{"id":109013,"date":"2017-07-31T03:42:46","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T07:42:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=109013"},"modified":"2017-07-31T03:42:47","modified_gmt":"2017-07-31T07:42:47","slug":"palawan-to-oppose-inclusion-in-bangsamoro-territory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/07\/31\/palawan-to-oppose-inclusion-in-bangsamoro-territory\/","title":{"rendered":"Palawan to oppose inclusion in Bangsamoro territory"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Palawan<\/a>
Palawan First District Rep. Franz Alvarez, 2nd District Rep. Frederick Abueg, and 3rd District Rep. Gil Acosta vowed to make their opposition loud and clear in the House of Representatives. (PNA photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, July 31 \u2013 Palawan will strongly oppose its renewed inclusion in the new independent state that is being proposed under the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).<\/span><\/p>\n

Palawan First District Rep. Franz Alvarez, 2nd District Rep. Frederick Abueg, and 3rd District Rep. Gil Acosta vowed to make their opposition loud and clear in the House of Representatives.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe three of us will be together in the lower house to fight against Palawan\u2019s re-inclusion in the Bangsamoro territory because the people already said no in the past. The votes for non-inclusion in the past plebiscites were very, very resounding. It has not reached the House, but when it gets there, of course, the three of us will oppose strongly,\u201d Abueg said in a phone interview with the Philippine News Agency (PNA).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPalawan has made a decision already, if I\u2019m not mistaken, this is the third or fourth time. Our position about it is clear, we will not join,\u201d Acosta said in an earlier interview, adding the province is not adjoined to Mindanao.<\/span><\/p>\n

Acosta added “not even all Muslims in the province want to be part of the Bangsamoro independent state.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For his part, Alvarez confirmed that all three of them have talked about the concern and agreed to oppose the renewed inclusion.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAll three of us have discussed this and we agreed we will oppose Palawan\u2019s inclusion and (express)the sentiments of our district,\u201d Alvarez said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Abueg clarified they do not oppose the BBL as a means to achieve lasting peace in Mindanao, but only the fact that the province had been included again in the draft.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLet us clarify that we do not oppose the BBL. What we oppose is that Palawan is there again being mentioned in the draft,\u201d he stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Opposition to the renewed inclusion of Palawan in the proposed independent state that would eventually replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) started to mount last week.<\/span><\/p>\n

On July 25, members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan unanimously approved a resolution authored by Board Member David Francis Ponce de Leon which expressed strong objection to the proposed inclusion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ponce de Leon said there had been five attempts to include Palawan in the Bangsamoro territory, but all failed because of the \u201coverwhelming rejection\u201d by residents who voted 95 percent against.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEven the Muslim residents peacefully residing in the municipalities of Balabac, Bataraza, Brooke\u2019s Point, and Sofronio Espa\u00f1ola in southern Palawan joined in voting against the same (inclusion),\u201d said the board member.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the Sangguniang Panlungsod, city councilors unanimously passed Monday morning a resolution also vehemently opposing the inclusion in the said Bangsamoro state.<\/span><\/p>\n

Councilor Nesario Awat took advantage of the Privilege Hour in the Sangguniang Panlungsod to articulate his opposition to the inclusion of the province in the anticipated Bangsamoro state.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to recall that in the previous administrations a long time ago that Puerto Princesa is against the inclusion of Palawan in that proposed BBL. It is incumbent upon all of us to act on this,\u201d Awat said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Councilor Victor Oliveros also spoke during the Privilege Hour and reiterated the city\u2019s position against the inclusion.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn Palawan, who are here are the Cuyunon, the Agutaynen, the Batak, the Tagbanua, there is no Moro\u2026 We are not also contiguous to Mindanao, and it cannot also be said that we\u2019re adjoined there because of the sea,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Oliveros said his opposition is not at all saying he is not one with \u201cour Muslim brothers\u201d in wanting peace in Mindanao.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe respect our Muslim brothers, and we respect them. However, I will not agree to Palawan\u2019s inclusion to the Bangsamoro state,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, senior Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leader Estino Jairi Ayyobie, who belongs to the Yusop Jikiri faction, clarified that the mention of Palawan in Section 1, Article II of the BBL draft only pertains to the Bangsamoro Identity.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the draft BBL, he said the first that was mentioned is the core area of the ARMM. Then the expanded area, which includes Cotabato City, some municipalities in Lanao del Norte, and some barangays in North Cotabato.<\/span><\/p>\n

Palawan, Ayyobie stated, is not included in the expanded area.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPalawan was only mentioned in the Bangsamoro identity\u2026 what\u2019s said there, as far as I know, is including Bangsamoro in Palawan. It did not say Palawan is included only the Bangsamoro people living in Palawan,\u201d Ayyobie stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Section 1 of the BBL draft said the Bangsamoro Identity is: \u201cThose who, at the advent of the Spaniards, were considered natives or original inhabitants of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago and its adjacent islands, including Palawan, and their descendants, whether of mixed blood or full blood, shall have the right to identify themselves as Bangsamoro by ascription or self-ascription. Spouses and their descendants are classified Bangsamoro.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

If in Balabac there are 15,000 registered qualified voters, and 10% signed for petition, they can be part of the plebiscite \u2013 90 days before plebiscite they can file to join,\u201d Ayyobie said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The BBL was a bill deliberated upon by the 16th Congress of the Philippines that would have established a proposed new autonomous political entity known as the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (BAR) replacing ARMM.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Basic Law would have provided for the essential structure of government for the BAR, and enacted the agreements set forth in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, which is the peace agreement signed between the Government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in 2014.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, July 31 \u2013 Palawan will strongly oppose its renewed inclusion in the new independent state that is …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":109016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[20102,2994],"class_list":["post-109013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-bangsamoro-territory","tag-palawan","mauthors-celeste-anna-r-formoso","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}