COTABATO CITY — Presidential Peace Adviser Sec. Mel Senen Sarmiento expressed optimism Sunday that the first regional parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) next month would be “peaceful and successful.”
“The success of the election will not only be a milestone for the Bangsamoro peace process. It will be a victory for peace, democracy, and the Filipino people,” he said in a statement.
Sarmiento said the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU), which he heads, recognizes the historic Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE) as a significant milestone in the political track of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro and the Bangsamoro Organic Law.
Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairperson George Erwin Garcia earlier expressed hopes that the historic Sept. 14 BARMM election would also be peaceful.
READ: Comelec all set for BARMM polls
The Comelec has been meeting regularly with the military, police and other stakeholders in the region to ensure next month’s balloting would be the “most peaceful electoral activity in BARMM.”
“We appreciate the continuing efforts of the Commission on Elections and the security cluster to ensure that the electoral process is conducted properly and peacefully,” Sarmiento said.
“We likewise acknowledge the maturity and sense of responsibility being demonstrated by the political parties and their leaders as we approach this historic exercise,” he added.
Sarmiento said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s clear guidance “is that the Bangsamoro elections must uphold the integrity of the democratic process and protect the people’s right to freely choose their leaders.”
On Sept. 14, about 2.4 million registered voters in 5,212 clustered precincts at 1,186 voting centers across BARMM will elect 40 seats for regional parliamentary political parties, 32 single-district representatives, and six sectoral representatives, with two seats for settler communities and one seat each for women, youth, traditional leaders, and Ulama (Muslim religious leaders).
The non-Moro Indigenous Peoples (NIMIP) had already selected its two leaders through traditional and customary means of electing their representatives to the regional parliament.
Once the 80 elected parliament members are proclaimed, the Parliament will then elect the Chief Minister.
BARMM voters do not directly vote for the chief minister. /mcm
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