Peaceful BARMM Elections Urged Ahead of First Parliamentary Vote

SENATORS on Sunday have called for the peaceful and orderly conduct of the first parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to be conducted on Sept. 14 after four postponements. Senate Majority Floor Leader Juan Miguel F. Zubiri welcomed the upcoming polls, urging the electoral participants and authorities to remain impartial in ensuring the orderliness of the elections. “I call on all candidates, supporters and political groups to exercise restraint, respect the democratic process and reject violence, intimidation and any attempt to undermine the will of the voters,” Mr. Zubiri said in a press statement. Senator Francis Pancratius N. Pangilinan has likewise called on the Commission on Elections, Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, BARMM voters and candidates to uphold the smooth conduct of the elections. “Election promises are progressive. They strive to expand representation for women, indigenous peoples, and diverse sectors. This promise requires neutral security, not an excessive military presence,” Mr. Pangilinan said in a statement. Two entities of the Bangsamoro government have mobilized hundreds of rapid response personnel for possible emergencies during the elections. Personnel of the Ministry of Health (MoH)-BARMM and the Bangsamoro Rapid Emergency Action on Disaster Incidence, most known as the Bangsamoro READi, are on duty since Saturday as part of the regional government’s preparations for Monday’s electoral exercise. The ambulances and rescue vehicles and equipment of the Bangsamoro READi, which is under the office of Local Government Minister Jordan S. Bayam, are now on standby in the region’s capitol in uptown Cotabato City, ready for mobilization anytime. Regional officials told reporters on Sunday that Mr. Bayam and physicians in the MoH-BARMM shall jointly oversee the operation of the emergency responders, to work along with medics in the Bureau of Fire Protection and the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BAR). Police Captain Steffi P. Salanguit, spokesperson for PRO-BAR, said their medics had been fused with police teams dispatched to BARMM provinces and cities as part of their election security missions, under the supervision of the Commission on Elections. Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia of the Commission on Elections told reporters, during a forum on Friday at the campus of the Notre Dame University in Cotabato City, that he and all of his subordinate-poll officials based in the autonomous region’s five provinces and three cities, the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police are all set for Monday’s regional electoral exercise. — Kaela Patricia B. Gabriel and John Felix M. Unson Information Source: BusinessWorld Nation