MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday said it is working closely with law enforcement agencies to help ensure the peaceful conduct of the Sept. 14 Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE).

Comelec Chairperson George Garcia said checkpoints have been established across the Bangsamoro region following the start of the election period on July 16, which will run until Sept. 29.

“We will coordinate with the PNP (Philippine National Police) and AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) to lay the groundwork and we said that we will not allow widespread unrest,” Garcia said in an interview.

“The AFP and PNP must have joint patrols in the red category areas. It cannot be just the PNP. The AFP must be included,” he added.

Garcia also reported that authorities recorded no arrests or detentions on the first day of the election period.

“On the first day of our Election Period… it went very smoothly. In our 167 checkpoints, not a single person was arrested or detained or found carrying a deadly weapon. There were no violations,” he said.

“So far, since we implemented our election period, and our gun ban, and the checkpoints, we have not had any election-related violence registered in the entire Bangsamoro,” Garcia added.

The Comelec chief also announced that the printing of the 2.3 million official ballots for the parliamentary elections has been completed.

“In fact, we have finished printing the ballots. Now we are verifying the ballots, whether all 2.3 million ballots printed for the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections are accepted by all our machines to be sent to the Bangsamoro,” he said.

Comelec reminded the public that prohibited acts during the election period include the bearing, carrying, or transporting of firearms and other deadly weapons, among other election-related offenses.PNA