Voters in 4 Bangsamoro towns report political harassment

Voters in four towns within the Bangsamoro Special Geographic Area (SGA) are reporting widespread intimidation by a political camp favoring a specific candidate for the 80-seat parliament of the autonomous region in the September 14 regional polls. The SGA comprises eight newly established towns within the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), yet they are geographically located within Cotabato Province, part of Administrative Region 12. Villagers in the 2nd district of the SGA told reporters that their community leaders were summoned and warned of "serious repercussions" if they supported any of the four other aspirants for the parliamentary seat covering their area. Among those who have complained of harassment are elderly beneficiaries of recent joint medical outreach missions by the Ministry of Health-BARMM, the office of Cotabato Governor Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza, and local executives. "Our community leaders were summoned by that political camp and warned of the bad repercussions of their being identified with candidates contesting the bid of their favored candidate for the parliamentary seat in our parliamentary district," said a 70-year-old ethnic Maguindanaon man who had undergone cataract surgery facilitated early this year by the MoH-BARMM. Residents are urging Brig. Gen. Christopher Abecia, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, and Army Brig. Gen. Ricky Bunayog, acting commander of the 6th Infantry Division, to investigate the issue. They also called on lawyer Ray Sumalipao, director of the Commission on Elections for BARMM, to focus attention on their complaint. "We are hoping for the deployment of more soldiers and policemen in our district to prevent that group from possibly cheating during the actual polling day," a 59-year-old Moro datu said. Two Islamic missionaries, who requested anonymity, stated that missionaries in Islamic schools within their barangays, identified with a more popular candidate and who had supported recent medical missions, are also being subjected to harassment by what they described as a "shrewd" partisan bloc in the 2nd district of the SGA. The Army's 10th Infantry Division had previously dispatched its 28th Infantry Battalion to the SGA to assist the 6th Infantry Division's 602nd Infantry Brigade in securing polling sites during the September 14 BARMM elections. The 2nd district of the SGA falls under the joint jurisdiction of the 6th ID's 602nd Infantry Brigade and police units under PRO-BAR.