previously led the talks with communists to Davao City Advisory Committee for Peace and Development (DC PEACE Dev).
She said the new body would serve as the medium between the city government and far-flung communities to resolve their issues and concerns.
“The output of the talk will be used by the city government of Davao to address the issues the communities are experiencing. We acknowledge that they have issues with regard to the services of the government,” Mayor Sara said.
“What we are going to do is go to the hinterlands and build peace tables, where the community can raise their concerns so that the government can address it,” she said.