Press Release
May 15, 2012

Sponsorship Speech by Senator Franklin M. Drilon
Joint Resolution No. 17

MR. PRESIDENT, DISTINGUISHED COLLEAGUES.

WE RISE HERE TODAY TO SEEK THE SUPPORT OF THIS CHAMBER FOR THE IMMEDIATE APPROVAL OF SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 17, WHICH SEEKS TO ANNUL THE BOOK OF VOTERS IN THE AUTONOMOUS REGION OF MUSLIM MINDANAO (ARMM), DIRECT THE COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS (COMELEC) TO CONDUCT A NEW GENERAL REGISTRATION OF VOTERS IN THE REGION AND ALLOCATE THE NECESSARY RESOURCES FOR THE EXERCISE.

THE ARMM, CAME INTO BEING IN THE LATE 1990s AS AN ANSWER TO THE DECADES-OLD SECESSIONISM, TERRORISM AND OTHER LAWLESSNESS THAT THREATENED THE STABILITY OF THE MUSLIM-DOMINATED REGION OF SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES.

IT WAS INTENDED TO ADDRESSS THE GRIEVANCES OF THE BANGSA MORO AGAINST THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT AND PROVIDE A SPRING OF HOPE FOR THOSE WHO WENT THROUGH THE HORRORS AND RAVAGES OF WAR.

IT WAS CONCEIVED AS A SOLUTION AND AN ANTIDOTE TO THE REGION'S ENDEMIC, COMPLEX AND DEEP-SEATED PROBLEMS OF POVERTY, IGNORANCE, UNEMPLOYMENT, HEALTH AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, PEACE AND ORDER. YOU WILL ASK: AFTER TWENTY YEARS OF EXISTENCE, HAS ARMM SUCCEEDED IN PROVIDING SOLUTIONS TO THESE PROBLEMS? A GOOD NUMBER OF PEOPLE SAY IT IS A FAILED EXPERIMENT AND THE REGION STILL WALLOWS IN A QUAGMIRE OF POVERTY, NEGLECT AND VIOLENCE. WHY? ONE OF THE ROOT CAUSES OF THE UNSTABLE PEACE, UNDERDEVELOPMENT AND MISGOVERNANCE IN THE ARMM IS THE INSTITUTIONALIZED ELECTORAL DYSFUNCTIONS. ELECTION IN THE ARMM HAS BECOME A FARCE EXERCISE. ELECTION RESULTS ARE ALWAYS DUBIOUS.

PHILIPPINE LEGAL JURISPRUDENCE HAS BEEN ENRICHED WITH LANDMARK SUPREME COURT DECISIONS INVOLVING ELECTORAL CASES IN THE ARMM. DURING NATIONAL ELECTIONS, NATIONAL CANDIDATES - AND EVEN PARTY LIST GROUPS - WHO ARE IN FEAR OF LOSING TROOP TO THE ARMM AREAS TO COURT THE POLITICAL WARLORDS WHO WIELD ENORMOUS POWER THROUGH THE SO-CALLED "CONTROLLED VOTES" OR "COMMAND VOTES".

WHY ARE THESE HAPPENING? THEY ARE HAPPENING BECAUSE ASIDE FROM THE ARMM BEING A HOSTAGE OF THE POWER BROKERS IN MALACANANG WHICH IN THE PAST TOLERATED THE FRAUD, THESE POLITICAL WARLORDS HAVE A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY IN THEIR HOLD ON POLITICAL POWER DUE TO THEIR THOUSANDS OF FALSE, FAKE AND ILLEGAL REGISTRANTS EMBEDDED IN THE BOOK OF VOTERS.

THESE ARE HAPPENING BECAUSE THESE POLITICIANS FEEL THAT THEY CAN DO ANYTHING, EVEN TRAMPLE UPON THE LAW, ANYWAY, THEIR PADDED BOOK OF VOTERS CAN PERPETUATE THEM TO POWER AND INFLUENCE .

PRACTICALLY ALL STAKEHOLDERS IN THE ARMM AGREE THAT THE ANNULMENT OF THE PRESENT BOOK OF VOTERS AND A NEW GENERAL REGISTRATION MUST BE IMPLEMENTED BEFORE ANOTHER ELECTION IS CONDUCTED. OTHERWISE, OUR INVESTED EFFORTS TO INJECT TRUE DEMOCRACY IN THE ARMM WILL BE FOR NAUGHT AND THE OUTCOME OF ANY SUCCEEDING ELECTION CANNOT BE GUARANTEED TO BE CLEAN, HONEST, AND TRULY REFLECTIVE OF THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE OF THE ARMM.

