WITH less than two months before the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE), the Commission on Elections (Comelec) reported Wednesday, July 22, 2026, that it has yet to register any election-related incident within the whole Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Barmm).
In an interview, Comelec Chairman George Garcia said no untoward incident has been reported in all the 167 checkpoints established for the BPE since the start of the Election Period, which will run from July 16 to September 29.
"Since the first day of our Election Period, it has been very peaceful and orderly. In all our 167 checkpoints, not a single one was arrested or caught carrying a weapon or deadly weapon. We have had zero violation," said Garcia.
"So far, since we started our Election Period, and our gun ban, and our checkpoints, we have not had any election-related violence registered in the entire Bangsamoro," he added.
Earlier, the Comelec listed 27 areas that are under the "red" category among Areas of Concern, and another 27 areas under the "orange" category.
There are also 39 areas under the "yellow" category, while another 15 areas are in the "green" category.
Broken down by areas in the "red" category, 21 are in Lanao del Sur, three in Maguindanao del Sur, and one area each in Basilan, Maguindanao del Norte, and in the Special Geographic Area (SGA).
There are also 14 in Maguindanao del Sur, five in Lanao del Sur, three each in Maguindanao del Norte and SGA, and two in Basilan placed under the "orange" category.
Nevertheless, the poll body said it is urging the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to conduct joint patrols in areas under the "red" Areas of Concern.
Garcia said it would be better if both the police and military conduct joint patrol in the 27 "red" Barmm areas ahead of the September 14 polls.
"We will closely coordinate with the PNP and the AFP to lay down the plans as we have told them that we will not allow any widespread unrest (in Barmm)," said Garcia.
"The AFP and the PNP must conduct joint patrol in the areas that are under the red category areas. It can't just be the PNP, as they must include the AFP," he added.
In a related development, Garcia reported that the National Printing Office has already completed the printing of the official ballots for the BPE.
He said they are now just conducting the verification process for the 2,393,202 official ballots for the September 14 polls.
"We are currently verifying the ballots and checking whether all 2.3 million ballots printed for the BPE shall be accepted by the machines that will be deployed to the Bangsamoro region," said Garcia. (Anton Banal/SunStar Philippines)
