“It is an outright silly, illegal, if not unconstitutional idea,” Pimentel

By Rexcel Sorza, IOL Correspondent 

ILOILO CITY, March 23 (IslamOnline.net) – A senior member of the Philippine legislature slammed the proposed issuance of a form of discrimination, which could cause ill-feeling between Christians and Muslims.

Senator Aquilino Pimentel said that the move to require Muslim residents in Metro Manila to carry with them identification cards (IDs) “smacks of discrimination which could only cause ill-feeling between Christians and Muslims”.

The “odious scheme” has the shade of the maltreatment of the Jews in Europe during the Second World War when it was occupied by German troops of Adolf Hitler, Pimentel said in a statement sent to IslamOnline.net dated Sunday, March 21.

He said the move reminds him of Hitler making Jews wear the Star of David badge in Nazi Europe.

While Pimentel said the planned identification system is supposedly intended to root out terrorists and criminals hiding in Muslim communities, it would alienate Muslims.

It would give the impression that Muslims are the usual suspects in every terrorist incident, said Pimentel, who is from Muslim populated Mindanao Island.

Why Not Christians

Pimentel agreed with Taha Basman, president of the Philippine Islamic Council, who said the ID system for Muslim residents would be tantamount to double standards since there is no similar scheme for Christians.

Basman has lambasted the proposal as “a double standard,” that reinforces the stereotype of Muslims as terrorists.

“It is an outright silly, illegal, if not unconstitutional idea. What if Christians and lumads [indigenous people] are made to bear IDs in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao or other Moro areas?” Pimentel said.

Scrap It

In view of the potentially divisive effects of such scheme on Christian-Muslim relations, Pimentel advised President Gloria Arroyo to scrap it immediately.

If an identification system is implemented by the government, it should apply to all citizens. In this connection, he said he is supporting the long-standing proposal in Congress for a national identification system, he said.

Pimentel believed that the move will not only boost the campaign against terrorism, insurgency and common criminality but also facilitate the ordinary citizens’ official business transactions with government and private agencies.

‘Big Push’

Manila, on the other hand, said that the Muslim community leaders offered to spearhead the implementation of an ID system in a bid to bring down the incidence of crime in the metropolis.

In a radio interview, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said the move would give a big push for Arroyo’s peace and order initiatives.

Under the plan, Metro Manila-based Muslim organizations would enforce the implementation of the ID system without direct involvement of the government.

“Based on reports that we received, there are some Muslim organizations that volunteered themselves in implementing an ID system, and this will be on a voluntary basis," Bunye said.

Bunye clarified, however, that the projected ID system still has to be coordinated with the pertinent authorities to ensure that the civil rights of the Muslims would be protected.

Replication Possible

He said the government would look at the possibility of implementing the scheme in other ethic communities in the metropolis.

The issuance of IDs to Muslims in Metro Manila came about in response to the call of law enforcement authorities for a system of identifying residents in Muslim communities and for monitoring the movements of suspicious characters, particularly terrorists and criminal elements.

Director Ricardo de Leon, the chief of the National Capital Region Police Office, announced earlier that some 30 Muslim leaders had conveyed to him their plan to adopt the ID system this week.