DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 30 October) — The Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) adjourned its session on October 30 without passing a new districting law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) but three bills have been filed for deliberations when the sessions resume on November 10.
Parliamentary Bill (PB) 403 was filed on October 24 by seven Members of Parliament (MPs) led by Suharto Ambolodto; PB 407 on October 28 by 30 MILF-aligned MPs led by Speaker Mohammad Yacob; and PB 408 was filed by five MPs aligned with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF)-Misuari led by Romeo Sema and Abdulkarim Misuari.
The Supreme Court on September 30 declared the previous districting laws – Bangsamoro Autonomous Acts 58 and 77 – unconstitutional and directed the BTA to “immediately undertake by October 30, 2025 at the latest” the passage of a new law for the 32 parliamentary district seats in the first Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE) “in strict compliance with the priorities and requirements provided to the Bangsamoro Organic Law, as well as the criteria laid down in this decision.”
Voters in the Bangsamoro were supposed to elect 80 MPs — 40 political party representatives, 32 single district representatives, and eight sectoral representatives. The election on October 13, however, was postponed to a date “not later than March 31, 2026.”
BAA 58 allocated districts for all BARMM-member provinces and the Special Geographic Area (SGA), when Sulu was still part of the BARMM. After the Supreme Court ruling in September 2023 that Sulu is no longer part of the BARMM, another law was passed — BAA 77 – amending BAA 58 by re-allocating the seven seats originally intended for Sulu, to the rest of the BARMM’s Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Cotabato City and the SGA. Both laws were declared unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court also directed the Commission on Elections (Comelec) that immediately after the passage of the new districting law, it has to “proceed with its preparations and conduct the elections in compliance (with Section 5 of the Voter’s Registration Act) not later than March 31, 2026.”
Section 5 of the Voters’ Registration Act provides that “no territory comprising an election precinct shall be altered or a new precinct be established at the start of the election period” and “splitting of an original precinct or merger of two or more original precincts shall not be allowed without redrawing the precinct map/s one hundred twenty (120) days before election day.”
Among the reasons why BAA 77 was declared unconstitutional was because it did not meet the 120-day requirement.
District allocations
The three bills were immediately referred to the Committees on Rules and Local Government for deliberations and public consultations.
All three bills propose nine seats for Lanao del Sur, five for Maguindanao del Norte, five for Maguindanao del Sur, four for Basilan, four for Tawi-Tawi, three for Cotabato City and two for SGA.
PB 403 proposes Lamitan City to be the 1st district out of four in Basilan; PB 407 adds Akbar town to Lamitan for the 1st district.
PB 403 proposes Marawi City to be the first district out of nine in Lanao del Sur;
PB 408 wants Marawi City to be the ninth district; while PB 407 wants two districts for Marawi City.
PB 407 proposes the towns of Kapai and Tagoloan II to be under Lanao del Sur’s third district, along with the towns of Marantao, Piagapo and Saguiaran; PB 408 puts Kapai and Tagoloan II in the first district, along with the towns of Bubong, Maguing and Ditsaan Ramain, while PB 403 puts Kapai in the second district and Tagoloan II in the third.
The BTA usually holds sessions Mondays to Thursdays on the third and fourth week of each month but it has decided add additional sessions this month and will resume sessions on November 10 instead of 17.
But a priority bill that will keep the BTA busy when it resumes session in November is the 2026 budget. Bangsamoro’s Interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua submitted to the Parliament on Thursday the proposed P114.07-billion Bangsamoro Expenditure Program (BEP) for 2026, the largest in the region’s six-year history. It is also the first budget proposal under his administration. Macacua was appointed to head the BARMM in March this year.
“We are not merely correcting past legislation”
The Bangsamoro Information Office quoted Deputy Floor Leader Suharto Esmael, one of PB No. 407’s co-authors, as saying the proposed bill came from the MILF Central Committee.
“This bill avoids gerrymandering,” Esmael said, stressing that it was drafted to reflect contiguous boundaries and balanced population representation.
The BIO also quoted MP Romeo Sema, one of PB No. 408’s principal authors, as saying their version was based on the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Ambolodto, one of the authors of PB 403, said their proposed bill strictly adheres to two “critical non-negotiable standards” laid down by the Supreme Court – for
parliamentary districts to be “contiguous and adjacent as far as practicable,” particularly in areas like Lanao Del Sur, Maguindanao Del Norte, and Cotabato City.
The BIO quoted Ambolodto as saying that they based their districting on the latest population data, eliminating arbitrary boundaries, and prioritizing ‘geographic logic’ to avoid gerrymandering.
“We are not merely correcting past legislation. We are building a stronger, more legally resilient foundation for the democratic future of the Bangsamoro,” he said.
A newly formed bloc, the “BTA Conscience Alliance,” composed of seven MPs, among them Tomanda Antok, Kitem Kadatuan, and Ibrahim Ibay, stressed the need for thorough consultation.
Alliance spokesperson Kadatuan explained that the group’s formation aims to address any “issues and concerns” through proper consultation with BTA members and constituents, particularly on the highly contentious issue of gerrymandering. (Carolyn O. Arguillas and Ferdinandh B. Cabrera / MindaNews)
