Reallocation of Sulu seats in BARRM should be clear by end-May

Comelec Chairman during a press conference on Friday in Manila. INQUIRER.net / NOY MORCOSO

MANILA, Philippines — The reallocation or reapportionment of the seats originally assigned to the province of Sulu in the Bangsamoro Parliament should be clear before the end of the month for a smooth preparation of the the autonomous region’s first-ever elections, Commission on Elections (Comelec) chair George Erwin Garcia said on Tuesday.

Sulu voted against the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) so the Supreme Court ruled that the province is not part of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

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BOL requires the BARMM parliament to have 80 seats.

Sulu had seven seats in the parliament. But due to the SC ruling, the seats assigned to Sulu should have to be reapportioned to the other provinces in the autonomous region.

“We are still waiting for an update from the parliament of Bangsamoro as to what they should do in the seven seats of Sulu,” Garcia said in a KBP forum after his meeting with BARMM officials in Manila Hotel.

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“I said the timeline is, without pressuring them, before the end of May it should be clear to us,” he also said.

There should be a certificate of candidacy filing in the areas where the seven seats will be transferred, according to Garcia.

Ballot printing for 2.3 million BARMM parliament voters should also commence in July to August, he added.

The first-ever BARMM parliament was supposed to be held on May 12 concurrent with the midterm polls, but President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. postponed it until Oct. 13. /cb