DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 07 June) – It will still be a male-dominated Parliament —  as it has been during this seven-year transition period — when the first elected officials of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) assume their posts on October 30, 2026. 

Reason? Only a few candidates and nominees are women.  

The interim Parliament of the  BARMM’s transition government – the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) — has been male-dominated since its establishment in February 2019. In the first BTA from 2019 to 2022, then President Rodrigo Duterte appointed 16 women out of 80 members; in 2022; in the second BTA, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. also appointed 16 but this number dropped to 15 in 2024 with the resignation of one member. In the third BTA in March last year, only 10 women were appointed. 

On September 14, voters in the five-province, three-city and one special geographic area BARMM will elect 80 Members of Parliament (MPs) – 40 party representatives, 32 single district representatives, and eight sectoral representatives. The newly-elected will take over the helm of the BARMM on October 30, which also marks the end of the long-extended transition period.

The term of office of the MPs is three years but for the first elected MPs, they will step down on June 30, 2031, as mandated by Republic Act 12317, which reset the elections to September 14.  The extended term, at least for the first elected, is to ensure they will be able to serve a full term of three years, with an additional 20 months so that by 2031 and every three years thereafter, the regional elections will have been synchronized with the national and local polls. 

Out of 80 seats in the Parliament, women are assured one seat through the mandated sectoral representative for women. 

A voter chooses one political party, one district representative, and sectoral representatives. The number of party representatives from out of the 40 nominees will depend on the number of votes the party gets. 

Only parties receiving at least 2.5% of the total valid votes cast for the party representation election shall be qualified to participate in the allocation of party representation seats.

The Bangsamoro Electoral Code provides that Regional Parliamentary Political Parties (RPPPs) “shall ensure that at least thirty percent (30%) of the party nominees are women.” It also provides that as far as practicable, such RPPPs “shall ensure that at least one in every three party nominees is a woman.”

Thirty percent of 40 is 12. 

According to records of the Bangsamoro Electoral Office and the Commission on Elections, 12 RPPPs have submitted their list of 40 nominees each, while one party nominated only 14. 

631 candidates for 80 seats, 196 women

In the September 14 polls, there are 631 candidates and nominees for 80 seats but only 196 or 31.1% are women. (This number does not include the nominees for the two sectoral seats of the Non-Moro Indigenous Peoples who will be elected through an assembly before September 14. There are still no guidelines for electing NMIP representatives as of June 7). 

Of 494 party nominees for 40 seats, only 173 or 35.02% are women but most of them – 64 — are at the bottom of the list – between 31 and 40. 

Two major political parties – the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP), the political party of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and the Bangsamoro Federalist Party (BFP) – have no women nominees for ranks 1 to 10. Both have seven women nominees each for ranks 31 to 40.

Among the 13 RPPPs, only one has a woman as number one on its list of 40 nominees: Mahardika Party of the Moro National Liberation Front under Nur Misuari. 

Ustadha Nur-Ainee Tan Lim, BARMM Deputy Minister for Social Services and Development, is the first nominee (see other story).  Lim, who is turning 41 this month, was honored last year as among The Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service (TOWNS). She is Misuari’s youngest daughter with Desdemona Tan.  

Mahardika and the Alliance of Bangsamoro Tri-Peoples Party (ABOT) have 15 women nominees each. But the party with the highest number of women nominees is the Bangsamoro Empowerment and Social Transformation (BEST) Party with 19 or almost 50% of 40 nominees. The party with the second highest number of women nominees is Moro Ako Party at 18; the Bangsamoro Party (BaPa), Bangsamoro Peoples’ (Raayat) Democratic Party and Progresibong Bangsamoro Party have 14 each; People’s Consultative (Mushawara) Party has 13; Bangsamoro Federalist Party (BFP), Bangsamoro Grand Coalition (BGC), Partido Bangon Bangsamoro (PBB) and United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP have 12 each.  The Indigenous Settlers Sama and Minorities Alliance (ISAMA) Party, which submitted a list of only 14 nominees, has three. 

District representatives

Of 107 candidates for 32 district seats, only 14 or 13.1% are women. 

In Maguindanao del Sur’s five districts, there is no female among 16 candidates. In Basilan’s four districts, only one among 17 candidates is a woman. In Cotabato City’s three districts, only one among 10 candidates is a woman.

Maguindanao del Norte has 11 candidates for five districts; only two are women. In the Special Geographic Area’s two districts, only two out of seven candidates are women. 

Lanao del Sur has 33 candidates for nine districts. Only three are women. 

Tawi-Tawi has the most number of women candidates. Of 13 candidates in four districts, five are women. 

30 sectoral nominees 

Of 30 nominees for sectoral representatives (two for settler communities, one each for Women, Youth, Ulama and Traditional Leaders), nine are women. 

The Non-Moro Indigenous Peoples (NMIP) are entitled to two sectoral representatives but unlike other sectoral representatives, the two will be chosen through tribal assembly.  

The six other sectoral representatives will be elected through direct plurality of valid votes cast, according to Bangsamoro Autonomy Act (BAA) 88 which amended BAA 35. 

This is a departure from BAA 35 or the Bangsamoro Electoral Code which provided that in the first election, the selection of sectoral representatives for the reserved seats shall be on the basis of election during assemblies especially called for the purpose by registered and accredited sectoral organizations of women, settlers, youth. Ulama, traditional leaders and NMIP. In the succeeding election, the election of sectoral representatives, except the NMIPs, Ulama, and traditional leaders, shall be synchronized with the national and local elections. 

The Bangsamoro transition period should have ended on June 30, 2022 but the election was reset to May 2025 and reset anew to October 2025 and again rescheduled to September 14, 2026. 

By October 30, 2026, the transition period would have competed seven years and eight months. 

Many of the appointed MPs have served since 2019, making their stay in office longer than the Presidential, Vice Presidential and Senatorial term of six years. (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)