Secession

The late action movie hero-turned-senator Ramon Revilla immortalized a Muslim farmer who wanted to set up a free and independent state in the south by resurrecting the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo just after the Second World War.

Datu Hadji Kamlon was a local folk hero who waged a seven-year rebellion during Elpidio Quirino and Ramon Magsaysay administrations, decimating an Army infantry battalion with a few hundred armed followers.

Kamlon and his men had briefly occupied the capital Jolo before the military, equipped with tanks, planes, and gunboats retook it, just like in Marawi in 2017.

Kamlon’s violent rebellion was the first secessionist movement in the Philippines.

A wider secessionist rebellion erupted over a decade later after a university professor, Nur Misuari, formed the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) to fight for a free and independent state in 13 provinces in Mindanao and Palawan.

Misuari’s MNLF was a splinter group of the Mindanao Independent Movement (MIM) launched in 1968 by a former Cotabato governor, Datu Udtog Matalam, just months after a secret plan by then-President Ferdinand Marcos Sr to invade Sabah was exposed.

The secret plan pissed off Malaysia and openly supported the Muslim rebellion led by the MNLF, providing them with arms, training, and sanctuary in Sabah.

It took more than half a decade before the Philippine government defused the violent secessionist wars in the south.

Kamlon’s rebellion ended with his surrender and eventual pardon by Marcos Sr, after he was convicted and meted out a life sentence.

Matalam was appeased by Marcos, who appointed him as an adviser to Muslim affairs.

The armed MNLF and its two breakaway factions — Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Moro National Liberation Front-Reformist group — accepted autonomy and signed separate peace agreements with the government.

A third attempt to secede from the Philippines came in 1986 when a former Cagayan de Oro mayor and legislator, Reuben Canoy, created the Federal Republic of Mindanao, issuing passports and printing its own currency.

All past attempts by Mindanao to separate from the Republic were based on legitimate political, economic, and social concerns.

Mindanao felt it was neglected as it remained poor and undeveloped although it was rich in natural resources, including vast plantations of rubber, bananas, and pineapples.

Recently, there was a new proposal to break away from the Republic as former president Rodrigo Duterte suggested gathering signatures to petition the government to allow Mindanao to become a separate and independent state.

The proposal is easier said than done. The rationale behind the proposal is dubious and murky.

It was driven by political greed for power.

Duterte lamented that Mindanao had lagged behind in the share of precious government resources in terms of infrastructure spending.

The people of the Davao region have been suffering from landslides and floods even if there were no weather disturbances in the area.

However, Duterte could not blame anyone except himself because he was president for six years. He had the golden opportunity to improve infrastructure, education, health, and social services to uplift poverty in the region.

In the six years he was in office, Duterte squandered all his chances to make Mindanao a progressive region.

There were news reports his son, Davao City congressman Paolo, got a 51 billion pesos allocation from the Department of Public Works and Highways in the last two years of his father’s presidency. Still, there was little to show where the funds went.

There was no need for the Davao region or the entire island to separate and become independent.

Under the Local Government Code, it has all the power to raise taxes for development. It also gets subsidies through internal revenue allotments (IRA).

Even if Duterte suggested a more peaceful process to secede, from a national security perspective, the Republic cannot allow this to happen.

It was clearly stated under the August 2023 National Security Policy that the state will protect and preserve its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Thus, it would not allow such dismembership.

ASEAN would not be happy to see a new Southeast Asian state. It has not fully accepted Timor Leste as the 11th member of the regional bloc because the country was so poor it could not afford to spend attending summits and functional meetings.

A new Mindanao republic could be much poorer than Timor Leste and have severe internal security challenges.

Almost half of the 11 Army infantry divisions are now stationed in Mindanao to quell a declining insurgency posed by the Communist New People’s Army (NPA) and small Islamist militant groups.

Pulling them out would trigger a potential civil war, tribal and clan conflicts, and violence due to land disputes.

China, a patron of the Dutertes, would certainly exploit the secession, establishing a foothold in Mindanao, just like in Cambodia.

It would offer economic assistance to cash-strapped Mindanao, build infrastructure, and exploit its resources.

A Chinese military presence in Mindanao would threaten not only the Philippines but also other Southeast Asian states, like Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.

It could have a ripple effect in Australia.

The United States would also be affected as the imaginary line of defense it had created through a networked security alliance would be punched in the middle, changing the security landscape in the region.

On the surface, Duterte’s proposal to secede appeared peaceful and harmless.

But its political, security, and economic implications would be enormous, not only in the Philippines but in the region and, perhaps, the world.

Duterte may have selfish, personal interests in pushing for the separation of Mindanao.

Think again, China could be behind Duterte’s crazy proposal to secede Mindanao from the country.

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