17-year peace process faces test in Bangsamoro polls

(Last of two parts)

COTABATO CITY, BARMM, Philippines — The first Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections on Sept. 14 will put to the test a peace agreement forged after 17 years of negotiations between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The Bangsamoro region was established in 2019 as a product of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), which the Government of the Philippines and the erstwhile rebel group signed in 2014.

For Mohagher Iqbal, the MILF’s chief peace negotiator, the parliamentary elections are a litmus test—not only for the Bangsamoro government but also for the national government.

READ: BARMM polls set stage for battle over regional power

“Will it respect and uphold the provisions of the BOL (Bangsamoro Organic Law) on elections and autonomy?” he asked, stressing that the people must be freely allowed to choose and elect their leaders.

The BOL, or Republic Act No. 11054, is the law that created the Bangsamoro region and laid the foundation for its autonomous government.

Interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua has described the first parliamentary election as the formal transition from an interim government to an elected parliament.

Security remains one of the biggest challenges facing the Sept. 14 polls.

While BARMM has experienced relative calm under the Bangsamoro Transition Authority, election periods in Mindanao have historically been marked by violence, including rido and clashes involving private armed groups.

Pledges

Two weeks after the start of the campaign period last July 30, the nonprofit Climate Conflict Action Asia (CCAA) recorded at least 10 gun-related incidents among rival clans.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec), Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines have pledged to ensure a safe and secure electoral process.

The PNP deployed at least 4,500 personnel to augment the almost 5,000-strong Police Regional Office-BARMM while the AFP sent three additional Army battalions to beef up the forces of the 6th Infantry Division and the 1st Infantry Division.

But even with the heightened security measures in the region, including a gun ban, a high-profile ambush rocked the Bangsamoro region with the attack on the convoy of no less than the chief minister on Aug. 15.

Macacua was going back to Cotabato City after he was installed as chair and president of the Bangsamoro Federalist Party in Kabuntalan, Maguindanao del Norte when his convoy was attacked in Datu Odin Sinsuat town. Investigators recovered 81 shells of high-powered firearms from the scene. Macacua and his party were all safe.

For the gun ban, authorities had arrested 19 individuals as of Sunday, Aug. 23, three weeks before the Sept. 14 polls.

At least 27 localities, mostly in Lanao del Sur, have been placed under red alert because of serious security threats and a history of election-related violence.

Army troops deployed In Lanao del Sur had been given cultural sensitivity trainings as part of their preparation to serve in the Bangsamoro parliamentary elections. —WITH A REPORT FROM BONG S. SARMIENTO