QUEZON CITY (MindaNews / 01 May) – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has urged political parties in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) that will participate in the historic parliamentary election in May 2025 to get accreditation from the poll body.
Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia called on the regional political parties to get accredited for the Bangsamoro parliamentary election now that the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Bangsamoro Electoral Code has been published.
He stressed the deadline for the accreditation of regional political parties to participate in the Bangsamoro Parliament election has been extended by two more months to June 30.
No regional political party has been accredited by the Comelec for the parliamentary election as the deadline for accreditation ended on Tuesday, April 30, Garcia said.
He said that regional political parties that will not be accredited by the Comelec would not be allowed to participate in the Bangsamoro parliamentary election, the first in the country with a highly centralized presidential system of government.
Even the United Bangsamoro Justice Party, the political party of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), must get Comelec accreditation to participate in the Bangsamoro Parliament election.
“Ang UBJP accredited sila as a regional political party, pero hindi pa sila (The UBJP has been accredited as a regional political, but they are not) accredited for the purposes of the parliamentary election. So they still have to file for petition (for accreditation),” Garcia told MindaNews at the sidelines of the Innovative Investigative Journalism 2024 organized by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism here.
Garcia is among the resource persons for the breakout session on the 2025 elections.
Up for grabs in next year’s historic Bangsamoro Parliament election are 40 seats for the political party system, 32 single-member parliamentary districts and eight sectoral representatives. It will be held simultaneously with the May 2025 midterm national and local elections.
The Comelec promulgated last April 17 the IRR of the Bangsamoro Autonomy Act 35 or the Act Providing for the Bangsamoro Electoral Code of the BARMM, otherwise known as the Bangsamoro Electoral Code.
Election watchdog Legal Network for Truthful Elections or LENTE Philippines posted on Facebook last Friday the link of the IRR or Comelec Resolution 10984.
Rule II Section 1 of the IRR states that a regional political party shall be established by at least 10,000 members who are residents and registered voters in the BARMM.
“The members shall be distributed throughout the different provinces, cities and municipalities comprising the Bangsamoro territory,” it added.
Last March, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy – Philippines gathered political parties in the BARMM in Davao City in a forum dubbed “Defending Election Integrity in the BARMM.”
Aside from UBJP, the other political parties that participated in the forum include the Bangsamoro People’s Party (BPP), Bangsamoro Party (BaPa), Rayyat Development Party, Al-Ittihad Mindanawe Darussalam – Ungaya Ku Kawagibu Bangsamoro, Serbisyong Inklusibo – Alyansang Progressibo (SIAP), Mahardika, and the Indigenous Peoples Democratic Party.
Last week, SIAP, founded by Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr., announced its coalition with Al Ittihad headed by Technical Education and Skills Development Authority Secretary Suharto Mangudadatu and his wife Maguindanao del Sur Gov. Mariam Sangki-Mangudadatu, the BPP of Basilan Rep. Mujiv Hataman and the Salam Party of Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan.
BaPa is affiliated with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) – Muslimin Sema faction, Mahardika is associated with the MNLF-Nur Misuari faction, Rayyat is headed by Bangsamoro Member of Parliament (MP) Atty. Jose Lorena, and IPDP is chaired by MP Froilyn Mendoza. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)