Free Bangsamoro

A phrase common these days but especially louder whenever there is a ebb in the on-going peace process. "Free Bangsamoro" is a catch-phrase for "right to self-determination" or some form of asymmetrical relationship between the Bangsamoro and the Philippine Government. A substate (though non-existent in the legal dictionary), or anything less than a state but more than autonomy. In short, this catch-phrase is largely a political determination.

Within the political sphere, it is not just a matter of us ruling over our own kind and own homeland, Free Bangsamoro has also to do with movement - from the politics driven by gold, guns and goons towards what type of governance and citizenry?

We need to challenge the exclusive political definition of "Free Bangsamoro", make it more inclusive and holistic. This expansion is in line with a belief that there is more to Bangsamoro than just politics. So we ask a basic question - Freedom from what?

• How about freedom from Nafs (wants)? 
• How about freedom from ethnocentrism and tribalism?
• How about freedom from the culture of rido, impunity, vendetta and vigilante?
• How about freedom from the absence of the Rule of Law?
• How about freedom from social exclusion and minoritization?
• How about freedom from environmental degradation that is now happening at an alarming pace and becoming more frequent and widespread?
• How about freedom from illegal drugs trade and freedom of our youth from this menace?
• How about freedom from preventable and curable diseases and sexually-transmitted diseases, the latter being transmitted by promiscuous husbands to their unsuspecting wives?
• How about freedom from bullies in schools, communities and work places?
• How about freedom from historical and cultural revision and sanitation?
• How about freedom from extremes?

Additionally, we need to  ....

• Free and protect women from gender and cultural stereotyping.
• Free and protect our children from an education bureaucracy hijacked by graft and corrupt practices, inefficiency and deadwoods.
• Free and protect our mothers and daughters from preventable health dangers, trafficking and white slavery.
• Free and protect social, cultural and religious minorities.
• Free and protect our elderly and disabled from neglect.

These are some of what it truly means by "Free Bangsamoro". Political freedom is just the beginning, not the solution, a process not the end-game. Let us wake up and face the truth squarely.