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• EDD K. USMAN | X (Twitter): @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 |Facebook: SDN – SciTech & Digital News

MANILA (SDN) — Security establishments of the government as well as the peace mechanisms of the Mindanao peace process have always been crucial and very important in every election in the country.

In saying “security”, the agencies concerned are the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine National Police (PNP) and, because of the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), the peace mechanisms of the Philippine Government (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which are still in place and working.

Note that the GPH-MILF peace process had formed in the early part of the peace negotiations that started in January 1977 their Joint Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (JCCCH) and the Ad-Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG).

On May 12, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) conducted the 2025 National and Local Elections (NLE), including in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), the first political exercise participated by the United Bangsamoro Justice Party ((UBJP), the political wing of the MILF.

The Bangsamoro region created in January 2019 through the 2018 Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) is comprised of the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Tawi-Tawi, the cities of Cotabato, Lamitan, and Marawi, and the eight news municipalities of the Special Geographic Area (SGA) carved out of North Cotabato province.

Elections in this part of the country have an unwelcome reputation, at least in some areas, of being attended by violence, intimidation, and harassment as candidates’ followers become too heated.

The role on security of the AFP, PNP, JCCCH, and AHJAG was not lost on Assistant Secretary Jordan Bayam, the executive director for Bangsamoro Transformation of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Unity and Reconciliation (OPAPRU).

OPAPRU Secretary Carlito G. Galvez, Jr. deployed Bayam to the government command centers in the BARMM and tasked him “to ensure the implementation of Presidential directives for a peaceful, orderly, and secure election in the region.”

After the midterm polls in the region, Bayam hailed the Comelec, AFP, PNP, and GPH-MILF Quick Reaction Teams (QRT) such as the JCCCH and the AHJAG “for establishing an environment conducive to the electorate of the (BARMM) freely exercising their political rights.”

On reports about what he described as “isolated incidents” during the political exercise in the region, the OPAPRU official has his own understanding of what happened.

“Notwithstanding isolated incidents, it is my assessment that this election has been among the most peaceful in recent memory, particularly within the provinces of Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte, when compared against historical election experiences,” Bayam emphasizes.

He also addressed claims of alleged interference by representatives of the national government.

“It must be underscored that allegations of voter harassment, intimidation, or undue interference by any representative of the national government are categorically unsubstantiated,” he points out.

Lessons from the October 13 parliamentary polls from the May 12 elections

“Our peace mechanisms, comprising the Joint Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities and the Ad-Hoc Joint Action Group, were deployed to promptly address potential crises and assist security forces in de-escalating tensions. This reflects our steadfast commitment to the Bangsamoro peace agreement.”

He also took note of the political exercise in the BARMM did not register any failure of election in any of its municipality, specially within the two Maguindanao provinces.

Lastly, in his statement sent to SDN – SciTech & Digital News, acknowledged BARMM Chief Minister Abdulraof A. Macacua for the exercise of his “personal oversight of the electoral process, and to the leadership of both the MILF and MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front) for their support of this political exercise.”

In one particular instance, SDN learned that Bayam played a key role as he pacified rival candidates and their supporters in Pandag, a municipality in Maguindanao del Sur.

Bayam also offered his congratulations to the people of Maguindanao Del Norte and Maguindanao Del Sur as they robustly exercised their right to vote.

Meanwhile, non-government organizations based in Manila were hoping that there are lessons to be learned from the conduct of the recent Bangsamoro polls for application in the forthcoming first parliamentary election on October 13.

Unless postponed for the third time, the parliamentary polls will give the people of the BARMM to elect the first regular 80 members of the Bangsamoro parliament, which has been in a transition mode since 2019 to pave the way for the complete transformation from the defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

According to Comelec figures the BARMM has around 2.3 million registered voters who will be able to have their say on whether the MILF chaired by Al-Hajj Murad Ebrahim, the former chief minister, would be able to hold on to the leadership of the six-year-old region.

There are eight registered regional political parties for the parliamentary polls led by the MILF-UBJP. The party that will have the majority in the parliament owns the right to choose the BARMM’s first elected chief minister.

Officials of the MILF have time and again said that the UBJP must win at all costs the parliamentary polls to sustain the push for the full implementation of the provisions of the CAB, saying that a non-MILF-UBJP chief minister may not have the will, the character, and the willingness to work for the completion of the landmark peace accord. (/)

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