BARMM execs, police, military to reconcile enemy political clans

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Officials of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao will try to resolve the animosity among constituent partisan groups that had rival candidates for local positions during the May 12 elections, many of which are locked in bloody longtime clan wars.

BARMM Chief Minister Abdulrauf Macacua told a group of reporters, during a dialogue in Cotabato City on Friday night, May 16, that he will enlist the support of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division (6th ID) and the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BAR) in addressing the tension among rival political clans, triggered by the recent electoral exercise.

The non-partisan Independent Election Monitoring Center in Cotabato City, together established by seven private entities involved in peacebuilding programs in BARMM, had documented more than 30 cases of election-related incidents, including deadly gun attacks, in many areas in the autonomous region shortly before the May 12 elections and during the actual polling day.  

“Good governance, an inclusive style of governance can only be achieved if all political quarters, all political leaders in the Bangsamoro region are in peace with one another,” Macacua said.

Many members of the 80-seat Bangsamoro parliament, among them Health Minister Kadil Sinolinding Jr. and Transportation and Communications Minister Paisalin Tago, had explicitly committed to help their chief minister achieve his intention.

The reelected Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza of the nearby Cotabato province in Region 12, which has 63 predominantly Moro barangays under the BARMM government, announced on Saturday, May 17, that she will help push forward Macacua’s bid to reconcile Moro clans whose factional divides widened during the election period.

“We don’t have problem supporting that even if Cotabato province is under Region 12, not under the Bangsamoro region. There are eight newly created Bangsamoro municipalities that are under the Bangsamoro government but are inside Cotabato province. We can help the chief minister focus attention on these areas,” said Taliño-Mendoza, whose candidacy for a second term was supported by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front.

Taliño-Mendoza was referring to the BARMM Special Geographic Area in her province, whose residents voted for the inclusion of their barangays in the core territory of the autonomous region during a referendum in 2019.

Macacua, figurehead of the 80-member Bangsamoro parliament and chief of the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, said he is certain that officials of the 6th ID and the PRO-BAR can help them broker peace compacts among enemy political camps in BARMM's adjoining Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte provinces and in the regional capital, Cotabato City.

Major Gen. Donald Gumiran, commander of 6th ID, and the director of PRO-BAR, Police Brig. Gen. Romeo Juan Macapaz, separately told reporters on Saturday that they will help Macacua address the issue.

“We can do that all for the sake of peace, in areas covered by our units," Gumiran said.

Army Lt. Gen. Antonio Nafarrete, commander of the Western Mindanao Command based in Zamboanga City, had ordered officials of the 6th ID and all other military units in BARMM to support the regional government's post-election reconciliation initiative.

“Our units in all the five provinces and three cities in BARMM are there to help,” Nafarrete said.

Accompanied by Gumiran, Nafarrete met Macacua at the BARMM capitol on Thursday, May 15, where they discussed plans of expanding partnership in putting diplomatic closure to armed conflicts in southern cities and provinces.

Nafarrete, as WestMinCom commander, has jurisdiction over military units in the Bangsamoro region’s five provinces, Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi, and its three cities, Lamitan, Marawi and Cotabato.