Alvarez echoes FVR: Talk, talk better than bang, bang

Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez on Friday allayed fears about talks of Mindanao seceding from the Philippines, a notion that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. shot down the other day.

“What we intend to do is resort to reason and tap the peaceful and common aspirations of the Mindanaoan people. That is a legitimate and lawful exercise of our constitutional rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and organization,” Alvarez said.

He disputed claims that his and former President Rodrigo Duterte’s secession proposal is a breach of Philippine laws, citing a recent remark of ex-Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, who saw the plan not as a threat and, thus, not a ground for sedition.

Duterte threatened to secede Mindanao from the rest of the Philippines last week if Marcos would insist on amending the 1987 Constitution for term extension and not just to correct allegedly flawed economic provisions.

Just like the House of Representatives, which pushed for a Constituent Assembly for charter change, Duterte and Alvarez were looking at a People’s Initiative to back their secede move.

Marcos warned that secession is a “grave violation” of the law, with the National Security Adviser, Eduardo Año, warning any real secession would be met with force.

“The government will meet any attempt to secede any part of the Philippines with resolute force, as it remains steadfast in securing the sovereignty and integrity of the national territory,” Año said.

Alvarez, however, maintained that the secession movement would be carried through a peaceful act and would not fall “under these categories of criminal acts.”

“The information drive and signature campaign will be done in a peaceful manner in accordance with domestic and international law. Violence is not part of the equation. As former president FVR (Fidel V. Ramos) said: talk, talk, talk is better than bang, bang, bang,” Alvarez said.