WE ALL want change in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). I just hope that those who are plastering their names and faces on the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) campaigns are no longer bent on the kind of governance that also drove ARMM to poverty and conflict.
I hope that their campaigns isn't a strategy for an early 2019 campaign. Nonetheless, I can't seem to get rid of my cynicism over 2019 election-related matters.
The year 2019 is a crucial year for ARMM as the plebiscite voting to change it to BARMM is only days from now.
The BOL may dictate either a peaceful, bloody, or bloodier path for ARMM and its people. It may decide whether the Muslim minorities will finally be free from decades of poverty, illiteracy, and exclusion from the national bodily politic.
The poor state of ARMM now is not only because of the continuing conflicts and skirmishes in the Region, but also because of the seemingly unjust distribution, provision, and augmentation of resources, social services, and funds.
As a matter of fact, we may conclude that most of these conflicts started as a rebellion to the inequality that the Muslim communities are experiencing in many aspects.
Support for BOL is crucial as a step to finally change ARMM for the better. I understand that given the skepticism and opposition against the emerging Region, various and eclectic means to spread the word about the benefits of the implementation of BARMM and compelling messages to accept it is crucial.
But bad governance also led ARMM to its poor state in the present.
I hope that I'm just overthinking, but the large photos of names and political candidates beside BARMM campaigns often do not look and sound right to me.
I do hope that the traditionally crooked politicians who are not really bent on genuine change would get their hands off BARMM and not soil the Law's goals to finally bring needed change in the Region.
I do hope that they would not use the messages to merely get some spotlight on their candidacy.
rizsunio@gmail.com