WITH the seven parliamentary seats originally allocated for Sulu now deemed as temporarily vacant, a special elections is now among the methods being considered to fill them up, according to the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP).
In an interview at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) main office in Manila, UBJP president Murad Ebrahim said the idea was raised by Comelec chairman George Garcia.
“If the reallocation of the seven seats is no longer passed on time, Chairman (Garcia) also raised the idea of holding a special elections at a later date,” Ebrahim said.
Ebrahim, who was the former chief minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), said their party is not opposed to the idea.
“If we can’t really comply (with the reallocation), we can just have a special election, instead,” he said.
The Comelec on Wednesday said the seven Sulu parliamentary seats are now deemed temporarily vacant.
It said the vacancies may be filled at a latter time through presidential appointment, or as may be determined by a ruling of the Supreme Court, or future legislation from the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) or the Philippine Congress.
The poll body has said that it will push through with the holding of the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE) on October 13 with 73 seats up for grabs.
Ebrahim said they welcome the assurance from the Comelec that the long awaited parliamentary elections will finally be held.
“We are very happy that the Chairman officially assured us that the elections will happen come October,” he said, adding that the UBJP does not see any security or political concerns to justify a second postponement of the BPE.
