COTABATO CITY (PIA) -- The Bangsamoro government has ramped up its efforts towards ensuring a safe and peaceful conduct of Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) on October 30.
The Minister of the Interior and Local Government, Atty. Naguib Sinarimbo said the government of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) is making more meticulous preparations to ensure that there will be no fighting during the BSK elections.
“May mga security summits na gagawin dahil may initial na pag-uusap with the Philippine National Police at saka Commission on Elections [There will be security summits to be conducted because there were initial talks with the Philippine National Police and the Commission on Elections],” he said.
Sinarimbo also emphasized that there is a security coordination platform that involves the BARMM government, the PNP, COMELEC, and other significant sectors of society that have an important role in maintaining peaceful and democratic elections.
(L-R) Ministry of Public Order and Safety (MPOS) Director General Atty. Al-Rashid Balt, MPOS Minister Hussein Muñoz, and MPOS Chief of Special Operations Division Datu Marohomsar Gaya share with the local media in Cotabato City the updates on the programs and activities of the ministry in line with the conduct of Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections on October 30, 2023. (Photo: PIA Cotabato City)
Further, the BARMM’s Ministry of Public Order and Safety (MPOS) has also bolstered its programs and activities for the upcoming BSKE elections.
The ministry will maximize its campaign to champion a safe and peaceful BSKE elections through the conduct of simultaneous prayer rallies and religious sermons across BARMM areas, a series of regional and provincial radio guestings, a radio peace advocacy campaign, a two-way radio communication campaign across BARMM, the distribution of infographic materials, and the conduct of social media monitoring and referral pathways.
“We are not just sitting down; we are going to the community para po makuha natin ang community in many various ways para mapaabot sa kanila yung concern natin na kailangan magtulungan tayo para sa pagkakaroon ng magandang gobyerno at peaceful election [We are going to the community so that we can get the community in many different ways to convey our concern that we need to work together to have a good government and a peaceful election],” MPOS Minister Hussein Muñoz said.
Aside from the PNP and Comelec, the BARMM government has also partnered with other key sectors in the region to create a security coordination platform.
Voters in the Bangsamoro region search for their polling precincts to cast votes in the national and local elections at Simuay Junction Elementary School, Maguindanao del Norte, on May 9, 2022. (File Photo by Benyamen Cabuntalan/Bangsamoro Information Office)
With all these interventions, the Bangsamoro government has called on the public to participate and cooperate in preventing BSK-related feuds and to report any incidents to law enforcement authorities.
Earlier, the Police Regional Office in BARMM classified 32 towns in the region as “areas of grave concern” due to intense political rivalry among local aspirants, the presence of private armed groups, local terrorist groups, and a history of political violence. (LTB - PIA Cotabato City)
