Assistant for North Luzon scored for bland remarks on M’danao

DAVAO CITY — Political and business leaders in Mindanao are unhappy about the effort of Presidential Assistant for North Luzon Renato Diaz to promote investments in their area at the expense of Mindanao.

Diaz was quoted in a recent national newspaper supplement urging investors to go north and forget Mindanao for a while because of the peace and order problems besetting certain parts of the island.

"We take offense to how that particular article was presented because it showed that Mindanao is not worth investing which is not fair and is never true," Mindanao Business Council president Joji Ilagan Bian said.

Bian said that while it is expected of all areas to undertake investment promotion, it should not have been done at the expense of other places also vying for investments. She stressed that promotions can be done by citing the competitive edge and advantages of an area but should not be, by speaking ill of another place one finds to be competing with.

"Besides, if you check the geographical location of areas in Mindanao where there are problems like Basilan, it is only a very small island and it is not the whole of Mindanao. In spite of what is happening in certain parts of the island, Mindanao is still very much worth investing in," she said.

Bian said people should be more sensitive to geographical locations and be more cautious in concluding about situations in other areas, including Mindanao.

Davao Oriental Rep. Jose Almario, meanwhile, wrote President Arroyo to express his sentiment against the same article that came out the other week.

"While I laud Diaz’s effort to promote North Luzon as an alternative trade, investment and tourism destination, I feel it should not be done at the expense of Mindanao which is being referred to in the story as the ‘troubled south,’ said Almario in the letter copies of which were also sent to House Speaker Jose de Venecia and Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel.

Almario, who is also chairman of the House Special Committee on Mindanao Affairs, said, "Instead of helping Mindanao recover from its current woes, his (Diaz) irresponsible statements further aggravated the unfairly tarnished image of the island."— Edith Regalado