DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 25 August) – Voters in the country’s former war-torn region will decide on May 12, 2025 who will lead them as they move on to sustain peace beyond the end of the transition period in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), the only region in the country where the electorate will cast two ballots.
The first ballot contains the voters’ choices for senators and local officials (governors, vice governors, mayors, vice mayors, congressional representatives, provincial, city and municipal legislative members) while the second ballot is purely on the 1st Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections.
Atty. Norpaisa Paglala-Manduyog, Cotabato City Election Officer who represented Bangsamoro Electoral Office chief Ray Sumalipao during a training of the Media Impact Philippines in Cotabato City last week said photos of district representatives and the logos of Regional Parliamentary Political Parties (RPPPs) will be printed on the parliamentary ballot.
Voters in the BARMM are to elect 80 members of Parliament: 40 party representatives, 32 single district representatives, and eight sectoral representatives (non-Moro Indigenous Peoples, settler communities, women, youth, Ulama and traditional leaders) who will be elected by assemblies also next year.
The first set of 80 elected officials 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).
According to the Bangsamoro Autonomy Act 35 or the Bangsamoro Electoral Code, RPPPs already registered with the Comelec prior to the effectivity of the Code are not required to register anew but the party must comply with the additional requirements for registration in the BARMM.
How many of the 16 petitions and 1,411 PSOs
Coalition
When MindaNews visited the BEO on July 22, no petition for registration of a coalition had been filed. The deadline for coalition registration was, according to the IRR, on August 15 but this was moved to August 30 by Comelec Resolution 11004.
BEO chief Ray Sumalipao told MindaNews then that the parties have to be registered first before they can file a petition for coalition.
In late April, an alliance comprising the Al Ittihad-UKB Party, BPP, SIAP and Sulu Governor Sakur Tan was formed for the May 2025 polls. Days later, in the alliance’s press releases, it referred to the group as BARMM Grand Coalition (BGC).
On May 18, a press release issued by BPP President Amir Mawallil said the BARMM Grand Coalition “is set to support Sulu Governor Sakur Tan for the role of Chief Minister” in the Bangsamoro Parliament next year.
The Chief Minister is not voted directly by the people but by the 80-member Bangsamoro Parliament.
The announcement of the BGC’s endorsement of Tan was made by Basilan Rep. Mujiv Hataman. “The coalition has come to a consensus that it will be backing Gov. Sakur Tan for the position of Chief Minister in the Bangsamoro Parliament because the BGC believes he is more than qualified to hold the post,” said Hataman, who served as Governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) from December 2011 to February 2019.
The ARMM was abolished after the ratification of RA 11054 or the Organic Law for the BARMM. Hataman stepped down in late February 2019, when interim Chief Minister Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim and the rest of the 80-member Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) took over to lay down the foundations of the BARMM, supposedly until June 30, 2022 but was later extended until June 30, 2025.
Tan was earlier reported to register the Salaam Party. Tan now heads the BARMM Grand Coalition as an RPPP.
Sumalipao told MindaNews that the BGC applied as an RPPP, not as a coalition.
Manifestation of Intent
Tan led the campaign in Sulu to vote “no” to the ratification of the Organic Law of the BARMM. Sulu voted against ratification but remains a member of the BARMM because of a provision in the law that the ARMM votes as “one geographical area,” a provision the province of Sulu questioned, among others, in its pending petition before the Supreme Court.
The Bangsamoro Government Center in the seat of the BARMM in Cotabato City is referred to as BGC. A member of the alliance of parties backing up Tan told MindaNews that in 2025 it will be “BGC takes over BGC.”
Comelec Resolution 11004 also reset the deadline for filing of Manifestation of Intent to Participate in the Parliamentary Elections (MIPPE) of Party Representatives and Manifestation of Intent to Participate in the Parliamentary Sectoral Representation System (MIP-PSRS) for Sectoral Wing from August 30 to September 30.
October 1 to 8 is the filing of Certificates for Candidacy nationwide. In the case of the BARMM Parliamentary Elections, that is also the filing of COCs for the 32 single-district party representatives.
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.
Hearings
Sumalipao said that after the filing for registration, the BRAC will ensure their compliance with requirements and acting collegially, recommend proper action and forward the same to the COMELEC en banc. It is the Comelec in Manila, not the BRAC that approves or rejects the RPPPs or sectoral organizations.
He said they hope to finish the hearings by mid-August so the documents of the RPPPs and PSOs can be sent to the Comelec in Manila for approval.
Sumalipao said the PSOs have a different way of electing, and this is through assemblies next year.
“Yung sectoral kasi, for the 2025, it’s the concerned agencies who will handle the elections. The only participation of COMELEC is to register and accredit the organization.”
“We will just prepare the certification for each. So that’s our requirement for registration. But it’s solely vested with Comelec. Granting or denial. Comelec, not us in Bangsamoro, it’s Comelec,” he said. (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)