Senator Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri has expressed his desire for the 80-member Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to be filled for the elections in 2025 following Sulu's exclusion.
Prior to this, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia said they would continue with the BARMM elections since the poll body has figured out a way to do so with only 73 members.
"Ang payo ko sa kanila is to immediately amend if possible, make a quick amendment on their election code, nakalagay doon sa election code yung creation of districts for the representation in the BARMM parliament (My advice to them is to immediately make any necessary changes, if possible, by amending their election code. Specifically, they should revise the section of the election code that outlines the creation of districts for representation in the BARMM parliament)," Zubiri said during the Kapihan sa Senado public forum on Thursday, Sept. 26.
"Para itong pitong bakanteng upuan ng parliament galing sa Sulu pwede nila ibigay sa ibang distrito, iproportion sa ibang distrito... so para di maging 73 ang parliament which kulang ng representation, sayang naman yung naman yung nakalagay sa BOL pwede nilang ibigay yan (These seven vacant parliamentary seats from Sulu can be given to other districts, proportionally distributed to other districts... so that the parliament doesn't remain at 73, which lacks representation, it's a waste since they can those allocated under the BOL)," he added.
Zubiri said that as an option, a special election can be conducted for the seven parliamentary seats.
Another is for Sulu to be included again in BARMM. Zubiri pointed out that there's a slim margin between in the plebiscite between those who want to be part of BARMM against those who don't want to.
"Slim kasi yung margin, about 130,000 plus yung nag-yes to BARMM 160,000 plus yung nag-no to BARMM. Dikit pa yun. So ibig sabihin (So it means), almost half the population of Sulu still want to be part of BARMM," he explained.
"Now, to do that, they can go to Congress," he added.
He stated this can be done if one or two district representatives of Sulu files a bill amending the BOL to allow a plebiscite once again for Sulu. Zubiri added that if the House of Representatives approves this, they would also wholeheartedly approve it in the Senate.
Zubiri also pointed out that the national government must step in help the 5,000 workers displaced by the Supreme Court (SC) decision to exclude Sulu from BARMM.
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.