ARMED Forces of the Philippines spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla on Monday told police and military officials not to look at the ongoing war against terror as a religious war and called a plan to issue a Muslim-only ID discriminatory.
“We are not saying that our Muslim brothers are part of this rebellion,” Padilla said at a Palace news briefing. “Only a few of them are. This is not a fight between religions… This is a fight between [the government and] evil forces that are bringing havoc to Marawi, period. Religion has no involvement here.”
Padilla tagged proposals for a Muslim-only ID system in Central Luzon as discriminatory, noting that the authorities should not look at a person’s religion when asking for proof of identification.
“We’ve stated our opinion that it is discriminatory when you ask for identification from one sector of society only,” he said in Filipino.
“So our proposal is that when we start checking IDs of individuals, it must be applicable to everyone,” Padilla said.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana earlier expressed opposition to the plan to issue IDs only for Muslims, saying that security officials should “reconsider their actions” and warned of negative repercussions should they persist.
Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said given the anti-terrorist drive, a proposal for a national ID system made sense.
“IDs will eventually be really necessary for the entire nation,” Abella said.