LGU groups reject move to separate Mindanao from PH

Various groups composed of local governments on Monday said they are rejecting any move to separate any region, including Mindanao, from the rest of the Philippines. 

The Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) urged the public to unite in order to achieve inclusive and sustainable development across the country. 

"ULAP calls upon national and local governments, community groups, and civil society organizations to collaborate towards inclusive and sustainable development across the Philippines," ULAP national president Quirino Gov. Dakila Cua said in a statement.

"We believe that the entire nation, including Mindanao, with its abundant resources and untapped potential, can flourish through cooperative and collective efforts," Cua added. 

Cua emphasized that ULAP has been stressing the importance of maintaining the integrity of the Philippines’ national territory while recognizing and celebrating diverse local and regional identities, including Mindanao. 

For its part, the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) also expressed support for a united and undivided Philippines amid the call to separate Mindanao from the rest of the country.

"The League of Cities of the Philippines supports the Department of the Interior and Local Government on its call for a united country to continue our achievements in peace, progress, and prosperity," LCP president and Cebu City mayor Michael Rama said in a separate statement.

"We cannot overemphasize the importance of working together, of moving as one, propelled by our genuine concern for the plight of our fellow Filipinos. Now, more than ever, we should be guided by compassion and sensitivity to attain progress together," he said. 

On the other hand, the League of Provinces of the Philippines has also expressed opposition to the proposal for Mindanao to secede from the rest of the nation.

The LPP said it rejects attempts to split the nation into small states and governments that only hinders national progress and development. 

"While the proposal promotes self-determination by its people to chart their future, it is myopic and parochial in world that is becoming open and borderless," the LPP said in a separate statement.

"It destroys the integrity of the territory of the nation, which is already facing unhampered violations of its sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea (WPS). It promotes division of a nation seeking to be united in diversity and distinctions," it added. 

The proposal to separate Mindanao, it pointed out, "is motivated by politics rather than a genuine regard for autonomy and decentralization."

At a news conference last week, former President Rodrigo Duterte raised the idea of Mindanao seceding from the Philippines through a process based on gathering signatures.

A former mayor of Davao City who served for multiple terms, Duterte said it was Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez who first pushed for the "desirability of Mindanao seceding from the Republic of the Philippines."

Alvarez said the push for the separation of Mindanao would be done through a signature campaign, similar to the recent drive to amend the 1987 Constitution.

The National Security Council (NSC) on Sunday said any secession bid will be met with "resolute force."  —Anna Felicia Bajo/KBK, GMA Integrated News