MP Mastura urges Supreme Court to resolve pending cases involving Bangsamoro polls

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews / 3 December) – A member of the Bangsamoro Parliament on Wednesday urged the Supreme Court to resolve all pending cases related to the holding of the first regional elections before the “March 30, 2026” date indicated by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in its Calendar of Activities. 

Congress has yet to pass a law setting the date of the 1^st Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE) after the October 13 voting was called off when the Supreme Court declared the two previous districting laws – Bangsamoro Autonomy Acts 58 and 7 77 – unconstitutional.

^{Deputy Speaker Ishak Mastura asks the Bangsamoro Attorney General during the November 14 meeting of the Joint Committees on Local Governments and Rules where the districting bills are pending. Photo courtesy of BTA Parliament}

Lawyer and Member of Parliament Ishak Mastura filed Resolution 772 calling on the high tribunal to urgently decide on the four pending cases “in order to determine all legal and constitutional issues regarding the conduct of the first BARMM parliamentary elections by March 30, 2026.”

Mastura listed the pending cases before the Supreme Court as follows:

• Pending motion for partial reconsideration of the Bangsamoro government in the case of “Lanang Ali, Et Al., vs. Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), Et Al. / Macapaar Et. Al. vs. Comelec and BTA filed in October 2025;

•  G.R. No. 267368 or the Petition for Certiorari and Prohibition under Rule 65 of the Rules of Court filed on June 14, 2023 against Bangsamoro Autonomy Act No. 35 or the Bangsamoro Electoral Code (BEC) questioning its constitutionality;

• G.R No. 277012 or Petition for Certiorari filed on February 20, 2024 questioning the BEC’s restrictive registration requirements for regional political parties, among others, after its registration as a regional political party was denied by the Comelec, and;

• 4). G.R. No. E-00158 or Petition for Certiorari filed on July 9, 2025 questioning the constitutionality of Republic Act 12123 resetting the BARMM  Parliamentary Elections on October 13, 2025 for lack of plebiscite and violation of the constitutional requirement of synchronization of national and local elections.

The resolution of the foregoing cases by the Supreme Court in an expeditious manner before March 30, 2026, will serve as a guide, and set the parameters for the revision of any districting law, as well as amendments and revisions of the Bangsamoro Electoral Code, and for any law that may be filed by Congress for rescheduling the said elections, Mastura said in his resolution. 

“If the pending cases before the Supreme Court in relation to the first BARMM parliamentary elections are decided before March 30, 2026, then this will ensure that the conduct of the elections will no longer have any legal or constitutional issues that may complicate or forestall it,” he added.

Under Comelec Resolution 11181 dated November 19, 2025 but made public only on November 25, the poll body set the date of the first Bangsamoro parliamentary elections on March 30, 2026, supposedly in compliance with the Supreme Court decision last September 30 declaring the two districting laws  unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court directed the BTA to “immediately undertake by October 30, 2025 at the latest” the passage of a new law for the 32 parliamentary district seats “in strict compliance with the priorities and requirements provided to the Bangsamoro Organic Law, as well as the criteria laid down in this decision.”

It also urged Congress to “promptly enact a law that would reschedule the BARMM Parliamentary Elections … as much as practicable, not later than March 31, 2026.”

^{Members of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) in session in Cotabato City. MindaNews file photo by FERDINANDH CABRERA}

The Bangsamoro Parliament has yet to pass a new districting law while Congress, which has the mandate to set the date of elections, has not done so as both houses are waiting for the BTA to pass the new districting law. 

A MindaNews report on November 26 quoted Comelec spokesperson Atty. John Rex Laudiangco explaining the March 30, 2026 date. He told MindaNews: “It’s in anticipation of the current Parliament passing said law in compliance with the Supreme Court decision. It’s also a way to inform the BTA and the public of Comelec’s commitment as well to comply with our part as directed by the Supreme Court. Stated in the same decision as well is that for the Comelec to hold the BARMMPE not later than March 31, 2025.”

Five parliamentary bills on the allocation of 32 districts across the BARMM are pending at the Bangsamoro Parliament’s Joint Committees on Rules and Local Governments. A sixth bill deals only with the proposed two districts in the Special Geographic Area.  (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)