TO PROVIDE A CLEARER PERSPECTIVE ON THE MATTER, WE PRESENT HERE FIGURES FROM THE NATIONAL STATISTICS OFFICE (NSO), WHICH HAD REPORTED ALARMINGLY OVERSTATED POPULATION FIGURES IN THE ARMM THAT SUGGEST THE PREVALENCE OF PADDED VOTERS LISTS IN THE REGION. FOR INSTANCE: 1) WHILE THE POPULATION IN THE ARMM WAS 4.1 MILLION IN 2007, A REVALIDATION BY NSO IN 2010 REVEALED ONLY A LITTLE MORE THAN 3.3 MILLION POPULATION; AND 2) WHILE THE COUNTRY'S POPULATION, EXCLUDING ARMM, GREW BY JUST 1.89 PERCENT BETWEEN 2000 AND 2007, ARMM REPORTED A POPULATION GROWTH RATE OF 5.46 PERCENT, WITH MAGUINDANAO AT 6.6 PERCENT AND BASILAN AT 6.44 PERCENT. CURIOUSLY, THE INCREASE WAS REPORTED IN THE ABSENCE OF SUPPORTING DEMOGRAPHIC FEATURES SUCH AS HIGH RATES OF BIRTH AND INWARD MIGRATION THAT ARE TYPICALLY OBSERVED IN HIGH GROWTH AREAS LIKE BULACAN, LAGUNA AND CAVITE. THUS, THEORETICALLY, THE VOTERS' LIST IN THE ARMM COULD BE INFLATED BY MORE THAN TWENTY PERCENT, ASSUMING ZERO POPULATION GROWTH RATE.

ALL IN ALL, THESE FIGURES CAST A SERIOUS DOUBT ON WHETHER THE ELECTORAL HISTORY OF THE ARMM MIRRORS THE TRUE WILL OF THE ELECTORATE THEREIN.

MR. PRESIDENT AND MY COLLEAGUES, IN THE RECENT PAST, CONGRESS WAS CALLED UPON TO TAKE A MONUMENTAL STEP TOWARDS REFORMING THE POLITICAL AND ELECTORAL SYSTEM IN THE ARMM. WE PASSED R.A. 10153 WHICH SYNCHRONIZES THE ARMM ELECTION WITH THE NATIONAL ELECTIONS.

AND TODAY, WE ARE SUMMONED AGAIN TO TAKE ANOTHER MAJOR STEP TOWARDS REFORM IN THE ARMM BY APPROVING JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 17. THIS TWIN MOVE WILL COMPLETE THE ROADMAP OF ELECTORAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS IN THE ARMM WHICH THIS GOVERNMENT IS PRESENTLY PURSUING WITH THE HELP OF CONGRESS.

IT IS OUR HOPE THAT THIS JOINT RESOLUTION WILL FINALLY PUT AN END TO THE FRAUDS AND IRREGULARITES IN THE CONDUCT OF ELECTIONS AND SPARE THE ARMM OF THE IGNOMINY OF BEING BILLED AS "THE CHEATING CAPITAL OF THE PHILIPPINES". AND IT WILL PUT AN END LIKEWISE TO THE SHENANIGANS AND ABUSES OF THE POLITICAL WARLORDS IN THE REGION WHO LOOK UPON THE PADDED BOOK OF VOTERS AS THEIR ARMORED SHIELD AGAINST PROSECUTION FOR COMMITTING ABUSES. IN OTHER WORDS, MR. PRESIDENT, DISTINGUISHED COLLEAGUES, FOUR THINGS WILL HAPPEN IF WE VOTE FOR THIS RESOLUTION: ONE, WE WILL BE TAKING AWAY THE "COMMAND VOTES" OF THESE UNSCRUPUOUS POLITICIANS INCLUDING THEIR SENSE OF IMPUNITY TO COMMIT UNBRIDLED ABUSES AND LAWLESSNESS; TWO, WE WILL BE TAKING AWAY THE PADDED BOOK OF VOTERS AND RESTORE TRUE DEMOCRACY AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE REGION BECAUSE THEN ONLY LEGITIMATE REGISTRANTS AND NO LONGER "THE GHOSTS AND THE BIRDS AND THE BEES" WILL DECIDE THE FATE OF THEIR LEADERS; THREE, IT WILL HOPEFULLY SET FREE THE REGION FROM THE BRIDLE OF POLITICAL DYNASTIES THAT HAS, FOR YEARS, ENTRAPPED THEM IN A MORASS OF POVERTY, STAGNATION, NEGLECT AND ABUSES; AND FOUR, IT WILL OPEN A NEW CHAPTER IN THE POLITICS OF THE REGION WITH THE EMERGENCE OF NEW, PRINCIPLED, EDUCATED AND REFORM-MINDED LEADERS WHO DO NOT RELY ON GUNS, GOLD AND GOONS TO BE IN POWER. TO FASTTRACK THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THIS MEASURE IN TIME FOR THE 2013 ELECTIONS, JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 17 DIRECTS THE COMELEC TO SUSPEND FOR THE WHOLE MONTH OF JULY 2012 THE REGISTRATION OF VOTERS IN NON-ARMM AREAS TO BE DESIGNATED BY THE COMELEC, AND REDEPLOY ITS PERSONNEL AND NECESSARY EQUIPMENT THEREIN TO THE ARMM.

