Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia said on Thursday, Sept. 12, that the first parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) despite the Supreme Court's (SC) ruling that excluded Sulu.
"Ang Comelec en banc po nagdesisyon na tutuloy at tutuloy tayo sa halalan sa Bangsamoro kahit pa wala ang Sulu (The Comelec en banc decided that they will push through with the Bangsamoro polls even without Sulu)," Garcia said in a radio interview on DZBB.
Garcia explained that they will continue with the BARMM elections since the poll body has figured out how to do so.
"Kung ang sinasabi ng batas 80 miyembro edi i-miminus mo lang yung seven dahil yun ang representante ng Sulu edi may 73 ka pa. So ibig sabihin po tuloy pa rin ang eleksyon dahil makakapag-halal ka pa rin naman ng 73 na miyembro ng parliyamento (If the law says 80 members then we just subtract seven because those are Sulu's representatives then we still have 73. This means the elections would continue since you can still elect 73 members of parliament)," he added.
He also stated that voters in the 2025 BARMM elections would be accepting two ballots: one is for electing a district representative and one is for electing their favored political party.
The SC ruled that the province of Sulu is not part of BARMM because its residents rejected the ratification of the BARMM organic law during the plebiscite.
With the exclusion of Sulu, BARMM is now composed of the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, and Tawi-Tawi.
In a related development, Comelec released a resolution amending the calendar of events in relation to the BARMM elections.
Under Resolution 11051, the Certificate Of Candidacy (COC) for District Representative in the BARMM Parliament shall be filed on November 4, 2024 (Monday) to November 9, 2024 (Saturday), from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, with the Bangsamoro Electoral Office (BEO) through the Office of the Provincial Election Supervisor (OPES).