Reuters
Updated Sun, February 4, 2024
MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippine government is ready to use "authority and forces" against attempts to divide the nation, a security official said Sunday, after former President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to separate some southern islands from the rest of the archipelago.
Duterte has called for the independence of his hometown Mindanao from the Philippines as his alliance with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr disintegrated this week over disagreements around efforts to amend the constitution.
Marcos said amending the 1987 constitution was meant to ease foreign investments, but Duterte accused him of using constitutional change to stay in power.
National security adviser Eduardo Ano said in a statement any attempt to secede "will be met by the government with resolute force", citing "recent calls to separate Mindanao" but without specifically naming Duterte.
"The national government will not hesitate to use its authority and forces to quell and stop any and all attempts to dismember the Republic," Ano said.
Ano said calls for secession could reverse the gains of government's peace deal with former separatist groups.
Violence and conflict had plagued Mindanao for decades as the government battled insurgents and extremists, which has discouraged investments and left many villages in poverty.
The region's largest rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), had signed a peace agreement with the Philippine government in 2014, withdrawing their fight for independence in exchange for enhanced autonomy in a Muslim region called the Bangsamoro.
Bangsamoro chief minister Ahod Ebrahim said in a statement on Friday he remains committed to the peace agreement while government peace process adviser Carlito Galvez Jr. called on Filipinos to "turn away from any call...to destabilize" the country.
Philippine armed forces chief Romeo Brawner told soldiers on Saturday "to remain united and loyal to the constitution and the chain of command".
(Reporting by Mikhail Flores; editing by Miral Fahmy)
Defense Chief Vows to Secure Philippines Amid Secession Threat
Cliff Venzon
Mon, February 5, 2024 at 12:48 AM MST·1 min read
2
(Bloomberg) -- The Philippines’ top defense official on Monday vowed to protect the country’s territory after former President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to split his native Mindanao island from the rest of the Southeast Asian nation.
“The mandate of the Department of National Defense is to secure the sovereignty of the State and integrity of the national territory as enshrined in the Constitution,” Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said in a terse statement. “We will strictly enforce this mandate whether externally or internally,” he added.
Teodoro is the latest official in President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s government to push back against Duterte’s warning last week that Mindanao would become independent if Marcos goes ahead with plans to amend the 1987 Constitution.
National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano on Sunday said the national government “will not hesitate to use its authority and forces to quell and stop any and all attempts to dismember the Republic.”
Marcos has backed efforts to revise the economic provisions of the constitution to spur the economy, but Duterte — father of incumbent Vice President Sara Duterte — has accused him of seeking to amend the charter to prolong his stay in office that is currently limited to a single, six-year term.
Philippines to Use ‘Forces’ to Quell Secession Attempts, Official Says
Manolo Serapio Jr.
Sun, February 4, 2024
(Bloomberg) -- The Philippine government will use its “authority and forces” to stamp out any attempt to separate the country, its national security adviser said following a threat by former leader Rodrigo Duterte to split his native Mindanao from the rest of the nation.
“The national government will not hesitate to use its authority and forces to quell and stop any and all attempts to dismember the Republic,” Eduardo Ano, the security official in President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s government, said in a statement on Sunday.
His comments, which didn’t name Duterte, came after the former president warned last week that the Mindanao region will become independent if his successor goes ahead with plans to amend the constitution. Marcos has backed efforts to revise the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution to spur the economy, but the 78-year-old ex-leader has accused him of seeking to amend the charter to cement his power.
The remarks underscore the deepening cracks in the alliance of the Philippines’ two most powerful political families that won the 2022 election ahead of midterm polls next year.
In an interview with a local broadcaster last month, Marcos expressed concern over the Southeast Asian nation’s restrictive economic provisions and kept the door open to changes in politicians’ term limits. Duterte warned Marcos that if he pushes ahead, he would be ousted like his father who ruled for two decades by revising the constitution.
The late dictator Ferdinand Marcos was overthrown by a popular revolt in 1986. A new constitution ratified a year later limits the country’s leader to a single, six-year term to prevent future abuse of power.
Other politicians, including Duterte’s daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, say changing the charter is ill-timed, as the nation is still grappling with high food prices, crimes and other pressing problems. Sara Duterte is an early favorite to succeed Marcos in the 2028 presidential election.
Ano said calls for secession threaten to undo efforts to end decades of armed conflict in Mindanao, the second-largest island in the Philippines. The government in 2014 reached a peace agreement with the largest Muslim rebel group in the region after decades of insurgency that killed as many as 200,000 people and hurt the development of its rich resources.
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