AWARE of the importance of the decision of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), the Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday said it is giving the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) two more weeks to decide what to do with the parliamentary seats originally intended for Sulu for the October 13 Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE).
In an interview, Comelec chairman George Garcia said they will write the BTA and BARMM Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua urging them to make a final decision on what to do with Sulu’s seven parliamentary seats on or before the middle of June.
“We will be writing to the Bangsamoro parliament to respectfully reiterate that we will wait for them for another two weeks, or until the second week of June, to produce the law regarding the redistribution,” Garcia said.
He said the second week of June is the latest that the poll body can wait for the Bangsamoro government to come out with a decision, or else their preparations for the BPE will be put at risk.
“After the second week of June, we don’t have a choice anymore. Our hands will already be tied and we can no longer adjust our schedule of preparation,” he said, adding they will stick to their schedule for an automated BPE.
This includes the conduct of source code review, trusted build, final testing and sealing, and software certification.
“That is quite a long process. We have to follow our timeline or else we may run out of time,” Garcia said.
The BPE, which was supposed to be held simultaneously with the May 12 midterm polls, was postponed to October 13 after the Supreme Court excluded the Sulu province from the BARMM.
The Bangsamoro polls was delayed as there is a need for the BTA to amend the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Districts Act of 2024 and decide what to do with the seven parliamentary seats originally allocated for Sulu.
