IPIL, Zamboanga del Norte — A Mindanao-wide state of the nation consultative meeting drew leaders from Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi to Zamboanga City on Saturday to discuss the current state of the nation and develop a unified stance on pressing issues.
Lawyer Nazir Ynawat, president of the Alliance of Advocates of Federalism in the Philippines (AAFP), welcomed around 100 delegates from the Zambasulta region at McQueens Resto along Pasonanca Road.
The forum was jointly organized by Benito Ranque and Cesar Cuntapay, governors of the Mayor Sara Duterte Alliance (MASADA), to help Mindanaons form a coordinated position on political developments that have largely isolated the region.
Cuntapay said similar meetings will be held in Sultan Kudarat for Central Mindanao, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, Caraga, and Northern Mindanao. The series of conferences is set to culminate in the first week of February with a major manifesto and resolution in Zamboanga City.
During the meeting, a Sama Group from the coastal islands of Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, and Sulu presented their views on the state of the nation. Retired police general Shepard Reyes, leading the group, told the Daily Tribune that the organization, which represents approximately 1.8 million tribal members, seeks representation in government through the party-list system in the BARMM region.
The Sama Group includes the Sama Badjao, Sama Bangingi, Sama Yakan, and other coastal and sea-dwelling communities of southern Philippines.
After the meeting, a professor interviewed by the Daily Tribune identified himself as one of the original signatories of the 1986 Declaration of Independence of Mindanao. The declaration was spearheaded by the late lawyer Reuben Canoy, who led a convention that year.
Canoy, in his book Quest for Mindanao Independence, recalled that Muslims from Brooke’s Point, Palawan, and tribal leaders from Bukidnon and Davao expressed support for an independent Mindanao. On 16 July 1986, the movement formally submitted its petition for federal statehood to the United Nations Secretariat in New York.
The professor suggested the movement could be revived if an independent country such as China or Russia recognized Mindanao’s independence, which could elevate its status to a belligerent entity under international law. He further proposed that an interim government could be established to oversee the transition.