Autonomy Like No Other

Autonomy na walang katulad. Today the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that a Comelec official assigned in South Cotabato (Region XII) is to be charged with tampering of election results from the 2007 senatorial elections. She was charged because:
1) Irregularities were found and they all point to her; and
2) She is not from the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Every Juan, Pedro and Abdul who has spent time in the ARMM knows how dirty is the elections there. The unique nature of the autonomy of the ARMM dictates that people leave things there alone. Mayors and governors there (particularly the incumbent) get to squander 100% of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) without complaints from the authorities, their constituents and, surprisingly, not even whispers from anti-corruption watch dogs.

Send an auditor there (COA) and he will be met by a bag full of money. If he is dirty and takes the money then expect a spotless audit report. If he is clean and refuses the money, he is dead - plain and simple.

Back to election results, in the ARMM, the national political party in power can expect landslides and sweeps for their candidates. The voter turnout are highest in the country despite lack of infrastructure for people to leave their miserable abodes to vote. The ballots are all neat with uniform penmanship.

How come the losing political party do not do whatever they can to stop this? This is because they hope to get lucky in some other part of the country in get elected to power (or they grab it EDSA style). When they are in power, they are assured of the ARMM election magic. In simple terms, they respect ARMM autonomy!

Regarding the corruption practiced in the ARMM. Why should the government and the civil society care? The continued non-development of the ARMM attracts foreign funds by the barrel. The ARMM has received billions of pesos (and dollars) for development yet the people there can only see their mayors get richer and them poorer. Anti-corruption activists choose to fight for the Moros work only at the National Capital Region. That's autonomy for you. Autonomy Like No Other.