COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 02 December) — The Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) vowed to pass a new law this month to apportion the 32 districts across the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) so the twice-delayed first regular elections can finally be held. “The Parliament is committed to an inclusive, transparent, and legally compliant districting process and aims to complete and pass the districting law by December 2025, in line with the Bangsamoro Organic Law,” BTA Floor Leader and spokesperson Jet Lim said in a statement on the status of the BARMM districting law. According to the BTA’s calendar of sessions, there are 12 session days in December: 1 to 4, 8 to 11, and 15-18. Five Parliamentary Bills on districting are pending with the Committees on Rules and Local Governments. Another bill has been filed specifically only for the proposed two districts of the Special Geographic Area (SGA). An initial consultation was done in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi on November 6. Consultations in the SGA, Maguindanao del Sur, and Basilan will be held on December 4 and December 7 in Maguindanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, and Cotabato City. “The BTA Parliament encourages stakeholders and the general public to actively participate in the ongoing consultations to help shape a fair, representative, and legally sound parliamentary districting system,” Lim said. The first Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE) was initially scheduled for May 9, 2022 but was moved to May 12, 2025 and rescheduled again to October 13, 2025. The October polls, however, did not push through because the Supreme Court on September 30 declared the two previous districting laws unconstitutional. The 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.” Voters in the BARMM are supposed to elect 80 Members of Parliament: 40 party representatives, 32 single district representatives and eight sectoral representatives. Congress has not set the date of the election as both the House of Representatives and the Senate are waiting for the BTA’s new districting law. The Supreme Court in its decision also said that immediately after the passage of the new districting law, Comelec has to “proceed with its preparations and conduct the elections in compliance (with Section 5 of the Voter’s Registration Act) not later than March 31, 2026.” Section 5 of the Voters’ Registration Act provides that “no territory comprising an election precinct shall be altered or a new precinct be established at the start of the election period” and “splitting of an original precinct or merger of two or more original precincts shall not be allowed without redrawing the precinct map/s one hundred twenty (120) days before election day.” Among the reasons why BAA 77 was declared unconstitutional was because it did not meet the 120-day requirement. In compliance with the Supreme Court ruling, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) released on November 25 the calendar of activities and period of prohibited acts in connection with “March 30, 2026” as the date of the 1st Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections. Resolution 11181 set the date of the filing of certificates of candidacy from January 5 to 9, 2026; election period from January 29 to April 14; campaign period and the campaign period from February 12 to March 28. Resolution 11181 was passed on November 19, 2025 but made this public only on November 25. But Congress has yet to set the date of the 1st Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections. Education Minister Mohagher Iqbal, concurrent chair of the Peace Implementing Panel of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), said he hopes “this is the last delay” in holding the elections. “When you are elected by the people, you have more legitimacy. An appointed authority is less powerful,” he said. The BARMM is a product of the peace agreement signed by government and the MILF on March 27, 2014. The BTA is the governing body during the transition period that should have ended June 30, 2022. This was extended to June 30, 2025 and extended again until October 30, 2025. The appointed Members of Parliament in the BTA have been on holdover status since October 30. (Ferdinandh B. Cabrera and Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)
