All set for Bangsamoro 2025 polls; election calendar set

Source: MindaNews

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 06 May) -- Five months to the filing of certificates of candidacy, all is set for the first election of the 80-member Bangsamoro Parliament on May 12, 2025 with the Commission on Elections' (Comelec) release of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Bangsamoro Electoral Code (BEC) and Resolution 10987 on the deadlines for registration, accreditation and manifestation of intent to participate in the historic electoral exercise.

Promulgated on May 2, Resolution 10987sets May 15 to June 7, 2024 as the period to file petitions for registration or accreditation of Regional Parliament Political Parties (RPPP) in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

May 15 to June 7 is the same period set by the Comelec for registration or accreditation of Parliamentary Sectoral Organization.

The resolution also set August 15 as the last day for registered political parties or coalition of political parties to submit Sworn Information Update System to the Political Finance and Affairs Department (PFAD).

August 15 is also the last day to file petition for registration or accreditation of a coalition in the BARMM and August 30 is the last day to file a Manifestation of Intent to Participate in next year's polls.

October 2024 is the filing of certificates of candidacy for the parliamentaryelection that is synchronized with the local and national elections.

Under the Bangsamoro Autonomy Act 35 or the BEC, regional political parties are supposed to submit to the Comelec through the Bangsamoro Electoral Office (BEO), a manifestation of their intent to participate in the parliamentary election of party representatives in the Bangsamoro "no later than the last working day of April of the year preceding the next parliamentary elections" or April 30, 2024.

But Comelec took so long in approving the BEC's IRR. The Commission en banc approved it only on April 17, too close to the deadline.

The IRR took care of this technicality by stating that for the first Parliamentary election, the Comelec will set the deadline for filing manifestation of intent. The Comelec resolution set August 30 as deadline.

Also under the BEC, petitions for registration or accreditation are to be filed "not later than during regular working hours of the last working day of December two years preceding the parliamentary elections unless a different period is set by the Commission."

"December two years" prior the election is December 2023. But according to the IRR, for the first parliamentary elections, the Comelec will set the date. Resolution 10987 set the period from May 15 to June 7.

30% women nominees

In their Manifestation of Intent, the parties are to attach their list of nominees for the 40 seats ranked from one to 40. But the law provides that at least 30 % of the nominees of a party or coalition "shall be party or coalition members who are women." Thirty per cent of 40 means at least 12 women must be among the 40 nominees.

Voters in the BARMM are to elect 80 members of Parliament: 40 party representatives, 32 single district representatives, and eight sectoral representatives.

The BARMM is the product of the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). In 1976 and 1996, the government also signed a peace deal with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), from where the MILF broke away.

Established in 2019 after the CAB's enabling law, RA 11054, was ratified in a plebiscite, the BARMM is presently governed by an 80-member Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) appointed by the President and led by the MILF. The transition period would have ended on June 30, 2022 but was extended by law to June 30, 2025.

The MNLF under Nur Misuari declined to nominate anyone to be a member of the BTA during the first BTA (2019 to 2022) appointed by then President Rodrigo Duterte. It has several representatives in the second BTA (2022 to 2025) appointed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

The first elected BARMM officials - 80 members of the Bangsamoro Parliament - will take their oath of office at noon of June 30, 2025, the same day the six-year transition period ends.

No extension

At the oath-taking of the BTA in August 2022, President Ferdinand Marcos, vowed that in 2025, "we no longer will have any extension to the authority, and we will conduct elections."

Groups affiliated with the MILF lobbied for extension of the transition period until June 30, 2028, even staging a caravan in time for Marcos' visit to the former MILF base, Camp Abubakar (now Camp Iranun of the 1 Marine Brigade) on April 29, but Marcos ruled out any extension.

"I also take this opportunity to remind you to exercise your right to suffrage as you chart your political future in the forthcoming first BARMM elections in May 2025," Marcos said, adding this was the "fulfillment of your democratic right to realize and achieve meaningful autonomy, as it is enshrined in the CAB."

He urged them to "safeguard those rights, empower yourselves, take part in our shared task of nation-building."

