UNITY | Governors Jim Salliman of Basilan, Abdusakur Tan of Sulu, Yshmael Sali of Tawi-Tawi, and Abdulraof Macacua of Maguindanao del Norte join Bangsamoro Chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim for a unity photo after the Regional Peace and Order Council meeting in Maimbung, Sulu, on June 10. (BARMM PHOTO)
COTABATO CITY, Maguindanao del Norte, Philippines — The governors of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) have raised anew their bid to postpone the holding of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections in the region during the meeting of the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) in Maimbung, Sulu, over the weekend.
Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan, who hosted the meeting on Saturday, presented the position paper earlier signed by the BARMM governors calling for the deferment of barangay and SK elections set this October until after the former combatants of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) had fully given up their firearms under the peace accord’s decommissioning process.
It was the first time BARMM held its RPOC meeting in Sulu.
BARMM Interim Chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim, who presided over the meeting and, upon the motion of Basilan Gov. Jim Salliman, ordered the creation of a technical working group to study the proposed deferment and to submit their recommendations to the RPOC.
BARMM Interior Minister Naguib Sinarimbo said four of the six governors were present during the meeting — Salliman, Tan, Yshmael Sali of Tawi-Tawi, and Abdulraof Macacua of Maguindanao del Norte. Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr. was not in the meeting while Maguindanao del Sur Gov. Mariam Mangudadatu was represented by Vice Gov. Nathaniel Midtimbang.
Except for Macacua, who only assumed the governor’s post this year, all BARMM governors have been calling for the deferment of the barangay and SK elections in the Bangsamoro since they came up with a position paper in October last year. The two elections are slated nationwide on Oct. 30 this year.
Serious concern
In February this year, in the aftermath of the ambush of the convoy led by Adiong, the governors of Sulu, Maguindanao del Sur, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi made an appeal to President Marcos to fast-track the decommissioning of former MILF combatants and defer the barangay elections in the region until after the full deactivation of MILF.
The presence of armed groups, including those from the MILF, has been a cause for concern for Bangsamoro officials, especially as it could lead to election-related violence.
“We are seriously concerned that law enforcement in the BARMM will continue to be handicapped leading to the barangay elections on October 30, unless effective decommissioning of MILF combatants and firearms is completed,” the four governors said in a letter dated Feb. 20 to President Marcos.
The decommissioning process is part of the normalization mechanism agreed by both the MILF and the government of the Philippines peace panel.
Around 30,000 to 40,000 MILF fighters would need to lay down their arms under the peace accord that led to the inauguration of BARMM and the Bangsamoro Parliament in 2019, which is composed mostly of former MILF leaders. But so far, only about 19,000 combatants and some 2,000 firearms had been decommissioned.
Difficult security concerns
Tan said he was hoping last Saturday’s meeting served as a genuine forum for discussion and the development of consensus in order to address the difficult security concerns that the BARMM was now facing.
Police Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, BARMM police regional director, said cases of murder in the region from January to June 5 this year had gone up by 33 percent to 144 incidents, compared to the same period last year.
Among the BARMM provinces, Maguindanao del Sur, Basilan and Cotabato registered an increase in crime incidents while Sulu and Lanao del Sur registered a decrease.
Sinarimbo, meanwhile, lauded Western Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Roy Galido for mobilizing the air and sea assets of his command to ferry the RPOC participants to and from Sulu. Defense Senior Undersecretary Carlito Galvez Jr. and Armed Forces of the Philippines Vice Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Arthur Cordura also attended the meeting.