COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 11 June) — Five of six governors of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) on Saturday reiterated their call for the postponement of the October 30 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections in the Bangsamoro region until after the decommissioning of combatants of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) shall have been completed.
The call, reiterating their February 20, 2023 “urgent appeal” to President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., was made during the Regional Peace and Order (RPOC) meeting held in Maimbung, Sulu on Saturday .
In a press statement, Basilan Governor Jim Hataman Salliman said he filed a motion during the meeting seeking the creation of a Technical Working Group that will study the position papers of the five BARMM governors who want a postponement: Hataman Salliman, Sulu Governor Sakur Tan, Tawi-Tawi Governor Yshmael Sali, Lanao del Sur Governor Mamintal Adiong, Jr., and Maguindanao del Sur Governor Bai Mariam Sangki-Mangudadatu.
The five governors submitted their “urgent appeal” to President Marcos in February. (The sixth BARMM Governor, Abdulraof Macacua of Maguindanao del Norte, was appointed to the post on April 5, 2023).
The February 20, 2023 “urgent appeal” called for a swift investigation and prosecution of the perpetrators who ambushed Governor Adiong “and of other violent incidents in the BARMM,” immediate decommissioning of MILF forces, camps and base commands, and postponement of the barangay elections in the BARMM “until after the full decommissioning of the MILF.”
Congress decides on the postponement of elections, not the President.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has set August 28 to September 2 as the period for the filing of Certificates of Candidacy.
In their February appeal, the governors said they are “seriously concerned that law enforcement in the BARMM will continue to be handicapped leading to the barangay elections of October 30, 2023 unless effective decommissioning of MILF combatants and firearms is completed.
The Normalization process as agreed upon in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, the peace agreement signed by the Philippine government and the MILF in March 2014, involves not only decommissioning of MILF combatants and weapons but also the disbandment of private armed groups (PAGS) or what is referred to as private armies of politicians, redeployment of military and police, and transformation of MILF camps into productive communities.
The Police Regional Office of the Bangsamoro Region reported it still has 23 potential PAGs from 37 on their list, according to Brig.Gen. Allan Nobleza.
The Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) had earlier reported that 15,300 MILF combatants out of 40,000 have yet to be decommissioned and only 4,625 firearms have been decommissioned.
BARMM Chief Minister Ahod Balawag “Murad” Ebrahim, concurrent chair of the MILF, presided the RPOC meeting. Local Governments Minister Naguib Sinarimbo told MIndaNews a Technical Working Group will be created to study the proposal of the governors “as the postponement is a matter that needs congressional enactment.”
The RPOC was attended by Western Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Roy Galido, BARMM police chief Nobleza, Defense Senior Undersecretary Carlito Galvez, Armed Forces Vice Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Arthur M. Cordura and OPAPRU Undersecretary David Diciano and Assistant Secretary Jordan Bayam.
Governors Sali, Salliman and Macacua attended the RPOC hosted by Sulu Governor Tan. Mangudadatu and Adiong were absent. (Ferdinandh B. Cabrera / MindaNews)
