Move to reconcile BARMM election protagonists mulled

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Various sectors on Saturday pledged to support the plan of the Bangsamoro local government ministry to reconcile elected and defeated candidates for barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan posts.

Bangsamoro Local Government Minister Naguib Sinarimbo announced on Thursday that his office shall also provide the 37 barangay governments here and in other towns and cities in the autonomous region essential capacity-building interventions to boost delivery of basic services to the local communities.

Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, on Saturday told reporters here that PRO-BAR will support the reconciliation initiative of the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government, aimed at restoring cordiality among rivals in the October 30 elections.

There were election-related hostilities during Monday’s barangay and SK elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, but the incidents happened only in 11 of its 116 towns and did not hamper the conduct of polling activities in affected areas, according to regional officials of the Commission on Elections and provincial police directors.

The BARMM has six provinces, Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, and also covers this city, where its regional capitol is located, and the cities of Lamitan and Marawi.

“By and large, the barangay and SK election activities in BARMM were peaceful and orderly,” Nobleza said.

Nobleza and the commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, Major Gen. Alex Rillera, separately told reporters here on Saturday that they appreciate the plan of the MILG-BARMM to settle the misunderstandings among the aspirants for various elective positions during the October 30 barangay and SK polls.

“We have Christian and Muslim personnel who are religious preachers too that we can mobilize to help the MILG-BARMM achieve that goal,” Rillera said.

Three members of the 80-seat Bangsamoro parliament, the lawyers Hadji Nabil Tan and Paisalin Tago and the physician-ophthalmologist Kadil Sinolinding, Jr., said they will help push the MILG-BARMM's plan forward.

Sinolinding, who has continuing eye care missions in the 63 Bangsamoro barangays in Cotabato province in Region 12, said he can persuade defeated and elected candidates, particularly those who had brought to his clinic indigent and underprivileged patients he had treated for free, to “smoke the proverbial peace pipe” and thrive in peace again.

“I am hoping we can start with this program immediately,” Sinolinding said.