Most of the young people in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao are likely to vote yes to the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law, the group International Alert Philippines said Thursday.
At a news conference in Quezon City, Nikki dela Rosa, the group’s country manager, presented their survey conducted from Oct. 29 to Nov. 19 with 614 young people in Isabela City, Cotabato City and some towns in Lanao del Norte and North Cotabato, and it showed that they backed the proposed Bangsamoro Organic Law
At least 89.4 percent of the respondents aged 18 to 35 in the ARMM, who expressed a desire to vote in a plebiscite for such purpose, would vote in favor of the law, Dela Rosa said.
When combining all the youth in the region, whether the youth would vote or not in the plebiscite, the result still remained significant at 60.4 percent, or nearly two-thirds of the respondents, she said.
“This is significant since the youth [sector] comprises 57 percent of the registered voters in the ARMM,” Dela Rosa said.
She said 85 percent of the youth respondents from the ARMM and the other regions would vote yes to support the Bangsamoro Organic Law’s enactment.
International Alert Philippines is a peace-building non-government organization that conducts studies of both new and enduring causes and triggers of conflicts, extremist violence, shadow economies of illegal drugs, illicit weapons, identity-related violence and resource conflicts.
Based on the survey, the “most pressing issues” that needed to be addressed by the Bangsamoro Organic Law were poverty, terrorism, corruption, rebellion and other forms of criminality.
The majority of the youth backed the proposed law to weaken the armed groups affiliated with the international terror ISIS group, help create jobs, encourage more investments in Bangsamoro, help protect indigenous peoples from discrimination and improve the government’s public health service delivery.