House bill seeks to fix BARMM elections on September 28

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Lanao del Sur 1st and 2nd District Representatives Zia Alonto Adiong and Yasser Alonto Balindong  filed a proposed law on Wednesday, January 21, seeking to set the first regular parliamentary elections for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) on September 28, 2026.

The filing of House Bill No. 7236 coincided with BARMM’s 7th anniversary and came a day after interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua signed Bangsamoro Autonomy Act No. 86, which reconfigured parliamentary districts following a 2024 Supreme Court ruling that excluded Sulu province – and, in effect, its seven BARMM parliamentary district seats – from the autonomous region.

In late 2025, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) moved BARMM elections from October to March 30, 2026, after the Supreme Court declared two earlier regional districting laws unconstitutional. The High Tribunal had given the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) until the end of October to pass a law aligned with the Constitution, allowing elections by March 31. 

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The interim parliament, however, missed the deadline and passed the districting law on January 13, weeks after Comelec suspended the filing of certificates of candidacy for the March 30 polls.

The delay left little room for Comelec to proceed with the March elections.

Adiong and Balindong’s bill seeks to address a legal gap: while the BTA can apportion its districts, the authority to set the election date rests with Congress. Early passage of the measure would allow Comelec to begin preparations for the vote.

BTA Deputy Floor Leader Naguib Sinarimbo, author of the regional redistricting law, welcomed the bill.

“As we’ve said, the task of the [Bangsamoro] Parliament is merely to pass a law that apportions the parliamentary districts,” Sinarimbo said. “The matter of setting the date of the election is a power granted only to the Congress of the Philippines. This bill will finally allow our people to exercise their power to elect, democratically, their representatives. This certainly is a win for the Bangsamoro people.”

The first BARMM elections have been postponed three times since the predominantly Muslim region was created in 2019. They were originally scheduled for May 2022 but delayed to May 2025 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to finalize the Bangsamoro Electoral Code.

The date was later reset to October 2025 to better align with national administrative timelines.

The September 2025 SC ruling that voided the regional districting framework prompted a third postponement, pushing the polls to 2026.

Another BTA deputy floor leader, Suharto Ambolodto, said the elections, if held in September, would conclude the region’s prolonged transition period.

“Suffrage is the heart of the right to self-determination,” he said. “We are now in the 7th year of what should have been a three-year transition period. The conduct of these elections will hasten the culmination of this period.”

The bill has support from the region’s leadership, according to BTA Deputy Speaker Baintan Ampatuan. “It’s a welcome development, as it paves the way for the first-ever Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections,” he said.

BTA spokesperson and Floor Leader Jet Lim said the regional government is monitoring congressional action on the proposed legislation.

“This is consistent with the Constitution and the Bangsamoro Organic Law,” Lim said. “We remain committed to ensuring that the process leading to the first parliamentary elections is reflective of the aspirations of our people.”

If the elections proceed this September, BARMM voters would fill up 40 seats reserved for regional parties and 32 seats for parliamentary district representatives. Eight seats are reserved for sectoral group representatives, who are not elected through the BARMM ballots.

Based on the new districting law, the 32 parliamentary district seats will be divided as follows: nine in Lanao del Sur, five each in Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur, four each in Basilan and Tawi-Tawi, three in Cotabato City, and two in the Special Geographic Area (SGA), an administrative and political territory carved out of Cotabato province in the Soccsksargen Region. – Rappler.com