By: Alex P. Vidal
“The way that people dress makes them part of an army, dressed in their own uniform, determined to do something.” – Suzy Menkes
BEFORE Chief Supt. John Bulalacao leaves the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6), he should enlighten the Ilonggos if the recent alleged “massive” recruitment of Ilonggos in Calinog, Iloilo supposedly for enlistment in the armed forces of the “Royal Maharlika Tribes 1-Nation” was legal and authorized by the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Army.
Sources said the group has been recruiting “soldiers” from Mindanao and in some parts of the Visayas; and, recently, it recruited several Ilonggos in Calinog, Iloilo.
The recruits filled up an application form with a sub-title of “Panay Tribal Governance for Self-Determination and Empowerment” and “Rajahnate of Panay.”
Are we being governed by another sovereign state right in our own independent civilian republic?
Are the police and military authorities keeping a blind eye on this enlistment in a private army?
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The recruited soldiers supposedly will serve for the Royal Maharlika Federal Force with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Registration No. CN201730139 and Tax Identification Number (TIN) 009-809-228.
Sources also obtained a document showing the group’s main headquarters is in Country Homes Ayala Subdivision, Zamboanga City and is headed by Bae Putri Princess Fatimah Hassah Dominguez, Princess Rajanahnate of Panai.
If the Royal Maharlika Tribes 1-Nation is legal, is the recruitment of soldiers for its “federal force” also legal and authorized?
Is the Royal Maharlika Federal Force authorized under the Philippine law to arm its recruits?
If not, then why was the group allowed to recruit in Iloilo without any supervision from the PNP and Philippine Army?
Or why they weren’t subdued and arrested?
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It’s over.
As expected, the Iloilo Dinagyang Foundation Inc. (IDFI) headed by Ramon Cua Locsin, will be phased out in favor of the Iloilo City Festivals Foundation Inc. (ICFF), which will be created under the new administration of Mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas.
Aside from Treñas’ spat with resigned IDFI vice president Marissa Segovia when the incoming city mayor complained in January this year that he was not invited in the annual festival, it’s a common knowledge that Locsin openly campaigned for Treñas’s rival, his own bilas, Mayor Jose “Joe III” Espinosa in the recent midterm elections.
Locsin, for his part, gambled not only his friendship with Treñas, but also IDFI’s “lucrative” enterprise when he opted to support Espinosa.
It would have been “happy days are still with us” had Espinosa won.
New York Senator William L. Marcy once declared, “To the victor belongs the spoils,” referring to the victory of Andrew Jackson in the US election of 1828.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)
