SURPRISINGLY, the elections in Lanao del Sur, a place that people would typically comment as “dangerous,” may have had a more peaceful Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) plebiscite than in Lanao del Norte - even if LDN is supposed to be a relatively “more peaceful” place than LDS.

There was much anticipated turmoil for the Lanao del Norte plebiscite. Part of the preparations for whatever may erupt on the election day, more than 10,000 soldiers and police personnel were deployed for the elections. Around 2,000 was for Lanao del Norte.

Some of them were even from the Visayas region. Much hand in police power was needed for that day.

The expectations for possible commotions did happen a day before the Lanao del Norte plebiscite.

February 5, there were reports of explosions in Lala and Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte at 4:35 p.m. and 4:50 p.m., respectively.

The explosion in Lala happened in front of a gasoline station. In Kauswagan, it was behind the municipal hall.

No one claimed responsibility for the blasts yet, but based on the timing, it may have been related to the BOL.

Unofficial results of the plebiscite in the towns of Lanao del Norte showed that most of the municipalities voted “no” for their inclusion in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

With this, we can say that the campaigns by the Quibranza-Dimaporos against BOL may have been effective and successful.

In their campaigns, they argued about the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), their records, and tactics, among others.

In some of Lanao del Norte Congressman Mohammad Khalid Quibranza Dimaporo’s campaigns in his Facebook page, he said that they do not want Lanao del Norte to be part of the lack of transparency that the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) has, which may also still happen in BARMM.

They also argued that Commander Bravo of the MILF also has pending cases.

They also discussed about how the BARMM would break the agreement between the Philippine Government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

But should the identity of the authors of BARMM be associated with the advocacy and goals of the new region?

BARMM is already being molded to become the ideal government for the peace and progress in Mindanao.

Isn’t it enough that BARMM was created to finally end the years of fighting in Muslim Mindanao?

Instead of being skeptical over the rise of BARMM, we should now all turn our heads to the proper implementation of the new region—we should now make sure that BARMM will not fail.

(rizsunio@gmail.com)