Why ARMM?
The same cast of characters that marred the 2004 elections in the ARMM were activated for the 2007 mid-term elections. The Comelec has been exposed as the main instrument of the Arroyo administration for the massive fraud that took place, and is thus most immediately liable.
The cheaters and their patrons have been taking advantage of the prevailing socio-economic, political and cultural conditions of the Bangsamoro people to advance their vested interests. Extreme poverty is a condition that has been fully exploited by the poll cheaters who believe that anyone in dire need can be bribed.
The ARMM is one of the poorest regions in the entire country. Its per capita gross regional domestic product is only P3,433 or a staggering 75.8 percent lower than the national average. Poverty incidence in the region is a high 45.4 percent in 2003, almost twice the national average of 24.4 percent.
Based on 2003 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS), ARMM has the lowest literacy rate with seven out of 10 persons aged 10 to 64 years considered as basically literate. It also has the lowest functional literacy rate with 62.9 percent.
The Bangsamoro have traditional practices for selecting leaders which involve ijima (consensus) and shura (consultation). Elections have led to the disintegration and corruption of these traditional practices to varying degrees. Moreover, mayors have now generally become more influential than the sultans thus underscoring the fierce rivalry for such local elective positions.
The Maranaos have a traditional practice called ‘kanduri’ or thanksgiving, in which gifts are shared with extended family on special occasions like birth and others. Kanduri has been exploited by politicians; it is used as a guise for bribing voters and provides cultural acceptability for such illegal and corrupt practices.
While the wealthy and powerful spend hundreds of millions of pesos on their electoral campaigns, buying out rival candidates, rigging votes and engaging in various other forms of electoral manipulation, the Bangsamoro people suffer a deprivation of essential social services, maldevelopment and extreme poverty.
Although elections seem to have become an opportunity for the poor and desperate to earn a few pesos, it is undoubtedly the grand cheaters in power who bag the biggest loot.
As in the 2004 presidential elections, the Arroyo government has cynically and deliberately exploited the impoverished and anarchic situation in Mindanao to achieve its narrow partisan objectives. It has belabored an incredible 12-0 sweep by Team Unity in selected provinces, as part of a clumsy attempt to shoehorn its trailing candidates into the 11th and 12th slots in the national count. Ultimately, the Arroyo administration must bear the onus of failing miserably in fostering conditions for fair, credible, and free elections in Muslim Mindanao. ##
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2007 Elections
