COTABATO CITY (August 30) — In order to secure a peaceful and honest Bangsamoro legislative elections in October, local officials in Cotabato City and neighboring towns in Maguindanao del Norte pledged to assist the police, military, and the Commission on Elections.
Local leaders, including Bruce Matabalao of Cotabato City, told reporters on Wednesday, August 27, that they hope the parliamentary elections scheduled for October 13, 2025, will be conducted in all the barangays that fall under their purview in a credible and peaceful manner.
Additionally, Maguindanaon and ethnic Teduray leaders in Upi, Maguindanao del Norte, along with Mayor Raida Tomawis-Sinsuat, pledged to support the Commission on Elections’ election security program for the next election.
The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao should hold its first parliamentary elections since its establishment in early 2019, replacing the 27-year-old, less empowered Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
“There is no problem with us assisting in making that exercise peaceful and credible in our limited capacity,” Matabalao, chairperson of the multi-sector Cotabato City Peace and Order Council, stated.
On Tuesday, August 26, soldiers from the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, the Marine Battalion Landing-6 of the 1st Marine Brigade, representatives from Comelec’s office in BARMM, and staff from the Cotabato City Police Office, under the direction of their director, Col. Jibin M. Bongcayao, marched in the heart of Cotabato City as part of a Peace Caravan to demonstrate their solidarity in their security missions for the parliamentary elections.
Col. Jemeul Siason, the deputy director for operations for the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, represented the agency in the interagency Peace Caravan in Cotabato City.
“The sectors that helped our Peace Caravan deserve our gratitude. The goal was to demonstrate to the public that all state agencies will work together to support the Comelec in holding safe and secure elections in the regions that fall under our jurisdiction,” according to Bongcayao.
In Sultan Kudarat, the provincial capital, on Tuesday, Brig. Gen. Jaysen De Guzman of PRO-BAR, the immediate superior of Col. Eleuterio Ricardo Jr., the police director of Maguindanao del Norte, conducted an election-related Unity Walk.
In Region 12, which is BARMM’s Special Geographic Area, Ricardo is also in charge of all eight of the recently established Bangsamoro municipalities in Cotabato province.
In a formal statement released on Wednesday, the central committee of the Moro National Liberation Front, which is led by Muslimin Sema, the labor minister for BARMM, declared that its members in the autonomous region will also assist the combined Comelec, military, and police election security missions.
According to Sema, “Moro National Liberation Front members in the Special Geographic Area in Cotabato province and in all the provinces and cities in the Bangsamoro region shall do their best to uphold that commitment.”
