MANILA, Philippines — Bangsamoro Autonomous Area in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacau has questioned the choice of the Fee on Elections (Comelec) to not apply for its preparation on the BARMM parliamentary elections the regulation redirecting the seven parliamentary seats to Sulu province.
Macacua signed the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Redistricting Act of 2025 or the Bangsamoro Autonomy Act No. 77 on Thursday.
This regulation additionally seeks to amend the BAA No. 58, which offers for the creation of parliamentary districts within the BARMM.
The Bangsomoro authorities redistributed the seven seats following a Supreme Court docket ruling which excluded Sulu from the area after the province voted towards the ratification of the Bangsamoro Natural Legislation via a plebiscite.
READ: Comelec not making use of regulation on BARMM’s parliamentary seats redistribution
Shortly after the signing, Comelec Chairperson George Erwin Garcia stated the ballot physique can’t apply the brand new regulation, citing lack of fabric time.
Macacua stated that the Comelec is chargeable for upholding and executing the regulation, in respect to the electoral course of.
“The Chairman’s declaration of an incapacity to implement the regulation attributable to time constraints raises vital issues,” Macacua stated in a press release on Friday.
“Whereas I acknowledge the complexities that accompany authorized enactments, it’s the duty of the Fee on Elections (Comelec) to uphold and execute the legal guidelines handed by the legislature, particularly those who straight affect our electoral framework,” Macacua added.
Garcia on Thursday stated that the Comelec remained agency in its determination to proceed with its preparations for the 73 seats of the parliament.
Garcia raised points in reconfiguring the automated election system, printing of ballots, and deploying of election supplies in the event that they adopted the brand new regulation.
Garcia famous that by implementing the brand new regulation, the election supplies could be deployed by October 20, which is per week after the October 13 elections.
He defined that the redistricting offers for the switch of 1 municipality to a different, which might then should be reconfigured within the system.
As Macacua famous that the Comelec will implement the BAA No. 58, as an alternative of the brand new regulation, he raised this query: “How can we proceed with elections on the premise of a regulation which is now not relevant? And which the configuration now not exists.”
In response to the BARMM chief’s assertion, Garcia on Friday reiterated that the supplies will likely be deployed by October 20 if the ballot physique utilized the brand new regulation on its preparations.
READ: BARMM chief indicators regulation redirecting 7 Sulu parliamentary seats
“It’ll violate the regulation stating that the elections shall push via on October 13,” Garcia stated on the sidelines of the briefing for stakeholders of BARMM parliamentary elections in Zamboanga Metropolis.
Garcia reiterated that the ballot physique will proceed with 73 seats, emphasizing that it’s as much as the Bangsamoto Authorities to behave on the remaining seven seats.
“So far as the Comelec is anxious, there are presently 73 (seats), until the Bangsamoro Parliamentary later acts on it. It implies that the seven seats will at all times be there as a result of there will be elections for it, appointment, or possibility to remain vacant,” he added.
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Garcia additionally stated that the ballot physique’s determination to not implement the brand new regulation will not be meant to trigger hassle with the Bangsamoro authorities, including that the ballot physique will assist the area guarantee peaceable and orderly elections. /gsg
