COTABATO CITY, BARMM, Philippines — A gun ban is in effect starting today throughout the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), marking the official start of the election period for the historic regional polls where some 2.3 million voters will finally elect 80 members of the Bangsamoro parliament on Sept. 14.
The gun ban starts amid persistent violence in the region, with some incidents directly related to long-standing political and security dynamics.
Interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua underscored the deeper meaning of the first Bangsamoro parliamentary elections.
READ: Comelec assures shorter lines, faster voting for Bangsamoro polls
“As enshrined in the Bangsamoro Organic Law, this election marks the full exercise of the people’s sovereign will—the formal transition from an interim government to a democratically elected Parliament,” he said.
Political dominance
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) set the election period for the first parliamentary polls until Sept. 29, with the campaign period scheduled from July 30 to Sept. 12.
Exempted from the gun ban are those with authorization from the Comelec.
As the election fever heats up, the battle for parliamentary political dominance is shaping up to be between the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP) and the Bangsamoro Federalist Party, which is widely thought to have links to the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas of the ruling Marcos administration.
The UBJP is the political party of the erstwhile rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), whose peace deal with the Philippine government—the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB)—paved the way for the establishment of the Bangsamoro region in 2019. The parties signed the CAB in 2014 after 17 years of negotiations.
READ: Comelec ‘fully prepared’ for BARMM elections
Security remains one of the biggest concerns in the holding of regional elections, where 13 regional political parties are competing for 40 party representative seats, 32 seats for parliamentary district representatives, and eight seats for sectoral representatives.
Increasing violence
The Comelec, the Philippine National Police, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines have pledged a “safe and secure” democratic process. They flagged at least 86 areas of concern across the region.
In a May pre-election briefer titled “Excitement and trepidation like no other in the Bangsamoro region,” the nonprofit Climate Conflict Action Asia (CCAA) warned that violence “will likely increase in 2026 as the region heads to its first Parliamentary election.”
The group’s conflict alert data showed that violent conflict continued to increase in 2025, driven by the rise in conflict, primarily involving the MILF, and the resurgence of violence linked to violent extremism.
‘Rido’
“Rido,” or clan feud, is among the major security challenges that confront the Bangsamoro region.
The first four months of 2026 recorded 43 clan feuds, five short of the 49 total recorded for the entire 2025, CCAA data showed, noting these incidents mostly happened in mainland Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur and the Special Geographic Area. The island provinces of Tawi-Tawi and Basilan composed the rest of the Bangsamoro region.
Attacks against politicians also marred the region over the years.
In January, Mayor Akmad Ampatuan of Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao del Sur, survived a broad daylight rocket-propelled grenade attack in his town. It was the fourth slay attempt on him since 2010.
Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr. also survived an ambush while his convoy was traveling in Maguing town in February 2023. Four of his aides were killed. /cb
The post Gun ban up for election period in Bangsamoro appeared first on Inquirer.net.
