COTABATO CITY — Members of three regional political parties in the Bangsamoro region were cautioned by their leaders against using social media for hostile political commentaries to prevent escalating animosity among their rival bets for local elective positions.

The three parties, Serbisyong Inklusibo, Alyansang Progresibo (SIAP), United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP) of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and Bangsamoro Party (BAPA) of the Moro National Liberation Front, each have more than 500,000 documented members and supporters in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

SIAP and UBJP officials separately proclaimed, in tightly-secured large gatherings in different venues in Cotabato City last week, their candidates for elective posts in the city and in the Bangsamoro region’s adjoining Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur provinces.

After their proclamation rallies, officials of SIAP separately urged members of their respective parties to avoid using Facebook for political mudslinging and utilize the platform in announcing to netizens the qualifications of their anointed candidates instead.

UBJP official and BARMM Chief Minister Abdulrauf A. Macacua cautioned against using social media in attacking candidates from other regional parties. He threatened to have them censured and even booted out from the front if they use Facebook for senseless political tirades.

Radio reports on Tuesday in Central Mindanao stated that regional officials of SIAP based in Lanao del Sur, including Governor Mamintal A. Adiong, Jr., were markedly sober and calm in their campaign speeches in a proclamation rally in Lumbayanague town, attended by their party’s candidates for elective positions in the second district of the province.

Mr. Adiong reportedly urged SIAP members and supporters then to speak calmly and sensibly in their sorties and avoid adversarial talks that can widen the partisan divides among the Maranao communities in Lanao del Sur.

None of the candidates in the UBJP sortie in Cotabato City last week spoke ill about their rivals in the SIAP, whose regional president is Lanao del Sur Vice Governor Mohammad R. Adiong.

The MILF’s UBJP is an ally of the MNLF’s BAPA Party, which is led by Bangsamoro Labor and Minister Muslimin Sema.  He is the chairman of the central committee of the MNLF. — John Felix M. Unson

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