Soldiers from Region 11 to help secure BARMM polls

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — The 28th Infantry Battalion under the Army’s 10th Infantry Division is bound for deployment in Bangsamoro municipalities as part of the security preparations for the first-ever September 14 parliamentary elections in the autonomous region.

Major Gen. Alvin Luzon, commander of the 10th ID, told reporters on Saturday, July 25, that their 28th IB shall support the joint election security missions of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and the Army’s 6th Infantry Division in certain areas in the autonomous region, which the Commission on Elections shall oversee.

“They shall operate under the guidance of the Commission on Elections and the 6th Infantry Division,” Luzon said.

The headquarters of the 10th ID, which is under the Eastern Mindanao Command, is in Mawab town in Davao de Oro.

The 6th ID, which is under the Western Mindanao Command, covers the eight municipalities in the Bangsamoro Special Geographic Area in Cotabato province in Region 12 and the nearby Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte provinces of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

BARMM covers the provinces of Maguindanao de Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi and the cities of Lamitan, Marawi and Cotabato, where its regional capitol is located.

Luzon and 6th ID’s commander, Major Gen. Jose Vladimir Cagara, shall cooperate in overseeing the election security operations of the 28th IB, now temporarily based in Sitio Estremos in Barangay Poblacion in Magpet town in Cotabato.

The 601st and 602nd Infantry Brigades of 6th ID, which have units in certain towns in Cotabato and in parts of Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte, respectively, shall be in the forefront of the Comelec's election peacekeeping activities in the three provinces on September 14.

Parts of Maguindanao del Norte and the 37 barangays in Cotabato City shall be secured then by personnel of three battalions under the Navy’s 1st Marine Brigade, whose headquarters is in the upland Barira town in the province.