MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. called on the military to ensure the peaceful conduct of the parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) next year.
During his visit to the headquarters of the 11th Infantry Division in Camp Teodulfo Bautista in Jolo, Sulu on Friday, the President said the BARMM elections must be peaceful and safe.
“This is very important because we should be able to say that the members of parliament were elected in the right manner. And we know that it is very important that the conduct of the polls is orderly, and the governance of BARMM is done well,” Marcos said.
He also asked the Armed forces of the Philippines (AFP) to make sure that terrorism and political violence could not disrupt the political exercise, and reminded the security forces that elections should be won in peace.
“Walang terrorism, walang political violence. Basta’t i-minimize natin lahat ‘yan” (No terrorism or political violence. All of these must be minimized), Marcos said.
“Let us not sit on our laurels. Let us not become complacent because these are challenges that we will have to manage,” he added.
President Marcos also said that peace in Mindanao was one of the government’s priorities.
“That is all in the interest of peace. We do this because we want peace to continue in this area, in the Southern Philippines. We do not want to see the kind of fighting that we saw many decades ago,” he said.
On May 12, 2025, the BARMM will hold its first parliamentary elections, coinciding with the midterm legislative polls.
BARMM covers Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, and the cities of Lamitan, Marawi and Cotabato.
In 2018, the autonomous region was established when former president Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act 11054 or the Bangsamoro Basic Law, which aimed to end decades of conflict in Mindanao by creating a political entity with greater autonomy than the former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
The Commission on Elections said that 16 political parties and 1,500 sectoral groups were to participate in the BARMM election that was expected to elect candidates to fill the 32 parliament seats and 40 bets for the party-list representative seats.
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