IDs for Muslims? A Philippine town’s response to terror says a lot about interfaith relations

Critics say the town of Paniqui’s Muslim ID programme, presented as a defence against Islamic terrorism, is more a symbol of longstanding distrust stemming from the nation’s colonialist history

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Filipinos gather for an inter-faith prayer service in Quezon City, east of Manila, Philippines. The interfaith prayer service, carried the message of peace, unity and safety from foreign invasion and terrorism. Photo: EPA

Published: 11:02am, 16 Jul 2017Updated: 11:01am, 16 Jul 2017

“It is actually hilarious, if not tragically sad.”

That is how Muslim lawyer Laisa Alamia described recent reports that a town on the island of Luzon, far from brutal fighting in the southern Philippines, is now bringing in ID cards exclusively for Muslims. Last week officials in the town of Paniqui, about 150km north of the capital Manila, said they would introduce the system, even though they had never had any problems with local Muslims.

On May 23, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared 60 days of martial law in the southern region of Mindanao. There, fighting has raged between government forces and Islamic militants in and around the city of Marawi, and Duterte has said he may extend military rule in the area until government forces completely wrest back control of the area. While he has also suggested extending martial law across all of the Philippines, Luzon is as yet under no such restrictions.

Children line up to receive lunch at an evacuation centre outside the city as army troops continue their assault against insurgents from the Maute group in Marawi, Philippines. Photo: Reuters

Eliseo Mercado, a Catholic missionary and senior policy adviser at the Institute for Autonomy and Governance, a think tank specialising in the peace process between the Philippine government and southern insurgencies, described the measure as “discriminatory, xenophobic, and reactionary”.

More than 10 per cent of the country’s population is Muslim. Only 25,000 of them live in Central Luzon, a large administrative region with a population of 10 million. Those Muslims live in 116 towns, including Paniqui, where officials say the ID policy is necessary because they do not want terrorists operating there.