By Gizem Nisa Cebi
ISTANBUL (AA) – Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. pledged Thursday to uphold the country’s constitution and maintain national integrity after his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte raised the issue of the secession of a southern region.
Emphasizing local autonomy and national unity, Marcos said the call for a separate Mindanao “is doomed to fail because it is anchored on a false premise, not to mention a sheer constitutional travesty,” said a statement by the Philippine presidency.
His statement came after Duterte raised the idea of Mindanao seceding from the Philippines "through a process based on gathering signatures."
Duterte, who served as mayor of Davao City many times, said "it was Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez who first pushed for the desirability of Mindanao seceding from the Republic of the Philippines."
Marcos, however, lauded the leaders of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
“The current leadership of BARMM itself has repudiated this preposterous proposal. And so did the other political leaders of Mindanao. This is because there can be -- as in fact there is already -- genuine and effective local autonomy throughout our country, especially in the BARMM, without compromising our national integrity in the slightest degree,” he said.
“I strongly appeal to all concerned to stop this call for a separate Mindanao. This is a grave violation of the Constitution,” he added.
The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao in the southern Philippines has been an autonomous region since 2019.
In 2018, a decades-long insurgency by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front led to peace negotiations with the Philippine government, and the BARMM was formed through a referendum.
The region will hold its first election next year after the current government led by Chief Minister Murad Ebrahim concludes its second term.