PHILIPPINE President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. on Monday warned against advocates of separatism during his visit to the southern Philippine province of Maguindanao.
“As we defend the gains that we have achieved, we will be vigilant against the enemies of peace. We will bear the full force of the state against terrorist elements, to those who preach the discarded and debunked ideology of dismemberment,” he said in a speech at the 10th anniversary commemoration of a landmark peace deal on the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
“The people will reject your selfish agenda.”
His predecessor Rodrigo R. Duterte and his allies in January bared efforts for a separate Mindanao, a call that has been rejected by many national and local government officials.
Replacing the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, BARMM was inaugurated in 2019 following a peace negotiation between Moro separatists and the Philippine government in 2014 that paved the way for an organic law in 2018.
The first-ever parliament elections in the region was originally set for May 2022 but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic and the failure to come up with an electoral code.
The Bangsamoro Transition Authority in March last year passed an electoral code that paved the way for the creation of political parties in the region with representatives from women, youth, indigenous people, and settler communities.
Mr. Marcos, in his speech, warned against any attempt to derail the parliament elections, despite pleas from local civic groups for another three-year term extension for the transition authority.
Civic groups have been citing unimplemented provisions of the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement for the Bangsamoro, which compelled the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to surrender its firearms and decommission its armed group.
“Let this also serve as a warning to those who may plan to threaten and derail this upcoming election,” Mr. Marcos said. “Don’t think about that anymore because your enemy is the government.”
“Instead, channel your energy to help build productive and thriving communities where citizens are offered wide livelihood opportunities and healthy living spaces,” he added.
The decommissioning program has been hounded by allegations of corruption, an issue that the Government of the Philippines and MILF described as “baseless” in February.
“Contrary to baseless allegations on corruption, especially in the decommissioning, the GPH-MILF Peace Implementing Panels assured the public that proper mechanisms and procedures are in place to guarantee accountability, and trust and confidence in the process,” according to a statement signed by GPH Panel Chair Cesar B. Yano and MILF Panel Chair Mohagher Iqbal.
“Informed by lessons of the past, best practices, and internationally accepted norms on processing combatants and weapons, the Independent Decommissioning Body undertakes stringent verification and validation, among other established safeguards, before MILF combatants and weapons undergo decommissioning,” the parties said.
BARRM recorded a 20% reduction in poverty rate from 2018 to 2021, the Philippine anti-poverty commission said in January, citing the rehabilitation of Marawi City after it was pulverized in 2017 due to a months-long battle between state forces and an Islamic State-inspired group.
Still, BARMM has the highest poverty incidence in the southern island of Mindanao, it said. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza