Comelec: BARMM polls to proceed despite ballot printing postponement

Commission on Elections Chairman George Erwin Garcia — File photo by Marianne Bermudez/Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines — The first Bangsamoro parliamentary elections, to be held on October 13, 2025, will proceed “at all costs” despite the postponement of the printing of the official ballots and other issues following the approval of a bill redistributing the seven parliamentary district seats originally allocated to Sulu.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia made this pronouncement on Thursday, noting that some Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) residents cast doubt about whether the elections will push through due to the suspension of ballot printing.

“To our constituents in Bangsamoro, the elections will push through there. There needs to be a law from the Congress to postpone the elections in Bangsamoro,” Garcia said in Filipino during an online interview with reporters.

There is currently no proposed bill seeking to postpone the elections in October. It was rescheduled from May 12, 2025.

READ: Comelec suspends printing of ballots for Bangsamoro polls

The Comelec initially planned to begin the printing of official ballots for the provinces of Basilan, Tawi-tawi, and the Special Geographic Area (SGA) on Thursday. However, the Comelec announced on Wednesday its suspension for the poll body to “further study the implications of the approved bill.”

The Bangsamoro Transition Authority earlier announced the passage on the third and final reading of Parliament Bill No. 351, which seeks to amend the Bangsamoro Autonomy Act No. 58 and redistribute the seven district seats originally dedicated to Sulu.

In September 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that Sulu was no longer part of the region after the province rejected the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law through a plebiscite. The BOL established BARMM as a political entity and its corresponding basic government structure.

Aside from the suspension of ballot printing, Garcia cited the issues of the transfer of municipalities from one district to another and its reconfiguration, as well as the reallocation of election materials, among others.

“The issues we initially raised are not enough reasons to postpone the elections in Bangsamoro,” Garcia said.

Transfer to another district

Garcia said that the redistribution of the seven seats may complicate the poll body’s preparations for the elections, noting changes in ballot faces and consolidation due to the transfer of one municipality to another district.

Garcia explained that the poll body wants to ensure the status of municipalities to be transferred to another district. However, he said that the certificates of candidacies of the candidates will remain in the original districts where they were initially filed.

READ: Comelec to conduct monthlong education campaign for BARMM polls

“It has effects on the printing because the ballots, aside from being precinct-specific since this is an automated election, contain pictures of candidates that are specific to every district. The pictures and names of the candidates are printed in the ballots, and they will not be written, unlike in the manual elections,” Garcia added.

He also noted that the poll body takes 12 days to configure a system for the consolidation of results. He cited, for example, that the transmission of results for the consolidation of the results of the first district, where a certain municipality is located, will not be accepted anymore since it is now redirected to another district.

Aside from this, Garcia said that the poll body distributes election materials such as the automated counting machines, pens, and starlinks per district. He noted that the allocation of materials for a certain municipality will change if it will be transferred to another district.

Timeline of preparations

When asked if the postponement of ballot printing caused delays to the poll body’s preparations for the elections, Garcia said that the poll body ensured that it had enough time for preparations and leeways for circumstances like this.

He also shared that the poll body is currently reviewing if it is possible to resume the ballot printing on Friday. The poll body is set to print around 2.3 million official ballots for the whole region. /das