Posted 2/1/2024, 10:42:00 AM
Duterte's Proposed Mindanao Secession Viewed as Ploy to Evade ICC Probe, Opposed by Lawmakers as Worsening Inequality
- Duterte recently proposed Mindanao secede, which a lawmaker believes is to escape ICC probe into his drug war
- Timing is suspicious - Duterte did not push for this during his term when allies dominated Congress
- Mindanao lawmakers oppose, say it stokes divides as region gets little national budget
- Mindanao needs socioeconomic reforms, not independence, such as agrarian reform and national industrialization
- Poverty declined but remained higher in Mindanao than Luzon; self-rated poverty increased under Duterte