Elite cops deployed in troubled Maguindanao del Sur as election nears

CHECKPOINT This police checkpoint under the supervision of the Commission on Elections in Barangay Zapakan, Rajah Buayan, Maguindanao del Sur, shown here on Thursday, Jan. 30, is one of the many set up by the Bangsamoro police to address rising violence in the province in the run-up to the May 12 midterm elections. — DREMA Q. BRAVO

COTABATO CITY — Police in the Bangsamoro region will deploy the elite Special Action Force (SAF) in troubled Maguindanao towns to strengthen security measures for the election period, a top official in the region said.

Police Brig. Gen. Romeo Macapaz, director for the Police Regional Office (PRO) in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), said the SAF troops will be deployed in Buluan, the capital of Maguindanao del Sur, and in Shariff Aguak, where a series of gun-related attacks had been reported since Jan. 12, the start of the election period.

Macapaz said that a total of 29 shooting incidents had been recorded in the entire region, killing 24 people, since Jan. 12.

Of the 29 incidents, Maguindanao del Sur registered the highest number of killings with 10 cases, followed by Maguindanao del Norte, six cases; Lanao del Sur, five; Basilan, four; Cotabato City, one.

No incident was reported in Tawi-Tawi. But Sulu, which is no longer part of the BARMM but remained under the operational control of the region’s police, registered three incidents, he said.

Deploying the elite force would be a strategic move to address the high number of killings in the area despite the implementation of an election gun ban, Macapaz said.

“The SAF will help address rising cases of gun-related violence in the area,” he added.

Separate probe

This developed as the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) announced it would conduct a probe into the killings of local officials and electoral candidates in the provinces of Zamboanga del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte.

In a statement on its website on Wednesday, the CHR said their regional offices would lead the investigation on the reported killings.

“We denounce … incidents which violate the most fundamental of all rights—the right to life—this time affecting public officials and candidates as we approach the 2025 national and local elections,” said the CHR statement.

CHR cited the Jan. 3 killings of a councilor from Barangay Upper Dumalinao in Dumalinao town, Zamboanga del Sur and the village chair of Barangay Sambulawan in Datu Salibo, Maguindanao del Sur; the Jan. 4 killing of another councilor from Barangay Lantawan in San Miguel town, Zamboanga del Sur; and the Jan. 18 killing of a candidate for municipal council in Northern Kabuntalan, Maguindanao del Norte.

Although authorities in the two provinces were still determining whether the motive behind the killings was political or not, CHR expressed concern about the recurring reports of local officials “being attacked and killed, as these undermine the integrity and effectiveness of public service and [cultivate] a culture of fear and violence in communities,” the CHR statement said.

Crime classifications

“This also jeopardizes the safety of individuals,” the CHR, said, adding, “We must be reminded that a secure environment is essential for conducting proper and credible elections, thereby enabling every citizen and voter to participate in political processes without fear for their safety.”

But Macapaz said he did not consider any of the 29 crimes that the police monitored in the Bangsamoro region election-related incident.

Of the 29 shooting incidents, three were considered “crime cleared,” defined by the police as cases where suspects were already being identified, and cases have been filed, though suspects remained at large; 11 were considered “crime solved,” or cases with suspects identified and arrested; while 15 cases were still “under investigation,” Macapaz said.

He cited Shariff Aguak, one of the towns in Maguindanao del Sur placed under the “red” category of the Commission on Elections because of the series of gun attacks that killed members of the Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team (BPAT).

“We believe that the suspects avoided police and military checkpoints; hence, they used exit routes guarded by our unarmed BPAT personnel,” Macapaz said.

Macapaz said CCTV (closed-circuit television camera) would be put up in priority entry and exit points in the entire BARMM, including the checkpoints in Lanao del Sur, the boundary of Region 10 (Northern Mindanao), Region 12 (Soccsksargen) and 15 other sites.