Bangsamoro region redistricting eyed by October

The Bangsamoro Parliament on Wednesday, 28 February 2024, passed into law the bill creating 32 single-member parliamentary districts in the region. The interim parliament is eyeing to amend the law on or before the October 13, 2025 regional elections. File photo courtesy of BTA Parliament

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 27 February) – The redistricting of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), due to the removal of Sulu from the region, could be done on or before the regional elections on October 13, an official said Thursday.

Mohd Asnin Pendatun, Bangsamoro government spokesperson, said the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) will amend Bangsamoro Autonomy Act (BAA) 58, which allocates 80 seats for the Bangsamoro parliament.

“I think five months will be enough time for the amendment,” he said, pointing out that the Bangsamoro regional election was reset to allow the BTA to address the issue on district seat allocation.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr signed Republic Act 12123, which resets the Bangsamoro elections from May 12 to October 13 this year, last February 19, a development welcomed by the BARMM government.

Under BAA 58, the 80-member Bangsamoro Parliament shall be composed of 40 party representatives, 32 single-district representatives and eight sectoral representatives.

Sulu was allocated seven single-district seats until the Supreme Court, in a ruling in September 2024, excluded the province from the Bangsamoro region.

“The districting law needs to be amended … If we don’t amend the law, we will end up with a 73-member parliament which is not in congruence with what our law states,” Pendatun said.

He spoke with reporters at the sidelines of a dialogue involving regional political parties participating in the Bangsamoro elections. The event was organized by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, a United Kingdom body working to strengthen democracy around the world.

Pendatun said they will need another legislation to formalize the distribution of seven seats previously allocated to Sulu province.

In the Supreme Court ruling on September 9, 2024, Sulu was removed from BARMM because the province rejected the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law in the 2019 plebiscite.

“It violates Article X, Section 18 of the Constitution, which states that only provinces, cities, and geographic areas voting favorably in the plebiscite shall be included in the autonomous region,” the SC said in its ruling.

On February 23, election watchdog Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE) urged the BTA to immediately amend BAA 58.

It must ensure that the amendment process is “consultative, inclusive, and transparent through the public consultations that will be conducted” LENTE said.

Pendatun said the postponement of the BARMM parliamentary elections is advantageous “because national government resources and security will be focused solely in the October 13 Bangsamoro elections.”

“In five months, it would be hopefully enough to re-appropriate the seven parliamentary districts (allocated to Sulu), address the security concerns and other preparations, and increase the level of awareness of our countrymen in the first Bangsamoro parliamentary elections,” Pendatun said. (Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)