2 gun-toting men arrested while passing thru BARMM village

SEAT OF POWER The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Government Center in Cotabato City houses the offices of the members of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority. —PHOTO COURTESY OF THE BANGSAMORO INFORMATION OFFICE

KIDAPAWAN CITY — Two men carrying guns and aboard separate motorcycles were arrested while passing through a village belonging to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), where a plebiscite was being held.

Ombra Agoy, village chief of Kitulaan, said the two were apprehended at a police checkpoint in front of Kitulaan Elementary School, a designated voting center.

“These two who were flagged down are passersby and not residents of Kitulaan. They are from another village of (Carmen) town,” Agoy said in Filipino.

Kitulaan used to be part of Carmen in Cotabato province. During the 2019 plebiscite on the Bangsamoro Organic Law, voters in Kitulaan and six other Carmen villages chose to be part of the BARMM.

In all, 63 villages of Cotabato joined the BARMM, currently collectively called the Special Geographic Area or SGA.

On Saturday, voters in the SGA troop to the polling centers to ratify the creation of eight new towns out of the 63 villages.

This is why a gun ban is imposed by the Commission on Elections in the 63 villages, from March 14 to April 20.

Before the plebiscite, the Bangsamoro Government has not recorded any gun ban violators.