BARMM parliamentary polls to proceed as scheduled but what will happen to Sulu’s supposed seven district seats?
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 12 September) — The 1st Parliamentary elections of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) will proceed as scheduled on May 12, 2025 but filing of certificates of candidacy for representatives of parliamentary districts will no longer be on October 1 to 8 but on November 4 to 9 following the decision of the Supreme Court declaring the province of Sulu as not part of the BARMM.
“Tuloy-tuloy po ang halalan sa Bangsamoro” (The parliamentary elections in the Bangsmaoro will push through as scheduled), because that is a in fulfilment of our commitment to the peace process, Commission on Elections chair George Erwin Garcia, said on Wednesday.
Filing of COCs in the BARMM for Governor, Vice Governor, Provincial Board Members, Mayor, Vice-Mayor, and Councilors — will still be on October 1 to 8.
Garcia explained that filing of COCs for the parliamentary districts has to be reset due to the SC ruling and the “need to accommodate several adjustments in Comelec’s administrative jurisdiction over Sulu, allocation of parliamentary districts and membership in RPPP (Regional Parliamentary Political Parties) and Parliamentary Sectoral Organizations,” a press release from the Comelec said.
“Hindi po kami pwedeng mag-postpone ng ating halalan” (we cannot postpone the elections), Garcia said.
It is Congress, not the Comelec, that can reset the date of elections.
The SC ruling, released less than a month to the filing of COCs, raised a lot of concerns because Republic Act 11054, the Organic Law for the BARMM, provides for an 80-seat Parliament, 40 of them party representatives, 32 single districts and eight sectoral.
Of the 32 districts, seven would have been in Sulu.
What will happen to Sulu’s seven seats? Will it be reapportioned? Will the Parliament amend Bangsamoro Autonomy Act No. 58 which created the 32 districts? If the solution is to reapportion, the interim BARMM Parliament has to amend the law but will it have time when there are only 46 session days left until its mandatory adjournment on February 27, 2025?
BAA 58 provides for the following seat allocations: eight for Lanao del Sur; seven for Sulu, four each for Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte, three each for Basilan and Tawi-Tawi, two in Cotabato City and one in the Special Geographic Area in North Cotabato.
Lawyer Naguib Sinarimbo, BARMM Local Governments Minister from 2019 to 2023, said the SC decision “may be interpreted in a way as to postpone the 2025 elections given that the opting out of Sulu will result in the inoperability of the BARMM Electoral Code for several reasons.”
He said parliamentary districts “would have to be reduced, redrawn or at worst reapportioned.”
He said reapportioning is a power granted only to the Parliament. “The proportionality provision on sectoral and reserved seats as well as the party reps are dependent on the base number or total number of seats of the parliament,” he said.
“These issues will now depend on how the COMELEC will interpret the law or existing laws as to whether it can operationalize the (Bangsamoro) Electoral Code or hold elections despite the changes brought about by the SC decision,” Sinarimbo wrote.
But Comelec chair Garcia said the election will push through as scheduled, and in the voting for the supposed 32 districts, it would be less seven – or what would have been the districts in Sulu – so only 25 of the 32 single districts would be voted upon.
“As far as the COMELEC is concerned, so long as yung lahat ng mga probinsya na naroon sa present Bangsamoro minus Sulu ay properly represented ng mga delegado, saming pananaw ay sapat na po yun” (so long as all the provinces in the present Bangsamoro minus Sulu are properly represented by delegates, in our view, that would be enough,” Garcia said.
Resolution 11051 promulgated on September 11, said the filing of COCs for single district representatives will now be on November 4 to 9 while the filing of list of nominees and certificate of nomination with affidavit of non-affinity of Regional Parliamentary Political Party (RPPP) or Coalition, which must be filed together with the Manifestation of Intent to Participate in the Parliamentary Elections (MIP-PE), will be on November 9, 2024.
The MIP-PE deadline was initially on August 30, reset to September 30 and now to November 9.
In their Manifestation of Intent, the parties are mandated to attach their list of nominees for the 40 seats ranked from one to 40. But the law provides that at least 30 % of the nominees of a party or coalition “shall be party or coalition members who are women.” Thirty per cent of 40 is 12.
The first set of the supposed 80 elected officials of BARMM will be sworn in as Members of Parliament at noon on June 30, 2025, the same day the six-year transition period ends.
A total of 16 RPPPs and 1,411 Parliamentary Sectoral Organizations (PSOs) filed petitions for registration and / or accreditation at the Bangsamoro Electoral Office’s (BEO) Bangsamoro Registration and Accreditation Committee (BRAC).
BEO records show the 16 are: Al-Ittihad-Ungaya sa Kawagib Nu Bangsamoro (AL-ITTIHAD-UKB), Amanat Democratic Party (ADP), Bangsamoro Party (Bapa), Bangsamoro Federal Party, Bangsamoro People’s Democratic Party (Raayat Democratic Party), Bangsamoro People’s Party (BPP), BARMM Grand Coalition (BGC); Indigenous Peoples Democratic Party (IPDP), Indigenous, Settler, Sama and Minorities Alliance Party (ISAMA), Mahardika Party, Moro Ako, Partido Bangon Bangsamoro (PBBM), Progresibong Bangsamoro Party (PRO Bangsamoro), Serbisyong Inklusibo Alyansang Progresibo (SIAP), United Advocates for Settler Communities and United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP).
BARMM Grand Coalition is the party of Sulu Governor Sakur Tan who was endorsed by an alliance of parties from Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Sur, Basilan and Sulu in May to be the first elected Chief Minister. The Chief Minister is not elected directly by the people but by Members of Parliament.
Sulu, through Governor Tan, filed the petition before the Supreme Court in October 2018, questioning the validity of RA 11054. Tan campaigned for a “no” vote in the plebiscite of January 2019. Sulu voted no to inclusion in the BARMM.
In its decision released this week, the Supreme Court unanimously declared RA 11054 is constitutional but Sulu, having voted against inclusion in the 2019 plebiscite, is not part of the BARMM.
Asked what region the province of Sulu now belongs, Garcia said the Commission en banc “is of the consensus that Sulu should, as it originally did, belong to Region 9.” (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)
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