Diwalwal is... what? A mountain, a village, a mine? Lost in the forests of Mindanao this is possibly one of the latest gold-mining area in the world where people work without heavy machines nor open gigantic holes in the earth. And this is really the point today. On one side are the small miners that want to keep this community as it is: a remote village that may have overcome the years of lawless violence but is certainly a social inferno. On the others the multinationals that want to push them out, open large open-air mines and employ them as "workers".Is the clash of civilization, or the the "global" war taken to the borders of the empire.. It's difficult to take a position though, when you see a community of 40.000 living in such difficult conditions, with basic standards of health and education. But they are fighting for it: the Barangay (City Council) built a school, a clinic, and promised to the government that taxes will be paid (sic!). Franco Tito, the Captain, a local sheriff with a gun on his side, took the fight to the road: blocked bridges, confronted Governor and government..
Now they may leave them this central area of Diwalwal, the richest probably, and open large mines around. They would become an island of human history: an interesting evolution to observe in the future..
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