Mindanao execs threaten secession if Arroyo ousted ; Visayas, Bicol govs draw up plans to set up 'republics'

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Visayas, Bicol govs draw up plans to set up 'republics'
First posted 00:50am (Mla time) July 10, 2005
By
Inquirer
 
 
FED UP with always having to be dictated by "Imperial Manila," the governors of Western, Central and Eastern Visayas have started plans to form a separate "Visayas republic" in case President Macapagal-Arroyo is forcibly removed from office.
 
Governors from Mindanao and the Bicol region have also started thinking of their own republics.
 
Oriental Negros Gov. George Arnaiz, who is also chair of the Central Visayas Regional Development Council, said the idea of forming a federal Visayas republic came out spontaneously during a meeting of governors in Manila last Wednesday at the Century Park Hotel, borne out of their "frustration" over how events in Metro Manila are affecting the rest of the country.
 
Referring to the people power uprisings of 1986 and 1991, Arnaiz said "we are always dictated upon by Manila, even if there are only a few ralliers."
 
Arnaiz said the sentiment was also expressed by his fellow Visayan governors, as rallies demanding the ouster of President Arroyo were again seen in Metro Manila.
 
"We have been removing presidents since the time of [Ferdinand] Marcos. If they themselves cannot respect the Constitution, how can we respect it?"
 
Arnaiz said that of the Visayas governors, only Northern Samar Gov. Raul Daza did not sign the manifesto supporting a "federal Visayas republic" because the first portion was in support of President Arroyo. Daza, however, favors the idea of having a federal republic, Arnaiz said.
 
"We have everything in the Visayas except the Armed forces, and a few airplanes. But we are not really preparing for external aggression. We only need to fight local criminality," Arnaiz said.
 
He said while it will initially be difficult for the Visayas provinces to stand on its own, the bulk of the income for this "Republic" would be its collections from international ports like Cebu.
 
"Soon, we will have an international port in Iloilo and Bacolod. We should also start paying the right taxes," he said.
 
The idea has gained the support of local executives down to the municipal level, Arnaiz said.
 
This movement will be similar but separate from the federal movement that is also being planned by Mindanao governors, Arnaiz added.
 
On Tuesday, the governors and some mayors of the Visayas will meet in Cebu to discuss the concept further. The meeting, to be hosted by Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia, will be held simultaneously with a similar meeting in Davao among Mindanao governors and mayors.
 
"We will meet in order to understand better what this movement is all about in case we don't follow our Constitution," Arnaiz said.
 
Sorsogon Gov. Raul Lee, who said he is the spokesperson of the six governors in the region, said they were serious in putting up their own "republic" in the Bicol region if unconstitutional moves to oust President Arroyo succeeded.
 
Lee said that even the groups pressuring the President to resign were working against the Constitution because the decision of resignation must come from herself alone.
 
"What will happen to the votes people cast, which have given the President a mandate? Will they just come to naught?" Lee asked.
 
Lee said Bicol is a strategic region because it supplies a significant volume of power to Metro Manila with its two geothermal plants.
 
He said that if Ms Arroyo is unseated unconstitutionally, they could cut power supply to Metro Manila.
 
But Legazpi City Vice Mayor Jess Rico Salazar said there was no need for a mini-republic in the country or in the province. "We will not survive as a nation. It will only divide us even more," he said.
 
In Koronadal City, the move to create a Mindanao Republic would only worsen the decades-old conflict on the island, according to South Cotabato Gov. Daisy Fuentes.
 
The establishment of an independent Mindanao was being peddled by One People Mindanao, a group headed by former Transportation Secretary Pantaleon Alvarez.
 
Alvarez's group even came up with a flag for the proposed republic, a yellow octagram adorned by eight stars, and a "national anthem."
 
Alvarez said his group has been gaining support with the protests that have been rocking the capital.
 
Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said he would support the creation of a separate government for Mindanao if Ms Arroyo was ousted through violent means. Duterte is Ms Arroyo's antiterror adviser.
 
 

 
 
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Mindanao execs threaten secession if Arroyo ousted
 
First posted 09:10pm (Mla time) July 12, 2005
Inquirer News Service
 
 
 
Editor's Note: Published on page A19 of the July 13, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
 
 

MINDANAO's governors, city and town mayors and a few congressmen signed a resolution Tuesday vowing to form an independent Mindanao republic should efforts to unseat President Macapagal-Arroyo through unconstitutional means succeed.
 
The officials signed the resolution after hours of heated discussion.
 
Political leaders gathered here for the first Mindanao political summit and declared their support for the Constitution and the government of President Macapagal-Arroyo. But they threatened to secede from whoever takes power through extra-legal means.
 
The group called Southern Alliance of Elected Leaders (SAEL), rejected calls for the President to resign. The group is composed of 22 governors, 11 city mayors and 115 town mayors across Mindanao.
 
A separate resolution also called for a constitutional assembly to implement immediate change in the Constitution. This dampened calls from Mindanao federalists who wanted a Constitutional Convention.
 
Another resolution supported the stand of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) which exhorted the rule of law in resolving the political crisis that face the Arroyo administration.
 
"We vow not to recognize any leader who will take over the government," Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said in his closing remark.
 
Arturo Davin, mayor of Davao del Sur town of Magsaysay, said he favored the creation of an independent Mindanao because he had grown tired of the centralized government in Manila.
 
"It's better if we are on our own," Davin said.
 
Misamis Oriental Gov. Loreto Leo Ocampos said any successful but unconstitutional manner of unseating the president would mean independence for Mindanao.
 
"All governors of Mindanao will declare their respective provinces independent republics," Ocampos said.
 
Sarangani governor Miguel Rene Dominguez said: "Manila is not the Philippines. Manila people should stop deciding for the destiny of this nation."
 
"It's now high time for us to cut the umbilical cord so Mindanao can move on. We need to focus on the island's development," Dominguez, the youngest governor in Mindanao, said.
 
After the summit, a group composed of non-commissioned officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police and the Bureau of Jail and Bureau of Fire Protection, also read a statement expressing their support for the present government and condemning all acts that seek the President's ouster.
 
But militant groups staged their oust-Arroyo protest outside the hotel where the summit was held. Germelina Lacorte, Dennis Jay Santos, Anthony Allada, Rolly Pinsoy, Ryan Rosauro, Aquiles Zonio, Grace Cantal-Albasin, PDI Mindanao Bureau
 
 
 
 
 
Copyright 2006 Inquirer News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 
 

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