Thousands of police officers deployed for Bangsamoro local elections

About 188,000 police officers will be deployed to ensure security in local (barangay) elections next Monday. The vote will be held on October 30 and promises to be a major event.

Manila (AsiaNews) – In the Philippines, local (barangay) elections[*] are usually an important event, but they come with great risks. Some 188,000 members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) will be deployed nationwide to protect voting, next Monday (30 October).

These elections are crucial in a country with thousands of islands, where many places are difficult to access, and where accusations of corruption and mismanagement are commonplace.

The authorities have especially enhanced security in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), in the southern Philippines, with extra military and paramilitary units.

The aim is to better police the region and prevent any actions by remaining Islamist guerrillas who attract people linked to the Islamic State.

PNP spokesperson Police Colonel Jean Fajardo said that an additional 800 police officers would be deployed in the BARMM to beef up local security measures ahead of the vote.

Another 4,400 unarmed police officers were trained to serve as Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) in the elections. More than half of them will be deployed in the BARMM.

Many fear that, like in the past, political violence will break out in particularly “hot” areas in the region.

The latter includes the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Cotabato City, and the city of Marawi on the big island of Mindanao, the island of Basilan (except the city of Isabela), the Sulu Islands, and Tawi-Tawi Island.

The BARMM is home to some five million people, mostly Muslim, who will vote in 2,590 barangays out of 42,000 nationwide.

[*] Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections. The Barangay is the smallest administrative unit in the Philippines, usually a village, district or ward in rural areas or a neighbourhood in metropolitan areas. The Sangguniang Kabataan is a youth council in each barangay,