A refreshing wind blowing ARMM's way…

The long wait is over. Thanks to PNoy for the bold action to implement the law, RA 10153 that grants the President the power to ‘reform the ARMM’.  PNoy thought that he waited long enough and ‘enough was enough’. He acted not only deliberately but also with decisiveness to introduce not only cosmetic changes but real changes that seek to re-shape the image of ARMM. PNoy has begun with the appointment of the new OIC Governor and Vice Governor in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and things are no longer the same.   The people who have gotten ‘used’ to non functional agencies including the office of the Governor, suddenly woke up to the reality that there is something afoot in the whole Office of the Governor Complex or ORG as commonly known to city folks.   The whole complex looks like a beehive beginning with a simple thing like officials, including the Governor and Vice Governor PHYSICALLY reporting to their respective offices.  The new governor requires each one to participate in the flag raising ceremony on Mondays and flag retreats on Fridays of each week.  The act may be very banal but the simple view of ARMM employees, staff and officials performing the rituals of flag raising and flag retreat is a powerful gesture that sends signal that things are not ‘business as usual’ in the ARMM.  The people in the ORG complex who are used to the infamous ‘15-30’ (a kinse and katapusan pay days) not only should report for work but also be punctual! Not in many words, this is akin to PNoy’s slogans: ‘No wang wang’ and ‘No counter-flow’ under the new dispensation. The new Governor is also stopping the practice of ‘detailing’ ARMM teachers and employees to do work other than that specified in their plantillas.  Teachers need to report to their respective classroom and schools and employees have to report to their places of work.  If there is a much abused practice other than graft and corruption, it is this ‘privilege’ of detailing teachers/employees to other work other than what they should be doing. Teachers in the islands and the remote barangays are NOT there, simply because they are detailed in the offices/houses of local kingpins.  This practice is now coming to an end! The other BIG surprise to people in the ARMM is the fact that there is NOW a WORKING GOVERNOR right at the ORG Complex! Gov. Mujiv is at the helm of the ARMM and not some proxies. He is NO GHOST that governs by proxy.  He has assumed the responsibility of the office and this time around, there would be NO passing of the proverbial ‘buck’. It stops right at his door! I cannot help but notice that the new governor is also adept in the use of modern technology.  He understands and knows the importance of the ‘social network’ in participative and transparent governance. He encourages the ARMM constituents to communicate directly to the Office of the Governor through hot lines, SMS, Facebook and Twitter. Gov. Mujiv is a ‘techie’ with his own FB and Twitter accounts. WOW! This new governor is truly ‘HOT’ – a man on fire and vision.  He is in the process of fine tuning the ‘wish list’ for the first 100 days in office and he would unfurl the same soon.  In our interviews, he says that there will be three headings in his ‘wish list’ of reforms and they would form the yardstick of his performance in office. These are the following: (1) governance reform, (2) socio-economic reform, and (3) peace and security reform. The reform is here… courtesy of PNoy. This early, I can tell that the President has found a man with courage and vision to do the JOB! Yes, the ‘best in the ARMM is still yet to come…’ Abangan!