Cotabato City—Military authorities in Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat provinces have sought the assistance of village officials and leaders of both the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front as frontliners to ensure honest, orderly and peaceful elections today.
Lt. Col. Elmer Boongaling, the commander of the Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion, met with village officials of Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat to remind them of their vital role in ensuring that elections in their respective communities are orderly and peaceful.
“Your Philippine Army is your peace partner in every village and your cooperation is needed so that all of us are successful,” Boongaling said.
The meeting was attended by village officials from Tacurong City, President Quirino town, and the municipalities of Buluan, Paglat, Mangudadatu, Gen. S. K. Pendatun, Datu Paglas, and Pandag in Maguindanao.
The Army’s 1st Mechanized Infantry Battalion, headed by Lt. Col. James Fernando, also separately met with leaders of the MILF and MNLF.
Earlier, representatives of the government and the MILF to the Coordinating Committees on the Cessation of Hostilities signed a memorandum of mutual understanding on “ceasefire-related functions” for today’s elections.
The document was signed in the presence of Cotabato City acting election officer Mark Chrystal Sorilla and International Monitoring Team (Mission 14 head Maj. Gen. Ya’cob Bin Haji Samiran.
The memorandum, which identified specific coordinating and monitoring functions as well as the responsibilities of the concerned parties, covers conflict-affected areas in Mindanao, particularly in identified volatile and election hotspot zones within the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and other adjacent areas.
“With the active involvement of various groups, we can now rest secure and are hopeful that the forthcoming elections will not only be peaceful but also credible wherein the true will of the people will be expressed,” Sorilla said.
“Their decision to whom they shall entrust the future of BARMM will be respected as this will be reflective of the political, cultural, and democratic ethos of the Bangsamoro People,” Sorilla added.
Almost two-million registered voters in BARMM are expected to cast their votes for the midterm polls.
Aside from choosing their senators and congressional representatives, voters in the region will also choose five governors and five vice governors for Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi as well as city mayors and vice mayors for Cotabato, Marawi and Lamitan.
They will also elect 50 members of the provincial board, 116 municipal mayors, 116 municipal vice mayors and 1,160 members of the municipal councils.
In Maguindanao, 13 mayoral aspirants are assured of winning for running unopposed.
