Garcia: Comelec has clear path of preparation for BARMM polls with reset

MANILA, Philippines — With less than six months away, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has a more definite path for its preparations for the conduct of the first Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) parliamentary elections as the bill resetting it in September was finally signed into law. 

Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia made this statement on Thursday as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday signed Republic Act No. 12137 with states that “to synchronize the BARMM parliamentary elections with the national and local polls, the regular elections for Bangsamoro Government shall be held on the second Monday of May 2031 and every three years thereafter.”

READ: Marcos signs law resetting BARMM elections

With this, the elections will be held on September 14, 2026, after being postponed for the fourth time. The Comelec earlier postponed the elections from its original schedule date of March 31, 2026, citing legal and operational concerns as the redistricting law passed by the Bangsamoro parliament was still not in effect during that time. 

Garcia then lauded Marcos and the Congress for their “swift” response to fix a date for the resetting of the elections.

“Because you know, if it was delayed, the Commission on Elections will be placed in uncertainty because it is important for us to know the exact date of the elections,” Garcia told reporters in an interview. 

“All preparations will begin once the date for the elections in Bangsamoro is fixed,” Garcia added. 

He also said that the Comelec will have to wait for the newly-signed law to be published into a newspaper of general circulation or the Official Gazette before it becomes effective. Meanwhile, he shared that the Comelec is currently drafting the implementing rules and regulations for the law and the calendar of activities. 

With this, Garcia said that the poll body is eyeing to start the period for the filing of certificates of candidacy (COC) for the 32 parliamentary districts after Holy Week. He added that the accreditation for the regional political parties and sectoral organizations is ongoing as their previous registrations were scrapped. 

READ: House passes measure setting BARMM polls

Garcia explained that the accreditation began even before the resetting law was signed as it will not depend on when the elections will be held. Meanwhile, he said that the poll body cannot open the filing of COC without the exact date of the elections as they need to promulgate general guidelines to do so. 

“These kinds of limitations were already solved when the law fixing the date of the Bangsamoro parliamentary elections was signed,” Garcia noted. 

Specific timeline for preparations

As the poll body only has less than six months of preparations, Garcia said that the months of April and May will be allotted for the accreditation of political parties and sectoral organizations.

The reform in the new electoral code states that the sectoral representatives will now be elected by voters, instead of being chosen internally as mandated before.

Garcia added that the filing of the COCs must be done in the second or third week of April so the poll body will have a list of candidates before the month ends to give time for the filing of a petition for disqualification or cancellation of candidacies. 

With the completion of the accreditation and COC filing, the Comelec is now eyeing the finalization of the list of candidates by June and the printing and verification of official ballots by July. He added that there are around 2.4 million current registered voters in BARMM, excluding the new registered voters of around 110,000 as the voters’ registration is still on going until March 31, 2026. 

Garcia noted that aside from the ballot printing, the poll body will have to dedicate ample time for the verification to ensure that each ballot will be free from errors. After this, the poll body is eyeing the deployment of election materials in the first week of August, especially to the far-flung areas.

Garcia also said that the poll body will have to conduct an extensive voters’ education in the region from April to June to inform the residents why the elections are being held and what kind of leaders they will have to elect. 

“It is Comelec’s obligation but we are seeking help for various stakeholders because Comelec can’t do this alone,” he added.