We are Sub-Saharan Mindanao

This is a poignant display of paternal devotion as a father carries his son through the rain, braving the journey along the entry trail to Mt. Apo, the highest mountain in the Philippines, located in Bansalan, Davao | Photo by Ritchie Basilio via Wikimedia

Earlier last week, Professor Richard Heydarian of Ateneo De Manila appeared on CNN to discuss the recent ICC arrest of former President Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte. During the interview, he compared Duterte supporters to Trump’s MAGA voting base and proceeded to diminish the cultural values of Southern Mindanao, characterizing the South as uniformly impoverished. “I came from the North of the country where our Human Development Index is almost Southern Europe,” Heydarian claimed. “But if you go to Mindanao, their Human Development Index is Sub-Saharan African level.”

Thus, “Sub-Saharan Mindanao” was born.

The response from the Mindanao diaspora has gone through all the stages of grief. Many netizens have targeted Heydarian, calling him Yawa or devil, Tikalon or liar, and a few less-than-pleasant ad hominem attacks, calling him out for his elitism and arrogance. Isabela City in Basilan initially declared Heydarian as “persona non grata.” A few days later, Sitti Djalia Turabin, the mayor of Isabela City, publicly apologized to Richard Heydarian on Facebook in honor of Ramadan, saying, “With all the hatred and pain pulling us apart, I say this is one of those opportunities where instead of being correct, we can choose to be kind.”

The spirit of unity that fuels this level of resilience and forgiveness is a clear indicator of advanced emotional development; it is a form of development that can only be nourished in the right social conditions that promote harmony and care. The stereotypes that fuel the capital of the Philippines stem from an unexplainable desire to arrange themselves in the utmost proximity to their former colonizers. If you really think about the reasoning Heydarian divulged in that interview, his greatest flex is essentially sharing with the world that the westernization of the North — its proximity to the “First World,” as he so endearingly calls it — is legitimate grounds to claim moral superiority over “the Solid South,” who support Duterte.

Bayanihan of Sub-Saharan Mindanao

What Heydarian missed in his comments was the deeper human and emotional development nurtured in the Southern Mindanao region. The region’s values of bayanihan (community unity) and resilience represent a higher form of emotional intelligence and human development that transcend mere economic measures, which is why many netizens responded to the ignorance with humor, posting AI images on municipality pages that integrate the Sub-Saharan terrain with Filipino landmarks, citing “Wakanda Forever!”

Bayanihan encapsulates the spirit of solidarity, mutual aid, and compassion, essential for creating social harmony. It’s not just about surviving poverty and identifying with the erasure many people of color experience abroad; it’s about thriving through shared values, prioritizing collectivism, unity, and emotional maturity.

Bob Marley once said, “Some people are so poor, all they have is money.” The social status-obsessed culture of Manila, with its fixation on proximity to the “First World,” often reflects a colonial mindset — a desire to emulate the West’s development model. Heydarian’s statements not only echo this desire for “Westernization” but also expose a problematic belief in moral superiority based solely on economic indicators, overlooking the cultural and emotional depth of places like my beloved “Sub-Saharan Mindanao.” This is ironic, considering that the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Human Development Index (HDI) was created to measure factors beyond monetary wealth contributing to human flourishing.

Noli Nos Tangere: Touch Us Not

As a Liberian Filipina raised in Mindanao, I spend my time between New York City and Purok Solid South, Santo Niño, Mindanao, Philippines. In my observations of wealth inequality in both countries, I’ve observed that wealth inequality in the Philippines is so extreme that the only means to navigate the social ladder truly is to either commodify your morality and be incredibly individualistic, as Heydarian has done, or to leave the country and turn your peso-earning into dollars. From that juncture, you either maintain ties to your cultural heritage by sending remittances to preserve traditional collectivist values known as “utang ng loob” or “debt of the soul” to the loving people who raised you, or you can be a bit more westernized and abandon these responsibilities.

The alternative, of course, is that you can choose to become more westernized, egoistic, and individualistic, save all your money, and live your elderly years isolated from the family that could’ve ushered you into a happier, less lonely conclusion to your life. Duterte has so many supporters because of his collectivist approach to policy-making. A notable Filipina journalist and former government official, Dr. Lorraine Marie Badoy, observed a key difference in lunch preparations in Malacañang Palace during the past two administrations. Under the Duterte administration, government staff ate dried fish and soup for lunch. “I apologize for the simple lunch,” Duterte would say. “We need to be more modest with our spending because the money that pays for this lunch belongs to the Filipino people.” However, the current Marcos presidency would use public funds to feast like kings in a buffet full of lobsters every single day.

I guess if it all goes south for Marcos Jr., he’d still make a good living selling his mother’s shoe collection and still be a billionaire.

Editor’s Note: The Philippine Daily Mirror welcomes Elaine J.E.. Degale as a columnist. Ms. Degale’s column, The Dreamweaver, will appear every Thursday. Her initial column, We are sub-Saharan, appears today as her column handle is being prepared.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Elaine Joy Edaya Degale is a Black-Filipina writer and lecturer at community colleges within the City University of New York (CUNY) and has an Ed.M. and M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia University.

She graduated cum laude from Mount Holyoke College, where she studied International Relations and Development, and continues to support literacy and food programming efforts in Indigenous communities through her Community-Based organization, OperationMerienda.org.