Dureza named chief of MedCo

President Arroyo named former Presidential Assistant for Mindanao Jesus Dureza as the head of the Mindanao Economic Development Commission (MedCo) with the rank of Cabinet secretary.

As Mindanao czar, Dureza is tasked to implement P3.87 billion worth of "affirmative action" projects of the Arroyo administration to push the Minda—nao peace process.

Mrs. Arroyo said funding for these projects will come from some realigned infrastructure projects for next year of the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Dureza’s designation came as the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) prepare for the resumption of formal peace talks in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia early next month.

In the "Pulong Bayan" held in Barangay Sultan Esmael in Dasmariñas, Cavite the other day, Mrs. Arroyo discussed her administration’s P3.87-billion "affirmative action" program to bring about peace and development in Mindanao, thus putting an end to the decades-old Muslim secessionist problem.

"And because of the importance of development in Mindanao, I have decided to make the Mindanao Economic Development Commission a Cabinet-level (agency). So Secretary Jess Dureza heads this body," she said.

Dureza was among the Cabinet officials who joined Mrs. Arroyo in the Pulong Bayan. The others were Vice President Noli de Castro, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles and presidential communications director Silvestre Afable, the chief government negotiator in the peace talks with the MILF.

"If we want to have lasting peace in (Mindanao), we have to end the conflicts. We have to have peace talks but we also need development in Mindanao (for it) to catch up (from its) economic exclusion in the past years through additional affirmative actions by the government," Mrs. Arroyo said.

"As former President (Ramon) Magsaysay said in the past, ‘Those who have less (in life) must have more in law.’ But this should not be only more in law, but those who have less should have more. So that’s the affirmative action," she added.