COTABATO CITY (Sunday, September 7, 2025) — Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro had personally ordered military officials in Central Mindanao to do their best in helping the Commission on Elections ensure a safe and credible Bangsamoro parliamentary elections next month.

Teodoro, officials of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division and the Navy’s 1st Marine Brigade met on Saturday, September 6, in Camp Siongco in Barangay Awang in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte and talked about security preparations for the first ever October 13, 2025 parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The 6th ID has jurisdiction over BARMM’s regional capital, Cotabato City, and its two nearby component-provinces, Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte, where there are towns being secured by units of the 1st Marine Brigade.

Teodoro was accompanied to Camp Siongco, where the headquarters of the 6th ID is located, by the chief of staff of the Armed Forces, Lt. Romeo Brawner, Lt. Gen Antonio Nafarrete, who is commander of the Philippine Army, Marine Brig. Gen. Romulo Quemado II of the Western Mindanao Command and Major Gen. Maj. Gen. Yegor Rey Barroquillo Jr. of the 1st Infantry Division, which covers the cities and provinces in the Zamboanga peninsula.

Major Gen. Donald Guimiran, commander of the 6th ID, told reporters on Sunday, September 7, that Teodoro wants all units of the division and 1st Marine Brigade to secure well all of the polling sites in Cotabato City and in the neighboring Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Sur provinces during the October 13 Bangsamoro regional parliamentary polls.

The core territory of the Bangsamoro region encompasses the provinces of Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi and the cities of Lamitan, Marawi and Cotabato.

“Our defense secretary wants us all to be neutral during the elections. We had assured him and his entourage that we do not have problem doing that. We strictly adhere to the principle of non-partisanship when we engage in election-related missions,” Gumiran said.

Officials of units of the Philippine Marine Corps deployed in Maguindanao del Norte had also assured of their neutrality during the October 13 Bangsamoro regional elections.

The 1st Marine Brigade and its three component battalions deployed in Maguindanao del Norte’s Barira, Parang, Sultan Mastura, Sultan Kudarat, Datu Odin Sinsuat and Datu Blah Sinsuat towns are operating under 6th ID’s supervision.

Gumiran said they have assured the defense secretary that they have ample security preparations meant to achieve the desire of national and regional officials of Comelec to have a peaceful and honest electoral exercise in BARMM next month.

Photo shows Teodoro and military officials during their meeting at the headquarters of the 6th ID last Saturday.