LIBERAL Party standard-bearer Mar Roxas on Monday clarified that he was referring to the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rebels when he said the phrase “Muslim na mananakop” during the second “PiliPinas” debates that drew the ire of some netizens.
“Hindi ko minamasama ang mga Muslim. Hindi ko minamasama ang relihiyon ng Islam,” Roxas told reporters during his campaign in Ilocos Sur.
Vehemently denying that his statement was an affront to the Muslim community, he said: “Sila lang, ‘yung mga sumugod at naghasik ng terorismo sa Zamboanga. ‘Yun lang naman ang aking katanungan. ‘Yun lang naman ang aking pinopoint-out.”
To describe the rogue MNLF elements who staged the Zamboanga City siege in September 2013, Roxas used “mga Muslim na mananakop” as he answered Senator Grace Poe’s question at the second round of the presidential debate in Cebu City organized by the Commission on Elections on Sunday.
Poe insinuated that the presence of President Benigno Aquino III at the frontlines during the Zamboanga Siege was proof that he doubted the competency of Roxas as the former chief of the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
Roxas explained that he stayed in the conflict-torn city for almost a month with Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and did not leave until the standoff ended.
After enumerating the number of casualties in the crisis, he then continued; “’Yan po ang mga casualty sa pagsisiguro na minimal ang mga civilian casualties doon sa pagsakop ng Zamboanga ng mga Muslim na mananakop.”
Roxas said those spinning and putting malice to the controversial phrase should be the one to explain the issue.
“Hindi ko nilalagyan ng malisya. ‘Yung mga naglalagay ng malisya, or spin, sila siguro ang dapat niyo tanungin. Ang akin ay backlash,” he said.
Meanwhile in a press briefing at the LP headquarters in Quezon City, “Daang Matuwid” coalition spokesperson and Akbayan Rep. Barry Gutierrez explained that the question Roxas was asked was clearly in the context of the Zamboanga siege.
“Noong ginamit niya ‘yung phrase na yon, he was specifically referring doon sa mga armadong mga elemento na pumasok sa Zamboanga at nanakop. Ngayon it was taken as ng ilang mga kakabayan natin a reference, panlalahat sa ating mga kapatid na muslim. Hindi yun definitely ang intensyon ni Secretary Mar,” Gutierrez said.
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