LENTE deploys 313 monitors for historic BARMM parliamentary elections on NewsLine Philippines - Building Information Highway for the Community
DAVAO CITY (September 11) — With only four days remaining before the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) holds its first parliamentary elections, the Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE) has called on political parties, candidates, voters, and other stakeholders to ensure that the long-awaited polls are peaceful, transparent, and free from intimidation, vote-buying, and other forms of electoral abuse.
In a statement issued September 10, LENTE said Bangsamoro voters will finally elect their first Parliament on September 14, ending the transition period that began in 2019 after several postponements and delays. The election watchdog urged all stakeholders to make the “four-year wait worth it” by ensuring that voters can exercise their right to vote freely and without fear, intimidation, promises of money or benefits, or other forms of undue influence.
LENTE said it will deploy 313 trained grassroots monitors, supported by 10 supervising lawyers and area coordinators, to 209 voting centers across BARMM. The deployment will cover approximately 17 percent of all voting centers in the region and will include all six provinces and three cities of BARMM, with four additional lawyers and personnel stationed at its headquarters in Cotabato City.
The monitors will observe compliance with the Commission on Elections’ General Instructions and the Bangsamoro Electoral Code during voting and counting. They will also assess the accessibility of polling places for persons with disabilities, senior citizens, Indigenous voters, and persons deprived of liberty, while documenting common election-day irregularities and offenses. LENTE will likewise continue its Time and Motion Study to determine how long voters take to complete the voting process and how Electoral Boards and Support Staff perform voting and counting procedures.
The election watchdog said its monitoring will also extend to special polling places established for persons deprived of liberty in Cotabato City, Maguindanao del Norte, Marawi City, Lanao del Sur and Bongao, Tawi-Tawi.
LENTE’s election observation began well before Election Day. On July 30, when the campaign period started, the organization deployed 14 long-term observers across the six BARMM provinces to monitor campaign activities, implementation of election rules and voter education efforts. Over the past six weeks, the observers have also examined how regional parliamentary political parties, candidates and sectoral organizations conduct their campaigns and whether their activities reach different groups of voters across the region.
Among LENTE’s preliminary observations is the disparity in campaign strategies and resources among political groups. Established parties and their sectoral wings have organizational infrastructure and resources that newly formed parties, independent candidates, and parliamentary sectoral organizations do not necessarily have. LENTE also noted that existing campaign rules were developed with a presidential system in mind and do not fully capture the dynamics of a parliamentary system, where political parties play a more central role than individual candidates.
The organization said it will include these observations in its final report, along with insights and recommendations from its long-term monitoring. Its observers, area coordinators and supervising lawyers will continue watching the final days of the campaign and the conduct of Final Testing and Sealing scheduled for September 12.
LENTE has also intensified its monitoring of election-related activity on social media. It began tracking political narratives in BARMM earlier this year and launched dedicated social media monitoring in August, covering official accounts of regional parliamentary political parties, government information channels, the Bangsamoro government, parliamentary sectoral organizations, affiliated accounts, local media pages, and unattributed accounts producing election-related content.
The group identified three prominent patterns in its initial monitoring: the widespread use of AI-generated and synthetic content in campaigning, inflammatory and divisive narratives circulated through affiliated and unattributed accounts, and procedural mis- and disinformation about the parliamentary system and Election Day processes.
With the election only days away, LENTE urged COMELEC, civil society organizations and media outlets to make a final push to provide voters with accurate and useful information, particularly on election procedures where confusion could lead to disenfranchisement. It also warned stakeholders to guard against false or inflammatory content that could provoke anger and incite violence among supporters of political parties and candidates.
LENTE said it has maintained voter education and capacity-building programs throughout the repeated postponements of the parliamentary elections. From August 2025 to May 2026, it reached 6,975 voters through 159 sessions held in barangays, schools, universities, and government offices, in partnership with government agencies, civil society organizations, and academic institutions.
In recent weeks, the organization focused its voter education efforts on vulnerable sectors, including persons deprived of liberty and persons with disabilities. Sessions were conducted at the Cotabato City Jail, Marawi City Jail, Lanao del Sur Provincial Jail and Bongao District Jail, as well as for persons with disabilities in Cotabato City.
LENTE identified changes to electoral rules and procedures close to Election Day as a major challenge to voter education. Such changes, it said, affect legal certainty and reduce the time available for voters and other stakeholders to understand their rights, choices and the consequences of their votes. The concern is particularly significant in BARMM, where voters are participating in the region’s first parliamentary election under a system of government that remains unfamiliar to many.
The watchdog stressed that voter education should continue beyond Election Day. It said voters need to understand not only how to cast their ballots but also the institutions they are electing, the roles of political parties and Members of Parliament, how a government is formed, and how elected officials can be held accountable. LENTE said sustained civic education should therefore become part of the Bangsamoro’s long-term democratic transition.
With the campaign period ending on September 12, LENTE reminded regional parliamentary political parties, district representative candidates, parliamentary sectoral organizations, their supporters and public officials to comply with campaign rules until the deadline and refrain from campaigning or engaging in unlawful electioneering on September 13 and 14.
The group also reminded stakeholders that civil service employees and uniformed personnel must remain non-partisan, while beneficiaries of social welfare programs must not be coerced into supporting any candidate. It urged digital platforms not to be used for harassment or bullying and called for vulnerable sectors—including persons with disabilities, older persons, Indigenous Peoples and persons deprived of liberty—to be treated with dignity and given equal access to the electoral process.
LENTE urged Bangsamoro voters to remain informed, examine the platforms and plans of parties, candidates and sectoral organizations, reject vote buying and intimidation, and document and report violations they encounter. The organization said its trained volunteers will remain on the ground through Election Day to observe, respond, and report developments.
After years of waiting and repeated postponements, the September 14 elections mark a significant milestone in BARMM’s transition to its parliamentary form of government. For LENTE, the priority now is to ensure that the historic vote is peaceful and that the outcome reflects the genuine will of Bangsamoro voters./ezc with PR
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LENTE deploys 313 monitors for historic BARMM parliamentary elections
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