COTABATO CITY — A hundred rapid deployment Army combatants, trained in ranger-style maneuvers, arrived in Basilan on Sunday to support the security efforts of the Commission on Elections in the island province.

Brig. Gen. Alvin V. Luzon, commander of the Army’s 101st Infantry Brigade in Basilan, and Brig. Gen. Romeo J. Macapaz, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BAR), separately told reporters on Monday that the troops belong to the 113th Division Reconnaissance Company (DRC) of the 11th Infantry Division in Sulu.

Sulu and Basilan are both component-provinces of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

“The deployment of this unit in Basilan is part of the effort of the Western Mindanao Command and the Joint Task Force Orion to ensure safe and clean elections in the province in May 2025,” Mr. Luzon told reporters on Monday.

The Army-led Joint Task Force Orion (JTF-Orion) is an anti-terror contingent covering the island provinces in Western Mindanao.

“The deployment of this Army reconnaissance company augurs well with our joint police-military election security initiatives in Basilan,” Mr. Macapaz, speaking on PRO-BAR’s behalf, said.

Mr. Luzon and his two superiors, Lt. Gen. Antonio G. Nafarrete, commander of the Western Mindanao Command, and Major Gen. Leonardo I. Peña, who is overseeing the JTF Orion, together presided over an election security dialogue in Isabela City on Saturday among officials of all Army units in Basilan, where they discussed their preparations for the May 2025 elections. — John Felix M. Unson

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