Army unit lauded for BARMM election security duties

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Regional officials, local executives, Muslim and Christian community leaders on Saturday bade goodbye to an Army unit deployed in this city for five weeks for security missions related to the September 14 Bangsamoro parliamentary elections.

Cotabato City is the capital of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, where BARMM’s 32-hectare regional capitol is located. BARMM’s territory encompasses the provinces of Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi and the cities of Lamitan, Marawi and Cotabato.

Led by its commanding officer, Lt. Col. Pablo Masa-ad, the 72nd Infantry Battalion of the Army's 10th Infantry Division was deployed in Cotabato City to help units of the Cotabato City Police Office, the 6th Marine Rifle Battalion of the Philippine Navy and the 6th Infantry Division secure polling sites in its 37 barangays during the first ever September 14 BARMM parliamentary elections.

“We are grateful to the officers and soldiers under the 72nd Infantry Battalion for having supported the election security efforts in Cotabato City of the Commission on Elections during the September 14 electoral exercise in BARMM,"  Bangsamoro Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua, presiding chairperson of the region’s multi-sector Regional Peace and Order Council, said.

The acting commander of 6th ID, Brig. Gen. Ricky Bunayog, also overseeing the anti-terror Joint Task Force Central, and his subordinate officers led on Saturday the farewell rite for the 72nd IB, whose officers and troops were housed for five weeks in the division’s training school in Barangay Semba in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte and patrolled on the streets in Cotabato City on a round-the-clock basis.

Officials of the Navy's 1st Marine Brigade, led by Brig. Gen. Larry Batalla, were also present in the event. 

The 72nd IB arrived in Cotabato City, from its headquarters in Arakan town in Cotabato province in Region 12, a few days prior to the September 14 elections in BARMM.

Bunayog told reporters on Saturday, at the sideline of the farewell rite for the 72nd IB, that its commanding officer, Masa-ad, and his subordinate-officers and their troops performed their election security duties in Cotabato City with utmost professionalism and neutrality.

“We will not forget their good work, while in the area of responsibility of the 6th Infantry Division, for an election-related security task," Mr. Bunayog said.

Netizens, among them a number of traditional Muslim, Christian and non-Moro indigenous community figureheads in Cotabato City, immediately posted on Facebook on Saturday their messages of gratitude for the 72nd IB, after learning, from radio reports, its return then to Arakan, one of the 17 towns in Cotabato.

Bangsamoro Local Government Minister Jordan S. Bayam said on Saturday that they appreciate the deployment in Cotabato City of the 72nd IB for five weeks, sent in by Major Gen. Alvin Luzon, commander of the 10th ID, whose headquarters is in Mawab town in Davao de Oro province in Region 11.

“We are grateful to them,” said Bayam, referring to all officials and the troops of the 72nd IB and Luzon, their division commander.