President Rodrigo Duterte said that while peace in Western Mindanao had returned and less fighting incidents occurred after the Bangsomoro Organic Law had been passed, the President still advised businessmen not to invest in Western Mindanao region and instead put their money in the Visayas region.
The President made the remarks during the grand opening and inauguration of DusitD2 Hotel Davao and the Dusit Thani Grand Ballroom in Davao City on Friday night, telling tourism and business players not to put new investment and economic activities in Western Mindanao.
“Instead, put up your money in the Visayas, particularly in Cebu and Bohol. You have to consider the law and order in Mindanao,” he said.
However, the President claimed there had been less fighting now in Mindanao after the Bangsamoro Organic Law had been enacted, saying “we have been able to strike a solution in central Mindanao.”
The Bangsamoro autonomous region is currently run by the Bangsamoro Transition Authority led by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
The President congratulated Muslims for the cooperation and support to the government’s peace program which resulted in zero incident of fighting in central Mindanao.
“And I’d like to congratulate my brother Muslims, Moros of Mindanao, that there had been almost no incident here in the central Mindanao area,” he said.
Unfortunately, Duterte admitted that the communist New People’s Army remained a problem of his administration.
“I just hope we can do something about it before my term ends,” Duterte said as he vowed to end insurgency in the country.
Also during the ceremony, the Torre Lorenzo Development Corp. announced a P10-million assistance to the Armed Forces of the Philippines in the next 10 years to help send to school the sons and daughters of soldiers wounded in action.
READ: BARMM MILG backstops LGUs
READ: PDEA arrests BIFF ‘big-time’ drug dealer
READ: Mindanao hydro plant gets P1.1-b DBP loan