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Monday, March 18, 2013

Govt’s priority position on Sabah issue is to save lives, says DILG Sec Roxas

By Rene V. Carbayas

ISABELA CITY, Basilan – Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas stressed that the Philippine Government has been treating the Sabah incident with utmost care and sensitivity, giving priority to saving lives.
Speaking before hundreds of spectators at the 39th Founding Anniversary of Basilan province on March 7, the interior chief explained the position of government in treating the Sabah incident, saying that there are underlying principles that guide the decision of President Aquino III, including the actions of those under his administration.

Roxas said that he was saddened by the propaganda that spread around Basilan against the President and his administration. He dismissed the accusation that the President is “anti-Muslim, pro-Malaysia, anti-Filipino, indifferent, and does not care for fellow-Filipinos.”

“Itong mga paninirang ito ay parang nahiwa ang aking puso sa sakit dahil masasabi ko po sa inyo, peksman po ito, na ang ating pangulo ay walang humpay at walang tigil…sabi nga niya sa akin ang pinaka-priority natin ay maisalba natin ang buhay ng ating mga kapwa-Pilipino (These accusations really breaks my heart. I would assure you and attest to you that the President has been working so hard. He [the President] said to me that his priority is to save the lives of our fellow-Filipinos),” Roxas said.

He further explained that the decisions and pronouncements of the President were based primarily on what is best for most Filipinos.

“Di lang ito buhay ng dalawang daang mga tao sa Sabah, dagdag pa rin diyan ang buhay ng halos walong daang libong mga kababayan natin na tahimik na naghahanap-buhay doon sa Malaysia. Dagdag pa doon ang buhay, paghahanap-buhay at katahimikan at progreso ng halos isang daang libong mga Pilipino na andito sa ating bansa (It is not just the lives of 200 people in Sabah, but also the lives of some 800,000 Filipinos that reside and work in Malaysia. Added to these are the livelihood, peace, and progress of hundreds of thousands of Filipinos affected here),” the DILG chief said.

Roxas said that there is a difference between propaganda and performance. He likened propaganda with playing Ping-Pong, with just hitting on both sides. “But this is not a game. This is not just propaganda; the lives of the people are at stake here.”

He said the President will defend the very principle that must reign in the context of the Sabah issue, which is the “primacy of the person”, the value of every person. “It is the primacy of the person and not propaganda and politics,” he said.

Roxas said that the President likened this principle to how this government empathizes with the victims of calamities and to those OFWs trapped in conflicts abroad like in Syria where the government would do everything in its power to save them.

He explained that the president and his administration deeply understood the sensitivity of the situation that is why the president allowed two weeks of earnest negotiations with the Kirams before he released a statement to the media.

“And since the Kirams insisted and stood firm on their cause, the President then decided in humility to appeal to the Kirams through the media since they don’t anymore listen to the emissary sent by the President. That is why on February 25 the President released a statement.


“The President said that time is of the essence and we are running out of time. Let us solve this issue soon before anybody else gets hurt because we know what will happen and the magnitude this will affect us if we pass through the deadline set by Malaysia and there will be bloodshed,” Roxas said, explaining that this is not an act of arrogance on the part of the president but an act of humility being the Father of the nation.

He called on the people of Mindanao not to be swayed by the confusion, propaganda, and deception of those who use the Sabah issue to discount the president and his administration for their own vested interest.

“Ang ating pangulo, ang pamahalaan at inyong mga lideres ay iisa po ang aming patakaran ay kung ano ang ikabubuti ng aming mga ‘boss’ (The President, your government and your leaders have one common policy, i.e. for the betterment of our ‘boss’, the Filipino people),” he concluded. (PIA9)