Comelec suspends preparation for Bangsamoro parliamentary polls

Commission on Elections Chairman George Garcia — Photo from Comelec/Facebook

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is suspending its preparation for the first Bangsamoro parliamentary elections starting Wednesday, according to Comelec Chairperson George Erwin Garcia.

Garcia said that this is in compliance with the temporary restraining order (TRO) the Supreme Court (SC) issued to the poll body and the Bangsamoro Transition Authority from implementing the Bangsamoro Autonomy Act (BAA) No. 77, the law that redistributes the seven seats originally allocated to Sulu.

READ: High court halts BARMM redistricting law

“Today, the Comelec en banc, in compliance with the temporary restraining order issued yesterday by the Supreme Court, is suspending preparations for the conduct of the elections on October 13,” Garcia said in a press conference.

In a special en banc session on Monday, the SC ordered the consolidation of the two cases challenging BAA No. 77 and issued a TRO pending the final resolution of the two cases, preventing the implementation of the law.

Garcia said that the TRO issued entails that the Supreme Court recognizes the BAA No. 77 as the latest law on how the seats must be distributed in the Bangsamoro parliament.

However, when asked if the elections on October 13, 2025 will push through amid the suspension of preparations and pending finality of the cases, Garcia said that the answer to that is still uncertain.

“Up to the present, because of the suspension, the Comelec cannot answer yet if there will be elections on October 13,” he noted.

He also clarified that the Comelec cannot reset the election date as Congress holds the power to do so.

What about the preparations?

The Comelec has been preparing for the elections for 73 parliamentary seats under the BAA No. 58, or the creation of parliamentary districts in the BARMM, even before the passage of BAA No.77.

The BARMM Parliamentary has 80 seats, of which 40 seats are allocated for party representatives, 32 for single-member parliamentary districts, and eight for sectoral representatives.

However, the SC earlier ruled to exclude the Sulu province from the region after it rejected the ratification of Bangsamoro Organic Law through a plebiscite.

As the Sulu was originally allocated seven seats, the exclusion of the province decreased the parliament seats from 80 to 73, before the passage of BAA No. 77.

Despite the passage of BAA No. 77, the Comelec earlier remained firm that it would not implement the law, citing a lack of sufficient time in preparations. Garcia explained that following the new law will be able to deploy all materials to municipalities by October 20, a week after the scheduled elections.

READ: Comelec not applying law on BARMM’s parliamentary seats redistribution

Also when asked why the preparations are paused despite the Comelec implementing BAA No. 58, Garcia said that the poll body enforced the law even before the BAA No. 77 was passed.

“BAA 58 was repealed by BAA 77. Hence, the former is already a dead law which is not revived by the issuance of the TRO,” Garcia answered in a separate Viber message to Inquirer.

Lifting of TRO

What if the TRO is lifted? Garcia answered that the Comelec will have to overhaul its preparations.

“If the Supreme Court lifts the TRO, the Comelec must base its preparations on the 80 [seats], unless the High Court will have a final decision saying that the BAA 77 with 80 seats is unconstitutional, illegal, unlawful,” he added.

But if the BAA No. 77 will be declared unconstitutional, Garcia said that the BAA No. 58 will be revived and they will stick to their original preparations.

Garcia explained that the poll body will have to reprint the ballots, in line with the 80 parliamentary seats. The Comelec had already completed printing the 2.3 million official ballots for the elections under the 73 seats.

With this, he raised some concerns on the poll body’s preparations for the elections if the TRO will be lifted.

He reiterated that the Comelec will have to reconfigure the system to align with the 80 seats before printing of ballots and deployment of materials. He noted that the reconfiguration will take three weeks.

He also said that the poll body will have to make another lease of automated counting machines as the lease is originally scheduled for the October 13 elections.

“We need an additional budget. Why? We need to reprint ballots. If the parliament amends the BAA 77 to change the formula in districting, there will be refiling of candidacy and another reprinting of ballots,” /das /cb