Gunfire at Cotabato City Polling Center Injures Four During BARMM Elections

Gunfire erupted inside the Central Pilot Elementary School, a voting center for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s first parliamentary elections, on Monday, September 14. The shooting occurred just before 7 a. m. , minutes after automated counting machines arrived nearly an hour late for early voting. Four people were wounded, including a poll watcher who had been involved in a stone‑throwing altercation earlier that morning. Voters fled to safety while Philippine military personnel secured the site. The incident follows a pattern of violence that has prompted the Commission on Elections to assume control of Cotabato City, the region’s administrative center. The attack delays the vote and heightens security concerns for the remainder of the BARMM election cycle.