The first-ever parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), scheduled for May 12 next year, cannot be deferred, a Supreme Court (SC) official said on Tuesday.
SC spokesperson Camille Sue Mae Ting made this remark in response to a query on whether the High Tribunal’s ruling on Sulu’s exclusion from BARMM takes effect immediately despite the pending motion for reconsideration.
“The SC ruling on BARMM shall take effect immediately. ‘Immediately executory’ means that the decision should be fully implemented despite the pending motion for reconsideration. There would be no reason for the Court to say it was immediately executory if it intended otherwise,” she told reporters.
“The Court, consistent with its prior rulings, issued the order making the decision immediately executory knowing that the election cannot be postponed,” Ting added.
In September this year, the SC declared the Sulu province not part of the BARMM after it rejected the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law.
The unanimous decision is immediately executory, even while it partially granted the petition challenging Sulu’s inclusion in BARMM but denied challenges to other aspects of the law.
Meanwhile, local chief executives (LCEs) from Maguindanao del Norte are calling for a one-year delay in light of the exclusion of Sulu from the autonomous region.
The United Bangsamoro Development Council (UBDC) has signed a manifesto supporting Senate Bill 2862 authored by Senate President Francis Escudero to move the elections to 2026.
Likewise, two members of the parliament also expressed support for the proposed postponement to reassign its district and seat allocations to ensure proper representation.
As this developed, Senator Robinhood Padilla introduced a bill to establish a special province in the BARMM to guarantee constitutional suffrage rights for its residents.
Padilla filed Senate Bill 2875 creating the special geographic area to be known as Kutawato province, which will cover 63 “orphaned” barangays that opted to join BARMM in 2019.
“The establishment of the Special Geographic Area (SGA) reflects the historic aspirations of the sixty-three (63) barangays from the municipalities of Carmen, Kabacan, Midsayap, Pigcawayan, Pikit, and Aleosan in the Province of Cotabato to become part of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), as affirmed through a plebiscite held on February 6, 2019,” Padilla said in his bill.
Under the bill, Kutawato province shall consist of the towns of Pahamuddin, Kadayangan, Nabalawag, Old Kaabakan, Kapalawan, Malidegao, Tugunan, and Ligawasan, which covered the 63 barangays in the Special Geographic Area. Pahamuddin shall be the capital town of the province.
Commission on Elections Chairman George Garcia earlier stated that voters in the 63 barangays could not vote because they currently do not belong to any province.
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline “BARMM polls cannot be postponed, says SC spokesperson.”
