Voting starts in Philippines' south after three killed in election violence

Voting began on Monday in the Philippines' Muslim-majority south under heightened security after three people were killed and 15 wounded in violence on the eve of the historic election.

The vote is seen as a crucial test of efforts seeking to bring lasting peace and development to a region once torn by separatist conflict and extremism which peaked in the 2017 siege of Marawi City by Islamic State-linked militants.

The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) placed Cotabato City under its control after the violence on Sunday, when an argument at a polling station erupted in gunfire, according to local reports.

COMELEC said voting was proceeding smoothly across the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), and that it did not expect broader unrest, citing expanded checkpoints and the swift deployment of security forces.

The election also faced an early logistical challenge after election officials discovered pre-shaded ballots in a municipality in Basilan, delaying the voting there as ballots would have to be reprinted, COMELEC spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco told DZBB radio.

Nearly 2.4 million voters are registered for the vote, which international partners and peace monitors view as a key test of whether the regional autonomy granted under a 2014 peace deal between Manila and Muslim separatists can be sustained through elected institutions.

The grant of autonomy was intended to halt a conflict that killed more than 120,000 people, displaced about 2 million, and helped extremist groups gain a foothold in the region.

"The election marks a milestone in the continuing journey of BARMM towards lasting peace, democratic governance and meaningful self-determination," President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in a video message urging voters to take part in what he also described as a "defining moment" for the region and the country.

The election completes a transition set in motion by the agreement between Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the country's largest Muslim separatist group, and a subsequent law that granted greater political and economic powers to the Muslim-majority south.

The law was ratified in a 2019 plebiscite in which residents overwhelmingly backed greater self-rule, paving the way for the creation of BARMM and an interim government tasked with preparing the region for elections.

The Bangsamoro spans parts of Mindanao, the Philippines' second-largest island, and a chain of dozens of small islands to the west once associated with piracy and banditry.

BARMM is the country's only region governed under a parliamentary system, with voters electing an 80-member parliament made up of 40 party representatives, 32 district representatives and eight sectoral representatives. The legislature will then choose the chief minister. Among those competing for power in the election are parties led by former MILF rebels, rival factions that emerged from the movement after the peace deal, and traditional political clans.

In Basilan province, 70-year-old Jessica Abing was among those who voted for greater self-rule in 2019 and plans to cast her ballot again on Monday.

She still remembers the fear that gripped Lamitan in 2001 when Abu Sayyaf militants stormed the city and took hostages. Today, she points to a recently opened branch of fast-food chain Jollibee as a symbol of confidence in a city once associated with kidnappings and insecurity.

"Hopefully, the people the voters truly want will win," Abing said.