Soldiers from outside deployed in BARMM for election security duties

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — More than 300 personnel of two Army units from faraway regions had arrived via separate flights at the Cotabato Airport in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte for deployment by the 6th Infantry Division in 63 Bangasamoro barangays in Cotabato province as part of its security preparations for the May 2025 elections.

The troops were airlifted to the Cotabato Airport, less than 200 meters away from Camp Siongco, where 6th ID’s headquarters is located, by a C-130 Philippine Air Force plane on Tuesday, April 15, and, subsequently, last Wednesday, April 16.

Major Gen. Donald Gumiran, commander of 6th ID, said on Thursday, April 17, that they will utilize the soldiers from the 48th Infantry Battalion and the 1st Armor Company of the Philippine Army’s Armor Division for election security duties in the eight newly-created Bangsamoro municipalities in Cotabato province in Region 12.

The 6th ID is securing more than half of Cotabato province, encompassing 17 towns and Kidapawan City, its capital, via units of the 602nd Infantry Brigade, led by Brig. Gen. Ricky Bunayog.

The eight Bangsamoro towns, Pahamuddin, Kadayangan, Nabalawag, Old Kaabakan, Kapalawan, Malidegao, Tugunan and Ligawasan, covers 63 barangays in Cotabato province that got grouped together as the Special Geographic Area-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao after local residents voted in favor of the inclusion of those barangays into the core territory of BARMM via a referendum in early 2019. 

The Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which have separate peace agreements with the national government, have enclaves in the eight municipalities.

Bangsamoro Labor and Employment Minister Muslimin Sema, who is chairman of the MNLF’s central committee, and Cotabato’s provincial governor, Emmylou Mendoza, separately told reporters that they will support the joint election security thrusts of the 6th ID, the Cotabato Provincial Police Office and the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in the eight towns, created last year via separate enabling measures by the 80-member BARMM parliament. 

“My office and the local government units of the municipalities in Cotabato, from where the barangays covered by these eight new Bangsamoro municipalities were carved from, wants peaceful elections in all the barangays there,” Mendoza, a staunch supporter of Malacañang’s separate peace overtures with the MNLF and the MILF, said.

Mayors in towns under Cotabato’s provincial government told reporters on Thursday that members of their multi-sector Provincial Peace and Order Council, whose presiding chairperson is Mendoza, and local officials and traditional Moro leaders in the eight Bangsamoro towns have continuing backchannel dialogues meant to ensure their cohesion in helping push forward the election security missions of the police and military in their barangays.