SENATE President Francis Escudero yesterday called for the postponement of the parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) which is scheduled to be simultaneously held with the 2025 midterm polls.
In filing Senate Bill No. 2862, Escudero said that delaying the BARMM elections to May 11, 2026 would allow local officials to reconfigure the region’s jurisdictions and reallocate the seats of its 80-member parliament following the decision of the Supreme Court (SC) excluding the province of Sulu from the regional group.
“Importanteng magawa ‘yan para mabigyan ng notipikasyon na ang ating mga kababayan dun sa BARMM kaugnay ng balak ng Kongreso na ipagpaliban ang eleksyon at ang pangunahing dahilan ay ang desisyon ng Korte Suprema kaugnay ng lalawigan ng Sulu
(It is important that we do this now so we can notify our countrymen in the BARMM about Congress’ plan to postpone the elections due to the recent Supreme Court decision excluding Sulu from the region),” Escudero said.
He said he is optimistic that President Marcos Jr. will certify the measure as urgent given its importance and the tight schedule of the Senate and the House of Representatives for the remainder of the 19th Congress.
Escudero said no less than the SC ruling underscored the “compelling reason to postpone the Bangsamoro regular elections given its legal implications on the exclusion of Sulu from the autonomous region.”
“This ruling may require a substantial correction of existing laws, particularly RA No. 11054, and the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Districts Act of 2024 (BAA No. 58, 2024), referring to the allocation of the statutory mandated eighty (80) seats in the Bangsamoro Parliament,” he said.
While the SC upheld the validity of the Bangsamoro Organic Law, it declared that the province of Sulu was not part of the BARMM after the latter rejected the law in the plebiscite held in 2019. Despite rejecting the law, however, it was still made a part of the region.
The BARMM parliament has established 32 parliamentary districts in Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Lanao del Sur, Cotabato City, the Bangsamoro Special Geographic Area in Cotabato province, and in Sulu.
A total of 80 members of the parliament will be elected from the 32 parliamentary districts, including seven in Sulu.
“Halimbawa mayroong pito o walong kinatawan ng Sulu sa BARMM parliament, paano ‘yun kung hindi na sila bahagi ng BARMM? Paaano i-a-allocate ‘yun? Hindi naman pwedeng basta-basta na lamang ibawas. Paano ‘yung mga party-list groups na doon lahat nakarehistro at ‘yung mga sectoral groups na doon din nakarehistro
(For example, there are seven or eight representatives of Sulu in the BARMM parliament. What happens to them since they are no longer part of BARMM? How do we allocate them? We cannot just reduce their number. How about the party list and sectoral groups which were registered there?” he said.
“Kailangan lahat ‘yun pagpasyahan at kailangan ng kaunting panahon para magawa at maisaayos dahil importante at dahil bahagi ng peace talks at konsultasyon sa mga stakeholders d’yan sa BARMM
(We need to come up with a decision and we need to do it within our limited time since this is important because it is part of the peace talks is and consultations with the stakeholders in BARMM),” he also said.
Apart from the removal of Sulu from the BARMM, Escudero said hearings to be held by the Senate would also serve to clarify the issues surrounding the move of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) parliament to create a new province called the Kutawato province, consisting of eight newly-formed municipalities that were part of the Special Geographic Area in the BARMM.
Escudero said the creation of a new province necessitates the creation of a legislative district so as not to disenfranchise the voters of the eight affected municipalities, namely Pahamuddin, Kadayangan, Nabalawag, Old Kaabakan, Kapalawan, Malidegao, Tugunan, and Ligawasan, which are all located in North Cotabato.
The BTA Parliament has asked the Senate and the House of Representatives to postpone the region’s first regular parliamentary elections to June 30, 2028.
Sans a law postponing the BARMM polls, Elections chairman George Garcia said they are not stopping with their preparations for the regional elections.
“As far as the Comelec is concerned, we will conduct the (Bangsamoro) elections because that is the mandate of the Commission, to enforce and administer election laws,” Garcia said in a press briefing at the Bangsamoro Government Center in Cotabato City for Day 1 of the BPE certificate of candidacy (COC) filing period.
“We are not affected by these reports of bills being filed because, as long as there is no law passed, the Comelec’s preparations will continue,” he added.
Proof of this, he said, is the fact that they have started accepting COCs and certificates of acceptance of nomination (CANs) in the BARMM starting yesterday.
“We are willing and able, and we will be accepting all your COCs beginning today up to the 9th of November,” said Garcia.
Yesterday, there were 12 aspirants for parliamentary district representatives, including four in Lanao del Sur, three in Basilan, two in Tawi-Tawi, two in Maguindanao del Sur, and one in Maguindanao del Norte.
Under the Bangsamoro Electoral Code, there are 25 parliamentary district seat allocations, with eight for Lanao del Sur, four in Maguindanao del Norte, four in Maguindanao del Sur, three in Basilan, three in Tawi-Tawi, two in Cotabato City, and one in the Special Geographic Area (SGA) in Cotabato province.
On the other hand, there are 40 seats for regional parliamentary political parties (RPPP).
So far, only one the “Moro Ako Party” has filed its CAN and List of Nominees as well as Manifestation of Intent to Participate in the Parliamentary Elections (MIP-PE).
In separate interviews, parliamentary district and RPPP aspirants said they are leaving the matter of postponing the elections to Congress.
“Since we are aspiring for public service, we respect the wisdom of the government officials of the Republic,” said Moro Ako Party first nominee Najeeb Taib.
“It will still depend on the higher officials. We only filed our COC since this (COC filing) has been scheduled,” said Maguindanao del Norte parliamentary district aspirant Abdulhadie Butuan Gumander.
Garcia said they are adopting a similar stand on the fate of the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections.
“We will always defer to the wisdom of the legislature or the parliament, as the case may be,” said the poll chief.
In case the BPE is postponed, however, Garcia said they will have to spend P3 billion in case it is held using the automated election system (AES) at a later date.
And in case it uses the manual system of elections, he said it will cost P1 million.
