242 dead in 719 election-related incidents in BARMM – group

MANILA, Philippines — At least 242 people were killed in 719 violent incidents related to the 2025 elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

This was according to a tally from the peace group Climate Conflict Action (CCAA) from the filing of the certificate of candidacy on October 1, 2024, up until the day after Election Day, May 13, 2025.

“Most of these incidents are gun-related, so we're looking into how the implementation of the gun ban was enforced in the Bangsamoro,” CCAA Manager Liezl Bugtay said at a briefing with the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) in Makati City on Friday.

For comparison, Bugtay cited the group’s records that showed there were 165 deaths in 438 violent incidents from the filing of certificates of candidacy until the day after election day during the 2023 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE).

"We can see that, for these elections, there is a surge," she added.

However, the CCAA recorded five deaths from incidents on Election Day.

Bugytay compared this to the 11 deaths they recorded from incidents on Election Day in the 2023 BSKE, on October 30, 2025.

“We saw an improvement in terms of enforcing the security measures, especially near polling precincts. Of course, the fistfights, the brawls are quite common in the Bangsamoro context,” she said.

READ: PNP on ‘full alert’ starting May 3 to ensure `safest’ election

Ahead of the polls, the Philippine National Police Public Information Office announced that the law enforcement agency deployed 8,072 personnel to secure the region.

“We are still calling that the security measures should still be in place during the post-election up until the BARMM parliamentary elections because we know the next few months, we still have growing tensions and violence in the Bangsamoro,” Bugtay said.

The Bangsamoro Parliamentary elections are slated for October 13, 2025./mcm

(2025/05/16-13:42)