COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 14 January) – “Least risk.”
Deputy Speaker Laisa Alamia of Basilan, whose office did a matrix on the six parliamentary bills (PB) filed on districting – PB 403, 407, 408, 411, 415 and 416 – describes PB 415 as the bill with the “least risk” of being declared unconstitutional.
“The passage of this legislation provides the necessary legal architecture to constitute the 80-member Parliament through a regional election which requires 32 representatives to be elected from distinct geographical districts,” along with 40 party-list representatives and eight sectoral representatives, Alamia said.
The passage of a new districting law paves the way for Congress to set the date for the twice-postponed 1st Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections. The oath-taking of the first elected officials marks the end of the already thrice-extended transition period that should have ended on June 30, 2022 but was extended until June 30, 2025, extended anew to October 30, 2025 and extended again until the election.
This is the third districting law passed by the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) during the extended transition period, as the first two were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on September 30.
Deputy Speaker Ishak Mastura of Maguindanao del Norte said the bill is “constitutionally compliant.”
Another Deputy Speaker, Nabil Tan from Sulu, said during the interpellation: “My only concern if we pass a new districting law is hopefully it will no longer be declared unconstitutional. Nakakahiya po. Maraming abogado sa BTA” (It’s a shame. There are so many lawyers in the BTA). Alamia, Mastura, Tan, and Naguib Sinarimbo, chair of the Committee on Local Governments, and John Anthony Lim of Tawi-Tawi, the Floor Leader and chair of the Committee on Rules, are among the “many lawyers” in the BTA.
PB 415 eventually got the nod of the majority with 48 voting yes, 19 voting no and four abstaining at the end of the 10-hour special session that started at 2:39 p.m. on Monday and ended at 12:34 a.m. on Tuesday.
The first districting law, Bangsamoro Autonomy Act 58, was passed in February 2024, before the Supreme Court ruled Sulu is out of the BARMM. BAA 77, passed in August 2025, was intended to reapportion Sulu’s supposed seven seats to the rest of the BARMM. But the Supreme Court on September 30 declared both unconstitutional. As a result, the October 13 polls did not push through. The election cannot proceed without a districting bill.
The Supreme Court asked the BTA to pass a new law by October 30 and urged Congress to set the date of the election on or before March 31, 2026. No law was passed on October 30.
Eighty Members of Parliament are to be voted upon in the 1st Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections: 40 political party representatives, 32 single district representatives and eight sectoral representatives.
32 seats
The new districting law allocates the 32 seats as follows: nine for Lanao del Sur, five each for Maguidanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur; four each for Basilan and Tawi-Tawi, three for Cotabato City and two for the Special Geographic Area (SGA).
This is the same allocation under BAA 77.
But Sinarimbo told MindaNews the new law “essentially addresses the three areas of concern mentioned in the Supreme Court decision – Lanao del Sur, Cotabato City and Maguindanao del Norte.”
He said the clustering of districts in these three areas addresses the issue of contiguity as mentioned in the Supreme Court decision.
The Organic Law for the BARMM provides that each district shall have a population of 100,000 and shall comprise “as far as practicable, contiguous, compact, and adjacent territorial jurisdiction” to ensure there is no gerrymandering.
BAA 77, according to Member of Parliament Lanang Ali Jr. who filed the petition in the Supreme Court questioning its constitutionality, “failed to comply with the requirement that the parliamentary district must comprise contiguous, compact, and adjacent territory,” noting that the enactment of BAA 77 resulted in the isolation of the town of Tagoloan II from the rest of the municipalities in the second district of Lanao del Sur, the municipality of Sultan Mastura from the rest of the municipalities in the third district of Maguindanao del Norte, and Barangay Poblacion VII from the rest of the barangays in the first district of Cotabato City.
The Supreme Court said some local government units in Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, and Cotabato City, which were transferred from one district to another, were “not contiguous and adjacent to one another, and hence, violative of this fundamental redistricting requirement.”
Several Members of Parliament pushed for an amendment to ensure Tagoloan is not separated from Kapai, some citing historical ties. But an MP from Lanao del Sur, Said Shiek, cited another reason, that the mayors of the two towns are siblings. The proposed amendment was rejected.
MP Suharto Ambolodto’s amendments to the clustering in Maguindanao del Norte as well as those in Cotabato City were accepted. Upi is now clustered with Datu Odin Sinsuat and Datu Blah Sinsuat towns to comprise a contiguous district.
