Appointment mess in BARMM

WHEN an appointed minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) says "election was never a measure for legitimacy" and to "assert the right to self-determination is not measured through elections," we have a major problem in our hands. Discrediting elections to gain political legitimacy is worse. And this is how certain officials of BARMM assert their self-determination? It is clear under Republic Act 11054 of 2018 that the purpose of the organic law "is to establish a political entity and provide for its basic structure of government in recognition of the justness and legitimacy of the cause of the Bangsamoro people and the aspirations of Muslim Filipinos and all indigenous cultural communities in BARMM to secure their identity and posterity, allowing for meaningful self-governance within the framework of the Constitution and the national sovereignty as well as territorial integrity of the Republic of the Philippines." Clearly, it is within the framework of the Constitution and the national sovereignty as well as territorial integrity of our country.

Self-determination is the process by which a group of people, usually possessing a certain degree of national consciousness, form their own state and choose their own government. As a political principle, the idea of self-determination evolved at first as a byproduct of the doctrine of nationalism. The UN Charter clarifies two meanings of the term "self-determination." First, a state is said to have the right of self-determination in the sense of having the right to choose freely its political, economic, social and cultural systems. Second, the right to self-determination is defined as the right of a people to constitute itself in a state or otherwise freely determine the form of its association with an existing state. Both meanings have their basis in the charter (Article 1, paragraph 2; and Article 55, paragraph 1). Self-determination theory suggests that all humans have three basic psychological needs — autonomy, competence, and relatedness — that underlie growth and development. Autonomy refers to the feeling that one has a choice and is willingly endorsing one's behavior. The opposite experience is feeling compelled or controlled in one's behavior. Competence refers to the experience of mastery and being effective in one's activity. Finally, relatedness refers to the need to feel connected and a sense of belongingness to others.