ELECTION materials are now in municipalities across the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), with 808 police personnel deployed to secure preparations for the polls, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Among those deployed from Region 12 are 334 Special Election Boards (SEBs), forming part of the police contingent tasked with helping secure the electoral preparations.
Comelec Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia said distribution from election hubs to municipalities remains ongoing, with ballots going to city treasurers and other election paraphernalia being delivered to local Comelec offices.
‘The deployment from the hubs to the municipalities is ongoing, with the ballots being delivered to the city treasurers, while all the other election paraphernalia are being brought to the local Comelec offices,’ Garcia said.
Comelec wants distribution completed by Sept. 8 so election officers and teachers can prepare for the final testing and sealing set on Sept. 12.
Garcia said preparations will cover all 5,212 polling precincts across BARMM ahead of the final testing and sealing.
Police deployment is proceeding alongside the movement of election materials as authorities brace for security challenges during the electoral process.
Garcia warned against treating the number of election-related incidents as a stand-alone measure of peace and order in the region.
‘Peace and order should not really be measured by one election-related incident, whatever others may say, because that one incident involved the interim chief minister,’ Garcia said.
BARMM has recorded only one election-related incident so far, a figure Garcia said authorities can be proud of but should not use as assurance that the polls will remain peaceful.
‘We should be proud that there is only one incident in the entire Bangsamoro, but that is not enough,’ Garcia said.
What matters now, according to the poll body chief, is whether security forces are positioned properly and can keep the situation under control throughout voting and the completion of the election.
‘What is important is whether the forces are properly deployed and whether we can maintain a peaceful election until election day and until the election is finished,’ Garcia said.
Comelec is consequently pushing to finish the distribution of election materials while police deployment continues ahead of the final testing and sealing.