Comelec, police, military preparing for BARMM’s October polls
COTABATO CITY —The Commission on Elections, along with the police and military, have joined forces early to ensure safe and fair parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao this October.
In a dialogue with officials of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and the Army’s 6th Infantry Division at Camp Siongco in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte on Wednesday, June 25, Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said they are now busy preparing for the electoral exercise.
Representatives from the 1st Marine Brigade, which oversees the 5th and 6th Marine Battalions in Maguindanao del Norte and Cotabato City, also joined the dialogue at Camp Siongco, headquarters of the 6th ID under the Western Mindanao Command.
“We are ready for that democratic exercise,” Garcia said, referring to BARMM’s first-ever parliamentary elections on Oct. 13, 2025.
Garcia was accompanied to Camp Siongco by top Comelec officials, including Commissioners Maria Norina Casingal and Aimee Ferolino, Executive Director Teopisto Elnas, BARMM Regional Director Ray Sumalipao, and the provincial election officers of Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi.
While at Camp Siongco, Garcia and Ferolino discussed at length the need for PRO-BAR, the 6th ID, and other military units under the Western Mindanao Command to ensure the security of Comelec personnel who will oversee the regional parliamentary elections across towns and cities in the BARMM.
Ferolino said the police and the military must safeguard all election personnel before, during, and after the BARMM parliamentary elections.
“We want all of them safe during the first regional parliamentary elections,” she pointed out.
Ferolino expressed frustration over what she viewed as a lack of security support for their municipal election officer in Datu Odin Sinsuat, lawyer Bai Maceda Abo, who was killed along with her husband in an ambush in Barangay Makir on March 26, just 48 days before the May 12 national elections. The attack occurred not far from BARMM’s capital, Cotabato City.
Local executives in Maguindanao del Norte, one of BARMM’s five provinces, and relatives of the slain poll official and her husband had told reporters that the attack that left them both dead was related to her work.
PRO-BAR’s newly-installed director, Police Brig. Gen. Jaysen De Guzman, 6th ID’s deputy division commander, Brig. Gen. Patricio Ruben Amata, Brig. Gen. Edgar Catu and Brig. Gen. Ricky Bunayog, commanders of the 601st and 602nd Infantry Brigades in Central Mindanao, respectively, all vowed to do their best to secure Comelec personnel for the whole duration of the BARMM election period.
Garcia said the 80-member Bangsamoro Parliament must also fast-track legislative measures to reallocate the seven parliamentary districts originally in Sulu. The Supreme Court removed Sulu from BARMM’s core territory last year, following a petition by its governor, Hadji Abdusakur Tan.
“That is an issue we are focusing attention on. The Bangsamoro parliament should do that quickly so that the election of parliament representatives for those districts can also be done during the October regional elections,” Garcia said.
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