Countless islands, one movement

MANILA, Philippines — On October 26, 2009 young people converged in Cotabato City’s Notre Dame Social Action Gymnasium to sign up for Boto Mo Ipatrol Mo: Ako Ang Simula (BMPM). Most of them were Muslims from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) who are eager to change the way their province chooses its leaders, which in their experience has always been blemished by fraud and atrocities.

The fervor to join the movement is also driven by despondence over a culture where politics is left to the powerful few, which impedes progress in the island. Corruption and other bad practices by their traditional leaders open up to more dilemma such as social injustice, rebellion and peace and order problems that have stunted growth in many of Mindanao’s provinces. To the Boto Patrollers that came forward, it’s time to call — collectively — for change.

This is perhaps why in another BMPM: Ako Ang Simula launch in Iligan City on September 21, 2009, the more than 4,000 that signed up as Boto Patrollers also paraded using torches to play up their “coming into the light.”

A parade is not a regular feature of BMPM: Ako Ang Simula, yet Boto patrollers in Lanao felt they needed to convey their zeal for reform through a torch parade that withstood the downpour that day. It was perhaps a sign that no one can “rain on their parade” if they all press for change in unison.

All over the country, BMPM: Ako Ang Simula launches often see crowds driven by desperation and discontent over the government, government leaders and governance in general. By signing up as Boto Patrollers, they feel empowered to fight those who have done them a disservice or have divested common resources for personal gain.

For instance, when BMPM: Ako Ang Simula was launched in Santiago City, Isabela’s Northeastern College, the youth wanted to be involved in choosing leaders who are incorruptible. They want to elect people who can stand up against the lure of hefty bribes from illegal logging concessions that have denuded Cagayan Valley’s forests and aggravated the ill effects of climate change such as severe flooding and landslides.

Political dynasties also manipulate the rural poor to keep themselves in power. The so-called marginalized communities are either used as ghost voters or armed goons.

Indigenous peoples or lumads were employed as private armies by local politicians for the longest time in Davao Del Sur. But when ABS-CBN-Davao launched BMPM: Ako Ang Simula in Malita town, members of the Tagakaolo tribe signed up as Boto Patrollers. They now want to be agents of change through vigilance within their tribe.

The launching of BMPM: Ako Ang Simula in Davao Del Sur was also an eye opener for the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on the need to educate lumads on automated elections. Comelec-Davao Del Sur vowed to hold a string of seminars on automated elections in Malita, which is home to about 80,000 lumads.

Anxiety over uncharted election technology hounds not just lumads but many voters in other parts of the country. That’s why BMPM: Ako Ang Simula has even taken a new role as voter educators to those who are not “tech savvy.”

Numerous BMPM: Ako Ang Simula segments in 19 TV Patrol regional editions contain news items that walk viewers through the automated process. In Cagayan De Oro, a special BMPM: Ako Ang Simula edition was produced by ABS CBN’s morning program “Pamahaw Espesyal” in cooperation with Comelec and Smartmatic TIM. It featured a live demonstration of the Smartmatic machines in an effort to ease “fear of technology.”

In Tacloban City’s Bayluan Amphitheater a number of senior citizens who registered as Boto Patrollers said they rely on media and BMPM: Ako Ang Simula to orient them on computerization. They are also as excited as the youth in committing to polls that are cleaner and more honest than the numerous fraudulent and violent elections they have seen in their lifetime.

The core of BMPM: Ako Ang Simula after all, is change. It promotes shifts in perspective for Filipinos to snap out of their collective indifference and participate actively again in the country’s affairs.

On September 21, 2009 hundreds signed up as Boto Patrollers in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte. That same day marked the 37th anniversary of Martial Law declared by the late President Ferdinand Marcos, who hails from the province.

While the day reminds the country of its darkest years under Ilocos’ illustrious son, Ilocanos have decided to bury this part of their past and break decades of the uneasy regional and political divide wrought by one of its own.

BMPM: Ako Ang Simula indeed ties us all up, as one nation.