AhlulBayt News Agency - Muslims in the Philippines have expressed deep concern over reports of a pledge made by a provincial town mayor to force thousands of Muslim residents out of the settlement, as part of his campaign to counter drug trafficking.
The Manila Times claimed that Amadeo Gregorio Perez, the mayor of the town of Urdaneta, in the Pangasinan province, has blamed all drug-trafficking in the region on Muslims, and ordered every adherent to that faith to leave the area. He has given them three weeks.
Delivering at a flag-raising ceremony on Monday, the mayor cited a report from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) making the claim that 84 percent of the over 5,000 Muslims who reside in the area are engaged in drug smuggling.
But Urdaneta City Mayor has denied that he has ordered Muslim residents out of his city in Pangasinan province.
According to Manila Times, mayor stated that most crime in the area, whether murder, robbery, rape or assassination, is linked to drug dealers. As a solution to the problem, Perez told local authorities to ban Muslims from entering the urban area. He also ordered non-Muslim property owners in Urdaneta who rent living or business space to Muslims to evict them.
Urdaneta’s local economy is heavily dependent on businesses run by Muslims, with some 400 dry goods stalls, and other distribution and retail establishments, dispersed across the city.
Responding to the news, the governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Mujiv Hataman, said he "would like to believe that this isn't true, because this is nothing but discrimination.”
Hataman observed that the evidence offered by the small town mayor is absurd, and pointed out that expelling the entire Muslim community from the area will not end crime.
"[These are] mindless acts that are clearly prejudiced against our Muslim brothers and sisters, especially when these violate their constitutionally protected and fundamental human rights, including their right to life and liberty, to be secure in their persons, and to freely practice their religion as Filipinos of faith,” Interaksyon cited Hataman saying.
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