The President said he does not only hope for a clean and peaceful election but hopes each candidate would carry the principles of the Bangsamoro - "Bangsamoro Muna Bago Sarili" (Bangsamoro first before self) and commit to aspire for a "Better Bangsa Moro." The latter is apparently a play on the initials BBM which he used during the Presidential campaign, for Bongbong Marcos. His nickname is Bongbong.

Marcos assured the Bangsamoro that "you will have an honest, orderly, and credible conduct of the electoral process."

He warned those "who plan to threaten and derail this upcoming election" to stop because "kakalabanin na ninyo ay ang pamahalaan" (you will be fighting government). He urged them to channel their energies instead to "help build productive and thriving communities where citizens are offered wide livelihood opportunities and healthy living spaces."

Pending at Supreme Court

Several petitions have been filed before the Supreme Court (SC) to declare as unconstitutional some provisions of the BEC, among them the requirement of 10,000 membership and the high voting threshold of 4% for political parties to be entitled to a seat in the BARMM's party representation system.

Parties seeking registration and accreditation are to submit, among others, a notarized list, in the prescribed format by the BRAC and certified by the party's Secretary-General, of at least 10,000 members of the party across the six-province, three city, one special geographic area region - "with a manifestation on every page of their collective decision to register the party by affixing their names, residence, signatures and other pertinent details as determined by the Commission."

In his 46-page petition filed on December 7 before the Supreme Court, Datu Michael Mastura, former Representative of the first district of Maguindanao and former member and senior legal adviser of the MILF peace panel, asked the SC to declare as unconstitutional provisions of the BEC on additional qualifications and requirements for political parties that allegedly violate the Constitutional guarantees of equal access to public service and equal protection, and the citizens' fundamental right of freedom of association.

He also asked the Supreme Court to issue a temporary restraining order and/or writ of preliminary injunction directing the BTA and Chief Minister Ahod "Murad" Ebrahim, concurrently the MILF chair, to cease and desist from implementing the questioned provisions.

Mastura describes as "restrictive" the provisions on registration of political parties requiring at least 10,000 membership and the high voting threshold of 4% for political party representation.

Mastura's petition is in relation to the main case file before the Supreme Court on June 14, 2023 by Atty. Dimnatang Pansar, et alvs. the BTA and Ebrahim. The petitioners want the SC to declare the BEC unconstitutional for similar reasons.

The SC has yet to act on the petitions.

Regional Parliamentary Political Parties

At least eight regional parliamentary political parties (RPPPs) have, before the IRR was released, manifested their intent to participate in next year's polls through various activities, including assemblies and mass oath-taking rites.

These are the MILF's United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP), the Bangsamoro People's Party (BPP) led by Basilan Rep. and former ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman; Mahardika, a political party associated with the MNLF-Nur Misuari faction; Bangsamoro Party affiliated with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF)-Muslimin Sema faction; Serbisyong Inklusibo-Alyansang Progresibo (SIAP), a political party founded by Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr.; Rayyat Development Party headed by lawyer Jose Lorena, a parliament member of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA); Indigenous Peoples Democratic Party headed by Member of Parliament Froilyn Mendoza; and Al-Ittihad Mindanawe Darussalam-Ungaya Ku Kawagibu (UKB) Bangsamoro headed by Suharto "Teng" Mangudadatu, a former Sultan Kudarat governor now serving as director general of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

The SIAP, BPP and Al-Ittihad parties have recently formed a coalition. Sulu Governor Sakur Tan threw in his support for the coalition.

Single district representatives

The BTA on February 28 passed Bangsamoro Autonomy Act 58 or the "Parliamentary Districts Act of 2024."

The law apportioned 32 single district seats across the BARMM's six provinces (Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi), three cities (Marawi, Lamitan and Cotabato) and Special Geographic Area comprising 63 barangays in six North Cotabato towns.

The seats are apportioned equitably based on population and land area.

The BARMM has a population of 4.94 million. A district must have at least 100,000 population.

The law provides that Lanao del Sur will have eight seats; Sulu seven; Maguindanao del Norte, four; Maguindanao del Sur, four; Basilan, three; Tawi-Tawi, three; Cotabato City, two: and one for the SGA.(Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)