No failure of elections in BARMM during BSKE 2023 — Comelec

There was no failure of elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) during the 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), officials from the Commission on Elections said Wednesday.

In a virtual interview, Comelec spokesperson Rex Laudiangco said the Philippine National Police, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the accredited citizens' arm had no reports on the declaration of failure of elections for the 2023 local village and youth council polls in the said region.

"Wala po kami talagang nai-report na failure of elections.... Ang failure of elections po talaga is halos wala pong naging eleksyon. Kung meron pong nakaboto dun sa ating registered voter, hindi po natin yan matuturing na failure of elections," Laudiangco said.

(There are no reports of failure of elections. Failure of electiojns means no one was able to vote in the elections. If there are cases that a registered voter was not able to cast his vote, that cannot be automatically declared as failure of election.)

Comelec regional director in BARMM Ray Sumalipao also reported that the 2023 BSKE has "concluded successfully, with no evidence of election failures."

"Despite violence and untoward incidents, I would say that it’s generally peaceful and absolutely honest, orderly, and credible elections," Sumalipao said in a statement.

Amid the "sporadic" incidents during the conduct of the polls, Sumalipao stressed the need to deploy additional security personnel to serve in the BARMM. 

Meanwhile, Laudiangco refuted the statement of the Council for Climate and Conflict Action in Asia which attributed the number of violent incidents in the BARMM during the 2023 BSKE to "government complacency."

The watchdog which monitors conflicts in Bangsamoro noted the 17 deaths in the region during the polls as well as the 31 injuries from 57 incidents.

"In all due fairness po sa ating PNP, AFP, sa Coast Guard at kasama na rin po ang Comelec at ibang personnel, hindi po namin matatanggap ang complacency na yan. Bakit po? Halos po lahat ng incidents na naganap ay imemdiately nakarespond po ang ating AFP at PNP at lagi pong may nahuhuli na mga perpetrators," Laudiangco said.

(In all due fairness to our PNP, AFP, Coast Guard and Comelec, we cannot accept that we have been complacent. Why? Because in all incidents, we were able to respond and arrest the perpetrators immediately.)

For the 2023 BSKE, Laudiangco said the government forces were able to arrest perpetrators of violence in BARMM. Apart from this, the Comelec official noted that the poll body had been aggressive in filing cases against those who were involved in these election-related incidents.

"Hindi complacent, but on the other side, room for improvement. Yes, there will always be room for improvement. Hindi naman po mayabang ang Comelec na sasabihin namin na perfect na, there will always be room for improvement," he said.

"Hindi po namin masasabi at hindi namin matatanggap na naging complacent ang Comelec, PNP, AFP, Coast Guard at DepEd," he added.

(We were not complacent but on the other side, there is a room for improvement. We will not be arrogant and say that the elections were perfect, but there will always be room for improvement. We will not say and we will not accept that the Comelec, PNP, AFP, Coast Guard, and DepEd had been complacent.)

Laudiangco also mentioned that the number of security personnel were not enough to provide all areas a huge amount of law enforcers. This is the reason why the Comelec strategically deploys government forces based on the list of areas of concerns, he explained.

"So tinitingnan po natin ngayon papaano po namin madadagdagan ang pwersa ng pamahalaan hindi lamang doon sa eskwelahan kundi pati po sa community," he added.

(We are looking for ways how to augment forces not only in the schools but also in the community.) — RSJ, GMA Integrated News