IT ALSO ADVISES OR AUTHORIZES THE COMELEC TO RESORT TO APPROPRIATE ALTERNATIVE METHODS OF PROCUREMENT OF THE NECESSARY REGISTRATION EQUIPMENT AND PARAPHERNALIA.

THE DEPARTMENT OF BUDGET AND MANAGEMENT (DBM) ASSURES THAT THERE IS MONEY FOR THIS EXERCISE. THE AMOUNT NECESSARY SHALL BE CHARGED AGAINST THE SAVINGS OF THE COMELEC INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE SAVINGS REALIZED FROM THE POSTPONEMENT OF THE 2011 ARMM ELECTIONS. ANY ADDITIONAL FUNDING REQUIREMENT SHALL BE CHARGED AGAINST THE CONTINGENT FUND AUTHORIZED UNDER RA 10155 OR THE 2012 GENERAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT.

MR. PRESIDENT, COMELEC CHAIRMAN BRILLANTES ASSURED THE COMMITTEES THAT THE NEW GENERAL REGISTRATION CAN BE DONE AND THAT BY DECEMBER, A NEW LIST OF VOTERS FOR ARMM WOULD BE COMPLETED. A NUMBER OF OUR COLLEAUGES HAD RAISED THIS ISSUE TO THIS REPRESENTATION. AND LET ME QUOTE JUST TO PUT THIS ISSUE TO REST, THE PROCEEDINGS IN THE COMMITTEE DELIBERATION LAST FRIDAY, MAY 11. LET ME QUOTE CHAIRMA BRILLANTES AS SAYING "BASED ON THE RESOLUTION, WE HAVE ALREADY REDRAFTED OUR POSITION AND WE WILL BE ABLE TO FINISH IT BY THE END OF THE YEAR AND THERE IS NO QUESTION ABOUT IT." THEREFORE AND SO, I COMMENTED AND TOLD CHAIRMAN BRILLANTES I QUOTE "THAT WE WILL LOOK FORWARD TO DECEMBER 10 WHEN WE WILL HAVE A NEW REGISTRATION OF VOTES IN THE ARMM." AND CHAIRMAN BRILLANTES REPLIED, "THAT'S RIGHT YOUR HONOR, THE MAIN WORK HERE WILL BE THREE MONTHS CLEANSING PERIOD, IN SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER."

MR. PRESIDENT, THE APPROVAL AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THIS MEASURE WILL INDEED REVIVE THE HOPE THAT AUTONOMY FOR THE ARMM CAN MEAN SOMETHING FAR MORE THAN JUST BEING GRANTED THE FORMAL TRAPPINGS OF DEMOCRACY. BUT THAT RATHER, AUTONOMY CAN LEAD TO THE CAPABILITY AND OPPORTUNITY FOR THE PEOPLE OF ARMM TO FULLY AND FREELY PARTICIPATE IN THE PROCESS OF ATTAINING PEACE, PROSPERITY, AND DEVELOPMENT FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR COMMUNITIES. AND THAT ULTIMATELY, MR. PRESIDENT, IS THE HOPE THAT WE WANT TO REALIZE WITH THIS MEASURE.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

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