[Philippines / Bangsamoro Region] - The Voting Self Kills the Body to Decide Who Rules a Phantom of the People

Event Baseline: In the Philippines' Muslim-majority Bangsamoro region, deadly violence marred the first-ever parliamentary election, with attacks reported the day before polls opened. Voters were electing a regional parliament following a peace agreement.

The formal peace agreement was a piece of paper. The division remained. The self identified with a faction, a clan, or a religious interpretation, and sought security in winning the election. The other became an enemy to be eliminated before the vote. This is thought dividing the world into winners and losers, us and them.

The bullet is the final argument of a mind that cannot see the other as itself. The election was supposed to be a peaceful resolution, but it only reveals that the underlying psychological separation was never addressed. The operators merely changed the method of killing from war to ballot, and when the ballot might not go their way, they reverted to the bullet. The illusion of democratic choice is now stained with the blood of the other.