DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 16 September) – The first parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) will proceed as scheduled on October 13 but not for the seven parliamentary district seats originally allocated for Sulu and redistributed by Bangsamoro Autonomy Act (BAA) 77 to seven other BARMM areas, as the Supreme Court on Monday issued, effective immediately, a temporary restraining order (TRO) against implementing the regional law.
According to the Supreme Court’s press briefer, the high court in a special en banc session on Monday issued the TRO, barring the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) from implementing BAA 77, pending the final resolution of the two petitions filed before the Supreme Court. The court gave them five non-extendible days to file their comment.
But even before the Supreme Court’s TRO, Comelec chair George Erwin Garcia had announced on August 28, the day BARMM interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua signed the regional law, that his office would not be able to implement BAA 77, citing lack of material time, among others.
August 28 also marked the start of the 45-day campaign period.
Garcia said only 73 of 80 parliamentary seats will be up for election on October 13.
Under Republic Act 11054 or the Organic Law for the BARMM, voters are supposed to elect 80 Members of Parliament, 40 of them political party representatives, eight sectoral representatives and supposedly 32 parliamentary district representatives. Next month, however, only 25 of 32 parliamentary seats will be elected.
The BTA Parliament passed BAA 77 (Bangsamoro Parliamentary Redistricting Act of 2025) on August 19, five days after the election period started, amending BAA 58 which created the 32 parliamentary districts in early 2024, seven of them in Sulu. But on September 9 last year, the Supreme Court ruled that Sulu is out of the BARMM because voters there opted against ratifying RA 11054 in 2019. Including Sulu in the BARMM, the court said, violated the1987 Constitution’s provision that only provinces, cities, and geographic areas voting favorably in the plebiscite shall be included in the autonomous region.
BAA 77 reapportioned the seven parliamentary district seats of Sulu to the seven BARMM areas, adding one each in Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Cotabato City and the Special Geographic Area (SGA).
The law increased the number of parliamentary districts from eight to nine in Lanao del Sur; four to five each in Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur; three to four each for Basilan and Tawi_Tawi; two to three for Cotabato City, and one to two for the SGA.
The regional law also provides under Section 4 that in the event the newly-created district is left without a duly elected Parliamentary District Representative, “the President of the Philippines shall appoint an Interim Parliamentary District Representative to serve until a representative is duly elected and qualified.” This provision is among those being questioned by the petitioners.
Two petitions were filed before the Supreme Court questioning the constitutionality of BAA 77: G.R. No. E-02219 filed by Lanang T. Ali, Jr., Samsodin C. Amella, and Datuan M. Magon, Jr. versus BTA Parliament, Macacua as interim Chief Minister, and Comelec; and G.R. No. E-02235 filed by Abdullah G. Macapaar, also known as “Commander Bravo,” Mangontawar M. Macacuna, Sultan Alim Saad I. Amate, Najer D. Eppie, Nasif G. Marangit, and Maulana L. Mamutuk versus Comelec and BTA.
The petitioners alleged, among others, that BAA 77 violates provisions of the Constitution, the Organic Law for the BARMM, and election laws such as the Voters’ Registration Act by altering precincts during the election period. They also claimed that the law is sowing confusion, among others, and that it was passed as “a tactic to postpone the first regular BARMM elections.”
Ali and Macapaar are both Members of the BTA Parliament. (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)
