(MindaNews / 12 July) – The reapportioning of 32 parliamentary districts in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) was approved Friday by a joint committee of the Bangsamoro Parliament.
The committees on Local Government (CLG) and on Amendments, Revision and Codification of Laws (CARCL) have jointly approved Parliament Bill 351 during their session conducted in Makati City.
Members of Parliament Naguib Sinarimbo and Sittie Fahanie Uy-Oyod chair the CLG and CARCL, respectively. Both are lawyers.
“The (joint) committee, after extensive consultations and deliberation, approved the (joint committee) report. This will pave the way for its eventual deliberation at the plenary,” Sinarimbo posted on Facebook Saturday.
Parliament Bill 351 is a priority measure of the Government of the Day. The Government of the Day refers to the nominees of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which controls the 80-member parliament with 41 seats.
Parliament Bill 351 is titled “An Act Reconstituting the Parliamentary Districts in the BARMM, Amending for the Purpose Bangsamoro Autonomy Act (BAA) 58, entitled ‘An Act Providing for the Creation of the Parliamentary Districts in the BARMM’.”
The bill retained the 32 parliamentary district seats contained in BAA 58 but reapportioned the seven districts allotted for Sulu, which was removed from the BARMM.
The bill proposes the creation of 32 parliamentary districts, distributed as follows: nine in Lanao del Sur; five each in Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur; four each in Basilan and Tawi-Tawi; three in Cotabato City; and two in the Special Geographic Area.
Under BAA 58, which was approved in March 2024, the 32 parliamentary districts are distributed as follows: three in Basilan, seven in Sulu, three in Tawi-Tawi, four each in Maguindanao del Norte and del Sur, eight in Lanao del Sur, two in Cotabato City, and one in the Special Geographic Area.
The apportionment of parliamentary districts is based on population and geographical area, with each district consisting of contiguous, compact, and adjacent areas with a minimum population of 100,000.
In a ruling in September last year, the Supreme Court excluded Sulu from the Bangsamoro region.
The SC ruling excluding Sulu from the BARMM raised a lot of concerns because Republic Act 11054, the Organic Law for the BARMM, provides for an 80-seat parliament, 40 of them party representatives, 32 single districts and eight sectoral. Of the 32 districts, seven were allocated for Sulu.
Sinarimbo said the joint committee approved the reapportionment of the seven parliamentary districts originally allocated for Sulu.
“With Sulu’s departure from BARMM as a result of the Supreme Court decision, the law that reset the BARMM parliamentary elections required the Parliament to reallocate the seven districts to the remaining territory of the BARMM,” he explained.
The approved joint committee report of the CLG and CARCL is expected to be submitted to the plenary next week for deliberations, the Bangsamoro Parliament’s Public Information, Publication, and Media Relations Division reported Friday.
Some lawmakers expressed reservations and indicated their intention to propose amendments during the plenary deliberations, it added.
The joint committee is fast-tracking the approval of the measure to ensure that the changes are in place before the October 13, 2025 elections.
Since the Bangsamoro Transition Authority, the interim body tasked to govern the BARMM, was established in 2019, the first parliamentary elections in the region had been postponed twice.
The first extension was granted during the term of former President Rodrigo Duterte, through Republic Act 11593 which moved the first parliamentary election from May 2022 to May 2025.
The second postponement was through RA 12123 which reset the May 12, 2025 election to October 13, 2025. President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed the postponement bill into law on February 21, 2025. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
