EDITORIAL — The ballot, not the bullet

Fake news is proliferating on a wide range of issues while warnings of violence are circulating on social media, meant to sow confusion, harass or intimidate candidates and voters alike.

At the same time, real violence, armed intimidation and vote buying are being reported, threatening to undermine the first parliamentary election in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The BARMM vote today is another major step in the continuing effort to bring enduring peace to the Bangsamoro. Two peace agreements have been signed, first with the Moro National Liberation Front and then with its breakaway group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

The MILF, whose grip on the regional government has been weakened by internal disagreements, is competing under the United Bangsamoro Justice Party with its own breakaway group and rival Muslim factions for a controlling majority in the BARMM parliament.

Decommissioning of the MILF’s armed wing, the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, has yet to be completed, even as several members of the BIAF have been integrated into regular state security forces. Decommissioning is one of the key commitments between the MILF and the government  under the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro.

Peace observers have pointed out that in other countries, rebels are first fully disarmed before elections are held. The MILF had unilaterally stopped the decommissioning in July last year, accusing the government of failure to deliver “substantially on its socioeconomic commitments.”

The MILF halted the decommissioning four months after President Marcos replaced the group’s chairman Al-Haj Murad Ebrahim with BIAF chief of staff Abdulraof Macacua as BARMM chief minister. In September, the MILF stripped Macacua of his post as the group’s military chief. 

Of an estimated 40,000 MILF combatants, only over 26,000 have been decommissioned.

As the first peace deal showed, armed conflict in the Bangsamoro region keeps threatening to bubble up anew. When a peace deal is signed, members dissatisfied with the terms break away and form new groups.

Such breakaway groups are common even in regular politics in this country where a genuine party system is non-existent.

The main concern in the BARMM is that breakaway factions might resume armed struggle – something that can be relatively easy to do, considering the proliferation of firearms in the region. Armed groups in the BARMM even have rocket-propelled grenades, which they have not hesitated to use on their rivals. 

As the BARMM goes to the polls today, every effort must be made to ensure that its people have replaced bullets with ballots in attaining their aspirations.

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