Activation of Nat'l TF Diwalwal called anew

NABUNTURAN, Compostela Valley -- "The National Task Force Diwalwal (NTFD) must convene and be activated."

Compostela Valley Governor Jayvee Tyron Uy reiterated this call the statement of President Rodrigo Duterte during his 3rd State of Nation Address said that a person will puke if they will go to Diwalwal, wherein the rivers are already in color black and contaminated.

“Luod jud karon didto sa Diwalwal,” Governor Uy affirmed. (It is really disgusting there in Diwalwal.)

In a report by the Environment Management Bureau XI, there is high presence of mercury and cyanide in some areas in the Naboc River in Diwalwal, where most of the mining waste were drained.

“Pero dili namo ni kaya nga mga local agencies, kinahanglan mo-apil pud ang mga ahensiya nga naa sa National Task Force Diwalwal,” he insisted. (But we the local agencies (government) cannot do it, the national agencies under the National Task Force Diwalwal must also participate.)

In 2003, former president and now House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo established the NTFD through Executive Order No. 217 to create an environment conducive to lasting and sustainable peace and development in Diwalwal and its environs.

However, Uy noted that the NTFD has not convened for several years already.

Last January 2018, the Compostela Valley Governor has already made the same plea through the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and was supported with a resolution by the Program Monitoring and Coordination Center (PMCC), the local counterpart of the NTFD.