BARMM election period, gun ban begin for September 14 polls

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Election watchdogs cite the need for more voter education efforts as election day nears

MANILA, Philippines – The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) is inching closer to its first parliamentary polls as the election period and gun ban officially started Thursday, July 16.

Comelec Chairman George Garcia said on Wednesday night, July 15, that checkpoints will be set up in 105 municipalities and three cities to implement the gun ban.

Malacañang’s appointment of Presidential Peace Adviser Mel Senen Sarmiento as chief of the Government Peace Implementing Panel a day before the election period gives positive signals that the long-delayed polls will finally push through.

The polls previously suffered from setbacks due to the pandemic and Sulu’s exit from the region. The successful conduct of the BARMM elections is crucial to the completion of the peace process in the Bangsamoro.

“Para sa mga kababayan natin sa Bangsamoro, sa mga partido pulitikal, sa mga kandidato, wala na pong duda, tuloy na tuloy ang halalan sa Bangsamoro,” Garcia had said during the printing of ballots on June 9.

(To our fellow citizens in the Bangsamoro, to the political parties, to the candidates, there is no doubt that the election in the Bangsamoro is pushing through.)

Voter education continues

Independent election watchdogs like the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) and LENTE Philippines are preparing as election day nears.

NAMFREL chair Angel “Lito” Averia Jr. said in Aksyon Alerto on Thursday that election monitors serve as a “force multiplier” to the Comelec, ensuring compliance during the election period.

Averia said they are organizing more voter education sessions this August as there are “areas that do not yet quite understand the parliamentary system.”

Ona Caritos, executive director of LENTE Philippines, said voters in BARMM already have a grasp of the basics but changes in the region’s electoral code meant doubling down on their efforts to educate voters.

“Because there had been changes in the Bangsamoro Electoral Code at the start of this year, there’s a big challenge to adjust voter education materials and return to communities you’ve been to and tell them about the updates,” Caritos said in the same program.

Thirteen regional political parties are set to compete for seats in parliament. Among them are the United Bangsamoro Justice Party, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s party; and the Bangsamoro Federalist Party. BARMM interim chief minister Abdulraof Macacua is running as an independent candidate for the 3rd parliamentary district seat of Maguindanao del Norte.

Here is the schedule from start of election period to election day:

• July 16: Start of election period, gun ban
• July 30: Start of campaign period
• September 4-14: Absolute ban on release of public funds except for medical or burial assistance
• September 12: Final testing and sealing
• September 13: Eve of election day, liquor ban imposed, campaign prohibited
• September 14: Election day

The Comelec is printing 2.39 million ballots. Each precinct will host 600 voters, according to Garcia.

On September 14, the Bangsamoro people will vote for members of the region’s 80-member parliament. The elected parliamentarians will select the next chief minister.

– Rappler.com