Cotabato City — As the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) prepares for its first parliamentary elections on October 13, 2025, the Coalition for Social Accountability and Transparency (CSAT) is mobilizing its regional chapters to scale up monitoring, education, and advocacy initiatives. Across Lanao del Sur, Tawi-Tawi, and Basilan, CSAT member organizations are taking decisive steps to ensure informed citizen participation and safeguard electoral integrity in collaboration with the Independent Election Monitoring Center (IEMC).

In Lanao del Sur, CSAT is expanding its partnership network to include Mindanao State University’s College of Law and the King Faisal Center for Islamic, Arabic, and Asian Studies. The chapter is leading a multi-pronged pre-election strategy, including province-wide voter education targeting youth, women, and first-time voters, candidate forums to enhance public scrutiny, and a regional Ulama assembly advocating the classification of vote-buying and fraud as haram. CSAT-Lanao aims to deploy at least three volunteer monitors in each of the province’s nine districts.

In Tawi-Tawi, CSAT volunteers—fresh from their experience in the May 2025 elections—are intensifying grassroots mobilization. The provincial core team is expanding its 35-member monitoring force and launching an inclusive voter education campaign that will reach even the region’s remotest island communities. “Despite limited resources, the passion and volunteerism shown by our monitors are what drive change and shift public mindsets,” said Arlene Sevilla, CSAT provincial lead and chairperson of AMBUH-INA,  a civil society organization representing basic sectors in Tawi-Tawi. 

In Basilan, CSAT convened 19 monitors and civil society leaders to evaluate monitoring strategies and strengthen provincial oversight. The team resolved to increase the monitoring network to at least 40 members and will host three major public education forums in August to boost citizen awareness and participation.

CSAT is a coalition of 35 civil society, academic, and religious leaders from across BARMM and the Zamboanga Peninsula. Through its COMELEC-recognized partnership with IEMC BARMM & Sulu and with support from the Institute for Autonomy and Governance (IAG) and the Australian Government, CSAT remains at the forefront of community-led efforts to uphold democratic values and foster inclusive, transparent elections.