(Links to the maps of the approved districting clusters are provided at the end of this article)
No vote
“Ang boto ko napakalaking no po” (my vote is a very big no), said MILF Peace Implementing Panel chair Mohagher Iqbal, concurrent Education Minister. Iqbal chaired the MILF peace panel from 2003 and signed the peace agreement – the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) – with the Philippine government on March 27, 2014.
Asked what specifically was his objection to PB 415, Iqbal told MindaNews, “Lanao Sur, Cotabato City and Lamitan.” He said their proposed amendments to PB 415 were based on the bill they filed, PB 407.
Member of Parliament Abdullah Hashim, son of MILF founding chair Salamat Hashim, also voted no. As a point of order at the start of the session, he alleged that “our parliamentary process was not followed.” In explaining his vote, he stressed he would always cast his vote for the bill endorsed by the MILF Central Committee, noting that the MILF fought for what is now the BARMM.
“We tried to negotiate behind the scenes, hindi rin nag succeed. We tried to find a compromise,” he said.
MP Abdullah Macapaar of Lanao del Norte, more popularly known by his nom de guerre, “Kumander Bravo,” gave a fiery speech in Meranaw to explain his ‘”no” vote. He spoke about Ummah and the continuing jihad for a better Bangsamoro and the MILF Central Committee’s stand on districting.
Iqbal had earlier said the MILF, which is supposed to lead the BTA according to the peace agreement, has been minoritized as only 35 of the 41 nominated by the MILF were appointed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during the shake-up in the composition of the BTA in March. MILF chief Ahod “Murad” Ebrahim, who served as Bangsamoro Chief Minister from February 2019 to March 2025, was replaced by Abdulraof Macacua, then acting Maguindanao del Norte governor, who is also from the MILF.
Macacua heads the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, a post earlier held by Ebrahim before he became MILF chair in 2003. Ebrahim succeeded founding chair Salamat Hashim who died in July 2003.
There are other MPs allied with the MILF who were appointed but were not on the list of 41 MILF nominees.
The voting statistics on the new districting law shows only 19 of the MILF-nominated 35 voted no. The rest voted yes, abstained or were absent.
Deputy Speaker Suwaib Oranon, more popularly known as “Kumander Gordon,” and among the MILF-35, voted yes. He reminded colleagues that the current Chief Minister is also from the MILF and, like him, is also a member of the Central Committee.
Dr. Kadil Sinolinding, Jr., also of the MILF-nominated 35, voted yes. He said his “yes” vote is not disobedience. “I asked my heart and (sought) guidance. I shall embrace it … to follow freely my heart and conscience, driven by extraordinary love” for the Bangsamoro.
The children of MNLF founding chair Nur Misuari – Abdulkarim and Nurredha – voted yes.
The attendance of 72 MPs out of 77 in the special session was historical as this was the first assembly with the largest turn-out after the inaugural session which was attended by 74. Seventy-one voted. The 72nd attendee is the Speaker. The Presiding Officer votes only if there is a tie. Mohammad Yacob, also an MILF nominee, was elected Speaker on October 21, succeeding Pangalian Balindong, the Speaker since 2019 who passed away on October 2.
Macacua, who urged Speaker Yacob to convene the special session and who certified the bill as urgent on December 17, was not present. MP Raissa Jajurie was absent as her father, Dr. Basil Jajurie of Sulu, passed away early Monday morning.
Not abandoning Sulu
Deputy Speaker Omar Sema, who hails from Maguindanao del Norte and who was nominated by the Moro National Liberation Front, voted no. But the son of Muslimin Sema, chair of the Sema-Jikiri faction of the MNLF, said his no vote did not mean a rejection of PB 415.
“I vote no as an expression of my indignation to the violation of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement (MNLF-GPH) being implemented during the transition period under the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, specifically against the disavowal of the effort to preserve the gains of the peace process that started decades ago. Mr. Speaker I vote no not to reject the bill but to reject the distribution of the seven district seats allotted for Sulu.”
“Mr. Speaker, my ‘no’ vote comes with a prayer, that it will become a flicker, a spark, an ember of whatever that remains of the fighting spirit of the brave and heroic people of Lupah Sug,” he said.
Deputy Speaker Tan, who hails from Sulu, said the wound caused by Sulu’s being taken out of the BARMM is real and felt. “But today, we are called not only to defend our individual provinces, but to preserve the peace process itself.”
He said the question of Sulu’s representation is “not surrendered, it is merely deferred.”
“It is a fight for another time, and in another venue: in the courts, in the national congress, and in the continuing struggle for justice. We do not abandon Sulu by voting yes today, we protect the larger peace so that Sulu will still have a Bangsamoro to return to,” said Tan. (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)
