High court halts BARMM redistricting law
Facade of the Supreme Court of the Philippines. | PHOTO: Official website of the Supreme Court / sc.judiciary.gov.p
MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court has issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the implementation of a newly enacted Bangsamoro law that redistributed the seven parliamentary seats originally allocated for Sulu, weeks before the first parliamentary elections of the Bangsomoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
In a special en banc session on Sept. 15, the Supreme Court ordered the consolidation of two cases challenging the Bangsomoro Autonomy Act (BAA) No. 77, or the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Redistricting Act of 2025, and issued the TRO stopping the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) from implementing the law pending the final resolution of the two cases.
“The TRO is effective immediately,” according to a briefer provided by the high tribunal on Tuesday.
An except of the resolution, signed by Clerk of Court Marife Lomibao-Cuevas, further said: “Now, therefore, effective immediately and continuing until further orders from this Court, You, respondents Commission on Elections, Bangsamoro Transition Authority, and all persons acting under your authority, are hereby ENJOINED from enforcing Bangsamoro Autonomy Act No. 77 pending the final resolution of these cases.”
The first parliamentary elections in BARMM are scheduled on Oct. 13 with the poll body setting the start of the election period on Aug. 14.
READ: BARMM chief signs law redirecting 7 Sulu parliamentary seats
Confusion
On Aug. 19, five days after the election period started, the BTA, which serves as the Bangsamoro interim government during its transition period, passed BAA 77.
The law was in accordance with the 2024 ruling of the Supreme Court in Province of Sulu v. Medialdea, in which the justices held that Sulu was not part of BARMM.
However, the petitioners in the case docketed as G.R. No. E-02119 said that BAA 77 introduced “confusion, division, and disenfranchisement” among the Bangsamoro electorate, alleging that it was intended to postpone the first regular BARMM elections.
In their 66-page petition, Member of Parliament (MP) Lanang Ali Jr., League of Bangsamoro Organizations (LBO) Secretary General Samsodin Amella, and peace advocate Datuan Magon Jr. explained that the Supreme Court’s decision in 2024 excluding Sulu from BARMM left unoccupied the seven parliamentary district seats initially allocated to the province unoccupied.
MP Naguib Sinarimbo earlier stressed that the redistricting law, which reallocated to the eight seats to the other provinces in the region, was intended to clearly establish the legal basis for the 80-seat composition of the parliament.
Brazen disregard
However, the petitioners argued that BAA 77 “brazenly disregards the contiguous, compact, and adjacent territorial requirement, leading to arbitrary and politically questionable realignments of district representation.”
They also questioned the timing of its passage, saying it was enacted at a time when the law required “electoral stability and predictability during the election period.”
“[It] further violates Voter’s Registration Act, which prohibits changes to district configurations that impair the conduct of elections once the election period has begun,” the petitioners said.
In a separate petition docketed as G.R. No. E-02235, the petitioners also asked the Supreme Court to nullify BAA 77, asserting the same argument that switching districts during the election period would only cause “massive confusion” for the electorate and effectively violate the credible and honest conduct of election. The Comelec, while a party to the complaint, had also earlier said that it would proceed with hold the parliamentary elections on Oct. 13 excluding the posts previously allocated for Sulu.
