OPAPRU identifies best practices, lessons learned in BARMM polls assessment

COTABATO CITY — The Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) has conducted a post-assessment workshop to learn more about the lessons learned during the historic Bangsamoro parliamentary elections.

In a statement on Sunday, the OPAPRU said the government peace mechanisms in the peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) conducted a workshop on October 27-29, just weeks after the historic September 14 BARMM parliamentary elections.

It concluded right before the newly elected 80-member Parliament held its successful inaugural session on October 30.

The three-day activity, titled “Conduct of Post-2026 BARMM Parliamentary Elections Evaluation and Lessons Learned Session,” aimed to assess the work carried out by the various peace mechanisms to implement improvements in the areas of planning, administrative and logistical support, field communications, and personnel preparations.

Participants have identified the best practices worth continuing and building on, the challenges faced by the peace mechanisms on the ground, and the key concerns that arose during and after the historic political exercise.

Participating in the workshop were representatives from OPAPRU’s Political Concerns Office (PCO), the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH), the Joint Peace and Security Committee (JPSC), the Ad-Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG), and the Joint Normalization Committee (JNC).

Participants were asked to identify “what went well, what went wrong, and areas for improvement” in the government-peace overtures in the southern Philippines

“We need to present actionable points. We also need to better understand our processes,” said OPAPRU Undersecretary Noel Baraceros of the Office of the Presidential Assistant for Bangsamoro Transformation (OPABT).

Baraceros noted that among the main factors that contributed to the successful BARMM elections was the teamwork shown by the peace mechanisms before, during and after the elections.

Palace peace adviser Sec. Mel Senen Sarmiento attributed the elections’ success to the years of hard work, determination and strong partnership between the national and BARMM governments in sustaining the gains of the Bangsamoro peace process.

“We safeguarded the success that we had worked so hard to achieve. That is why our work matters. The successful conduct of the elections has helped strengthen international confidence in the Bangsamoro peace process,” Sarmiento said.