ANAD PARTYLIST STANDS PAT THAT DAVAO CITY IS NOT PEACEFUL

The Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (ANAD) Partylist laughed off the action of City Councilor Nilo Abellera reportedly denouncing its efforts as well as those of BANTAY Partylist to expose the real state of the law and order situation of Davao City even as it expressed willingness to face the entire City Council on the issue.

“Who is he (Abellera) questioning our presence in Davao City. He does not owned the city. ANAD’s constituency is nationwide and therefore we have every right to challenge the claim of the Duterte administration and his Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod party that Davao City is “peaceful,” ANAD Partylist Representative Jun Alcover declared in a live phone-patch interview in the “Alsa” radio program over DXIP Bantay Radyo-Davao hosted by Manny Autida and James Pala from 12 to 1 p.m. yesterday.
During the regular session of the Sangguniang Panlungsod yesterday morning, Abellera delivered a privilege speech questioning the intention of Cong. Alcover and Cong. Jovito Palparan, Jr. of BANTAY on exposing the tenuous law and order condition of the city.

Abellera, chairman of the SP Committee on Peace and Order, reportedly claimed that Cong. Alcover’s and Cong. Palparan’s expose projected a “negative” image of the city.
In response, Alcover stressed that contrary to Mayor Rody Duterte’s claim, Davao City is not and has not been as “peaceful, lawful and orderly” as he wanted the people to believe.

“The fact that more than 952 people, mostly from the lowly class of the society, were summarily killed in the city during Mayor Duterte’s 20-year administration and none was hauled to court to answer the murders proves that criminal justice system is not really working in Mindanao’s prime city,” Alcover commented, adding that “it is a blow to the image of law enforcement agencies particularly the PNP, the prosecution, the court, the penal institutions and the community at large.”
Compared to Gen. Santos City that has zero explosive incident in 2009, the Maoist NPA blasted at least six improvised explosive devices and killed at least 28 persons, 13 of them happened in Paquibato District, last year, ANAD Partylist-Mindanao records showed.

For his part, ANAD Partylist-Mindanao Arthur J. Tariman pointed out that the prevailing “peace” in Davao City is not “authentic and enduring” but a negative one. This kind of peace is short-term, fragile and unstable.
“What we in ANAD Partylist aspire to bring about is a peace that is characterized by the absence of direct or personal violence, structural violence, and cultural violence. A positive peace,” Tariman explained.

According to Tariman, “what we have in Davao City is a temporary peace because we never have addressed the rootcause of the problem despite the P800-million peace and order discretionary fund of the hizzoner.”
“The law must be fully implemented without fear or favor in order to have real peace and order in Davao City,” Tariman concluded. (ANAD PARTLIST-MINDANAO INFONEWS BUREAU)