FORMER President Rodrigo Duterte and his ally Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez should not use the proposal to separate Mindanao from the rest of the country as a “political slogan” for their personal political interests, a Mindanao lawmaker said yesterday.
Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong, a member of the House Committees on Mindanao Affairs and on Muslim Affairs, alleged proponents of the Mindanao secession call are using it to express dismay over their personal circumstances and other political events like the House of Representatives’ proposal to amend the Constitution’s economic provisions.
“I guess my calling to our leaders, be more circumspect. We should not use independence or the issue of secession of Mindanao as a political slogan. We should not use that loosely in order to express our dismay politically,” Adiong told a press conference with fellow members of Young Guns, a coalition of young and reform-minded legislators.
Adiong said the secession proposal is an “insult” to the memories of all those who died in the Moro struggle for self-determination, citing the rebellion of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), both of which ended in peace with the national government.
The Lanao del Sur lawmaker said the issue of secession has killed “more than a thousand great men,” and should not be used by critics to express their frustration over the administration of President Marcos Jr.
“Huwag ho natin gamitin ito na political slogan or tirahin (ang gobyerno) because we are frustrated personally or politically sa mga nakaupong mga lider. Huwag po (Let’s not use it as a political slogan or to criticize because we are frustrated personally or politically in our leaders. Let’s not do that). Kasi (Because) it adds insult to the memory of those fallen and to the troops who have sacrificed their lives in order to protect the Philippines,” Adiong said.
Duterte earlier said the move to separate Mindanao from the rest of the country is neither a form of rebellion nor sedition as there are precedents of such a move in other parts of the world, while Alvarez said their call for secession is not a criminal act of sedition because they intend to push for it peacefully and not through violent means.
The President has already said the call to separate Mindanao is “doomed to fail” as people from the affected areas see it as a “preposterous proposal.”
Adiong said the people of Mindanao “embrace” unity and called on them to support Marcos’ call for national unity, stressing that “there is no clamor for us to pursue independence.”
Adiong said that if there are people who have the “moral ascendancy” to call for the secession of Mindanao, it will be the Muslims or the citizens of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) who have fought for their right to self-governance and self-determination.
“I am saying this because in so far as the call for secession is concerned, I think the Muslim community, minority Muslims in Mindanao, have the moral ascendancy to call for secession in the first place,” Adiong said. “And this has already been accepted by the government even in the previous administration when former PRRD (former president Rodrigo Duterte) said that it’s time to correct the injustices committed against the Moro people. So we have that ascendancy, the moral ascendancy, to speak about and call for independence.”
Adiong said there “is no way to move forward but to embrace national polity, join the mainstream Filipino society in order to progress, not only the Philippines but ultimately ourselves.”
“I am the second generation of the Muslim minority in the country who have seen the brunt of war. I have seen it, I know the smell of a decomposing body. I know the sound of a gun. Kami po ‘yung unang-unang magsasabing, tapos na po ‘yan because we want to move forward,” he said.
Reps. Jefferson F. Khonghun fo Zambales, Francisco Paolo Ortega V of La Union and Faustino Dy V of Isabela, also members of Young Guns who attended the press conference together with Deputy Speaker David Suarez, called on Duterte and Alvarez to stop their calls for Mindanao secession.
“Sa opinyon ko, this is an issue of respect. Hindi naman po pwede na, may ayaw ka tapos ang gusto mo paghiwalayin na yung bansa (In my opinion, this is an issue of respect. It’s not right that just because you don’t like someone, you’ll divide the nation),” Khonghun said. “With all due respect, noong panahon ni Presidente Duterte, meron din namang mga opinyon na hindi sang-ayon ang mga tao, pero di naman dumating sa punto na tumatawag tayo ng maghihiwalay ang iba’t ibang parte ng ating bansa (With all due respect, during Duterte’s time, there were also public opinion against it but it did not lead to calls for the different parts of the country to separate).”
Dy said the thought of Mindanao seceding is “worrisome and deeply saddening,” while Ortega said if the proponents of the proposal were serious, this should have been the subject of an exhaustive study.
In a statement, Alvarez warned Mindanao lawmakers who were allegedly ordered by Speaker Martin Romualdez to speak publicly against the Mindanao secession call that the proposal will be an election issue in 2025.
“Kung hindi sila naniniwala na ginagamit lang sila ng liderato, silipin lang nila ulit yung budget na binigay sa kanilang mga distrito (If they don’t believe that they’re just being used by the leadership, they should take a look at the budget given to their districts),” he said.
The former speaker said those who will turn their back on Mindanao when the time comes that they have a chance to defend it by supporting the call for independence, should be reminded that “those who elected them in their districts are Mindanaoans, not the Speaker of the House.”
Alvarez even urged the President to change the Speaker, his first cousin, and choose someone from Mindanao to lead the House, like Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe “because for as long as Speaker Martin is there, the support for Mindanao independence will be bigger.”
“Sana tiga-Mindanao na lang ang Speaker. Okay sana si Majority Leader Mannix Dalipe, siya na lang. O kung hindi man tiga-Mindanao, ‘yung tiga-Luzon o-Visayas na patas ang trato sa lahat. (We hope the Speaker is from Mindanao. Majority Leader Mannix Dalipe, sees to be okay, he could be. If not from Mindanao, from Luzon or Visayas who will treat is fairly),” he said.
