COTABATO CITY—Administration presidential candidate Mar Roxas yesterday said he will correct the injustices that the Muslims in the south suffered under past presidents.
But at the same time, he recognized that the policies followed by these past administrations were probably the right decisions for that time, he said.
Roxas, accompanied by local Liberal Party leaders, including Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu and ARMM Vice Gov. Haroun Al-Rashid Lucman Jr., fielded questions in a forum organized by the Friends of Peace (FoP), and hosted by
Orlando Cardinal Quevedo, at the Bishops Palace here.
Mike Kulat of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society, asked Roxas if he would apologize for the alleged “historical injustices” against the Muslims by a succession of presidents if he wins.
If there were wrongs committed, he would correct them in his administration, Roxas answered.
“But I ascribe to those decisions made in the past as probably the right decisions under the circumstances and facts of the times [in which] they were made,” he said.
Abdulbassit Benito of the Bangsamoro Center for JustPeace, a member group of the FoP, asked Roxas whether he would honor the Aquino government’s commitment to peace if he wins.
Roxas said as President he would help push the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), but that he would find a “common ground for common interest” rather than upholding “bigger but not the common interest.”
He said he was not that certain that the proposed BBL as drafted by the Bangsamoro Transition Commission would pass legislative scrutiny as it was meant only for the Executive Branch.
If passed into law, the BBL will expand and replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), under a set-up dominated by the secessionist Moro Liberation Front, the main Muslim insurgency that signed a peace agreement with the Aquino government.
Roxas was asked what Mindanao could expect from a second Roxas presidency. (Roxas’ grandfather, Manuel Roxas, was the country’s third President.)
The candidate answered that his administration would be a continuity of the Aquino government’s development package for Mindanao, which means more infrastructure programs and “human services,” more classrooms and health facilities.
He noted that in the 12 years of the previous Estrada and Arroyo administrations, Mindanao had a total of P120 billion share of the infrastructure budget. During the five years of the Aquino administration, Mindanao has had a total of P260 billion in infrastructure funding, he said.
Roxas also said that out of the P300 billion budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways in 2016, P100 billion has been allocated for Mindanao infrastructure development.
He also sought to explain the “Muslim na mananakop” (Muslim invaders) phrase that he used during the last presidential debate to answer a question from Sen. Grace about his role in the conflict management of the 2013 Zamboanga siege.
Roxas said the phrase was not meant to malign all Muslims, but that he was using it to refer specifically to the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) responsible for the siege.
Roxas stood his ground on the use of the term mananakop, based on what he witnessed of the unfolding events in the 21 days he stayed in Zamboanga City to oversee the military-backed surgical police operation to put down the MNLF rebellion.
He said investigations into the Zamboanga incident conducted by government agencies like the Departments of Justice and the Interior and Local Government, through the Philippine National Police, as well as the city local government unit concluded that it was a case of invasion.