The Supreme Court (SC) has been asked to disallow appointive officials of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) to still continue holding public office despite the filing of their certificates of candidacy (COCs) for the 2025 elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
In a petition, a group of registered voters in BARMM challenged the constitutionality of the provisions in the Bangsamoro Electoral Code (BEC) and the rules of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Challenged were the first sentences of Section 8, Article IV and Section 3, Article X of the BEC which respectively provide that nominees of political parties for party representative seats and the incumbent appointed members of the BTA and those appointed or designated by the BTA Interim Chief Minister in its Cabinet and ministries are not deemed resigned from their appointive positions even after the filing of their COCs or Certificate of Nomination and Acceptance of Nomination (CONAN).
Also challenged were the first paragraph of Section 21 and Second paragraph of Section 44(a) of Comelec Resolution No. 11045, which implement the provisions of the BEC.
The petitioners were led by Mustapha Kabalu, lawyer Badrodin Mangindra, Saad Delna, Soekarno Mohammad and Punduma Sani who were represented by lawyer Romulo Macalintal.
They pleaded the SC to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO).
They told the SC that the provisions of the BEC and Comelec resolution “are unconstitutional because they violate Section 2(4), Article IX-B of the Constitution which prohibits civil service officers and employees from engaging in electioneering and partisan political campaign and prevailing national laws.”
They stressed: “The mere filing of the CoC and the Certificate of Acceptance of Nomination are also signs of partisan political activity. The constitution and national laws clearly provide that public appointive officials shall be deemed ipso facto resigned upon entering the political arena.”
They pointed out: “The application of this constitutional prohibition does not distinguish between appointive public officials running in the regular national and local elections or those running in the BARMM elections. To discriminate one’s right from the other will be violative of the equal protection clause of the constitution.”
The assailed provisions in the BEC and the Comelec resolution “seek to provide undue protection and unwarranted advantage to these public officials of the BARMM because candidates who are outside the BARMM area are deemed ipso facto resigned upon the filing of their COC and CONAN, as held by the SC in the 2010 case of Quinto vs Comelec.”
“Thus, unless a temporary restraining order is issued by the SC, our country will have that ridiculous and anomalous situation wherein BARMM appointed officials who have filed their COC and CONAN in the 2025 elections will be seen continuously enjoying all the perks and privileges of his office while campaigning in the said election while public officials in areas outside of the BARMM who have likewise filed their COCs and CONANs are prohibited from doing the same and mandated to resign or give up their appointive positions,” they also said.
Last October, the SC issued a TRO that stopped the Comelec from enforcing a resolution that allows public appointive officials to continue holding public office even after their nomination as Party-List representatives.
SC Spokesperson lawyer Camille Sue Mae L. Ting said: “The SC granted the prayer for TRO, effective immediately. Comelec is enjoined from implementing Section 11 of its Resolution No. 11045. All parties are required to observe the status quo that public appointive officials are deemed resigned upon filing their certificate of candidacy.”
The petition against Section 11 of Comelec Resolution No. 11045 was filed by Macalintal who said: “In previous elections, such as in the 2022 national and local elections, the Comelec has been very consistent in its rule that public appointive officials shall be considered ipso facto resigned from office and must vacate the same upon the filing of Certificates of Nomination and Acceptance of Nomination in party-list elections as provided in its August 2021 Resolution No. 10717.”