Separate Mindanao a 'practical impossibility' — law expert

The idea of Mindanao seceding from the Philippines is a practical impossibility, constitutional law expert Domingo "Egon" Cayosa said Thursday.

"Sa ngayon, mukhang practical impossibility 'yan. Sapagkat, una, sa Konstitusyon natin, malinaw na pinapangalagaan nga ang territorial integrity ng Pilipinas," Cayosa said in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB. Cayosa is a former president of the Integrated Bar of Philippines (IBP).

(Right now, this seems to be a practical impossibility. First of all, in our Constitution, it is clear that the territorial integrity of the Philippines is taken care of.)

Former President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday mentioned the idea of Mindanao seceding from the Philippines through a process based on gathering signatures.

Davao Del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez, whom Duterte credited as a pioneering advocate of an independent Mindanao, on Wednesday said Speaker Martin Romualdez's handling of the ongoing people's initiative has added fire to renewed calls for Mindanao's secession.

Cayosa, however, said that through a people's initiative process, each legislative district across the country must be represented by at least 3% of the registered voters.

"Kahit 100% pipirma ang Mindanao, kung ang Batanes hindi pumirma, wala sa bilang, wala din mangyayari. O kaya Camiguin o kaya Manila, Quezon City," he said.

(Even if 100% of the voters in Mindanao will sign, if Batanes will not sign, nothing will happen. Or Camiguin or Manila, Quezon City.)

"Kasi mahirap mo din kumbinsihin ang buong bansa na sino ba namang matinong Pilipino ang papayag mag watak-watak ang ating republika," he added.

(Because it's difficult to convince the whole country. What Filipino will agree for our republic to fall apart?)

Cayosa asserted that changing governments or separating the country's territories are no longer minor amendments, and must be achieved through a constitutional amendment or constituent assembly.

Last Wednesday, former Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio branded the call for a separate Mindanao as "foolishness" and "just a slogan."

"There is nothing to secede, it is against the Constitution. That is threatening the integrity of the national territory," Carpio said.

Mindanaoans Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III have distanced themselves from Duterte's plan. Zubiri said the move was "the last thing that we want."

In the House of Representatives, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers expressed readiness to study the proposal. For his part, Zamboanga City Rep. Manuel Jose "Mannix" Dalipe said outright that, "Ayaw naming humiwalay (We do not want to secede)."

Alvarez said he and fellow advocates are planning to go around Mindanao to gather signatures of support for the initiative.

Aside from Duterte and Alvarez, late Cagayan de Oro mayor Reuben Canoy pushed for Mindanao's independence decades earlier.

Canoy is the author of the 1987 book, "The Quest for Mindanao Independence", and was a member of the Duterte administration's Consultative Committee, which drafted proposed changes to the Charter including a shift to federalism.

In 1986, a convention was held in Cagayan de Oro attended by some 500 political, civic, and professional leaders who pushed for the separation of Mindanao from the Philippines.  The gathering also reportedly discussed the future constitution of the proposed Mindanao Federal Republic.

The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and its breakaway faction, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), were also known as Muslim separatist movements that fought the government.

The MNLF signed a peace agreement with the government in 1996, while the MILF had its peace pact in 2014.

The peace deal with the groups resulted in the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao instead of a separate state. — VDV, GMA Integrated News