Bangkok, Feb 4 (EFE).- The Philippines government warned on Sunday that it would quell any secessionist attempt using “resolute force” after ex-president Rodrigo Duterte pushed for a separate and independent Mindanao state in the south.
“Any attempt to secede any part of the Philippines will be met by the government with resolute force, as it remains steadfast in securing the sovereignty and integrity of the national territory,” National Security Adviser Eduardo Año said in a press statement.
Año, who served as an interior secretary and armed forces chief under Duterte, warned that the government “will not hesitate to use its authority and forces to quell and stop any attempts to dismember the republic.”
He said calls to separate Mindanao contradicted the constitution and “threatened to undo the hard-won gains of peace and development, particularly in Mindanao.”
Earlier this week, Duterte called for the independence of his native island, which has battled years of an armed Muslim separatist movement.
The ideological differences between Duterte and his successor, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., have widened and exposed fissures in the alliance of the two political clans.
Despite these disagreements, the current vice president, Sara Duterte-Carpio, Duterte’s daughter, distanced herself from her father’s statements.
Mindanao, where various groups affiliated with the Islamic State operate, is one of the poorest regions in the Philippine archipelago, burdened by decades of intense conflicts between Muslim rebel groups and the Army.
In 2014, the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrilla group, the most influential in the region, forged a peace agreement that abandoned their pursuit of independence in favor of greater autonomy for the Bangsamoro region in the southeast of Mindanao, with a Muslim majority. EFE
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