THE DAVAO City Peace Committee, which will lead a multi-sectoral body that will pursue localized peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New Peoples Army (CPP-NPA), is now looking for a chair, preferably someone from the private sector. “Because it is the obligation of your duly elected public officials to pursue just and lasting peace for the city, we have created the Davao City — Local Peace Committee (DC — PEACE) with the objective and the function to manage the localized peace talks with the New People’s Army operating within the area of responsibility of Davao City,” Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said last week. The committee, created through an executive order issued by the mayor, is composed of the following: City Social Services and Development Office Chief Ma. Luisa T. Bermudo, City Legal Office representative Elisa Lapina, Barangay Chairman Jessielito C. Areja, and Davao Archbishop Romulo G. Valles. Ms. Carpio said the Peace Committee will be in effect until November 2018. If the talks do not register significant progress by that time, the committee will be terminated and the city government will pursue other avenues. “I am asking our NPA friends to work with us because all of us want to see a better Davao,” the mayor said. Major General Bienvenido R. Datuin, Jr., 10th Infantry Battalion assistant division commander, commended the pursuit of a localized peace talk saying it could be more effective since there is a direct communication between the local government and the rebels. President Rodrigo R. Duterte, the mayor’s father, has put on hold the national-level peace negotiations with the communist groups. — Carmencita A. Carillo

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