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MANILA, January 9, 2026 (SDN) — If there’s any doubt about the National Government’s desire the first-ever Bangsamoro elections happen, well, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) has seemingly dispelled it.
It’s because possibilities for holding the elections continue to sink deeper in the quagmire of uncertainties, putting a damper on the unique political exercise in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). It’s no thanks to the inability of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) to pass a districting law, which, in fairness, has proved to be very complicated as the Parliament has to navigate through legal hurdles, personalities, and labyrinthine issues.
As this continues to unfold, an official of OPAPRU issued a dramatic appeal on January 8 to the 77 — supposed to be 80 — Members of the Parliament (MPs) of the BTA. The transition authority as the Government of the Day is governing and running the Bangsamoro government since January 2019 under the leadership of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
“As a Bangsamoro, I am appealing to the honorable members of the BTA Parliament to pass a Redistricting Law this month,” pleads Assistant Secretary Jordan S. Bayam, executive director of the Office of the Bangsamoro Transformation Cluster (OBTC) at OPAPRU.
1st parliamentary elections ‘moral obligation’ of BTA
He made the appeal as the parliamentary polls remain in murky waters because the BTA Parliament was still in the process of coming up with a law for the re-apportionment of the seven district seats which Sulu left behind after the Supreme Court on September 9, 2024, cut the province’s umbilical cord from the Bangsamoro family.
In the High Court’s decision which declared “constitutional” the 2018 Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), it cited that more voters of the province voted “No” than “Yes” — a difference of only over 20,000 votes — for inclusion in the BARMM in the two-part plebiscite in January 19 and February 5, 2019.
Without Sulu, which Bangsamoro leaders have characterized as the “cradle” of the struggle for self-determination of the Muslims in the Philippines, the autonomous region is composed of the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Tawi-Tawi; the cities of Cotabato, Lamitan, Marawi; and the Special Geographic Area (SGA) with eight new municipalities in North Cotabato province but under the BARMM jurisdiction.
Bayam cited the significance to the region of pushing its first regular political exercise to happen, describing it as BTA’s “moral obligation”.
”The first BARMM parliamentary election is not just a deliverable of the BOL, CAB (2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro), and the peace agreements; more importantly, it is a moral obligation of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority. A mandate from the Bangsamoro electorate will usher in the dawn of genuine autonomy, based on consent given through a democratically accepted mechanism: the ballot,” the OPAPRU official, from Maguindanao del Norte, and a son of the late Hadji Akmad Bayam, former chief propagandist of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), explains.
“Let the voice of our people be heard,” he asserts, addressing the BTA which, until a parliamentary political exercise is conducted, will continue to exist.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. said in October last year because there’s no election yet in the BARMM, the BTA will continue to govern the Bangsamoro region. He also made clear that he has the authority to make changes in the ranks of the MPs.
The 77 MPs owe their positions to the National Government by virtue of the appointing power, the President, as nominated either by the OPAPRU or the MILF.
As this developed, the Parliament will hold a special session on Monday, January 12, with a single focus on BTA Bill No. 415, the chosen Districting Bill, among many, as announced by BTA Floor Leader Atty. John Anthony “Jet” Lim. However, he said other bills on the subject matter will also be included in the discussion.
BTA Parliament Speaker Ustadhz Mohammad S. Yacob called for the special session on the request of BARMM interim Chief Minister Abdulraof A. Macacua on December 22, asking him to conduct a special session on December 29 to 31 to pass the Supreme Court-required legislative measure.
Parliament needs a bill faithfully compliant with constitutional & national law requirements
The Parliament top official explained then that there was no more time for the two dates as quorum would be a problem because of the holidays and that some MPs were already planning to travel.
So, Yacob called for the January 12 special session to try to pass a districting law, to comply with the Supreme Court’s order as pre-requisite, obviously, for conducting the historic parliamentary polls.
The elections were supposed to be held on May 9, 2022, but then reset to May 12, 2025, mainly because of the global pandemic in December 2019 that smashed through the world, including the Philippines. As a result, the BTA’s Government of the Day then headed by former interim chief minister Al-Haj Murad Ebrahim was not able to complete all its tasks aimed at transitioning the autonomous region to a regular Bangsamoro government with elected officials.
Again, the much-anticipated political exercise — with at least eight regional parties the Comelec accredited ready to fight it out through the ballots — was deferred to October 13, 2025.
However, the Supreme Court decided against the Bangsamoro Autonomy Acts (BAA) Nos. 77 and 58 enacted to reapportion Sulu’s seven district as it declared them “unconstitutional” on September 30 last year. That practically stopped the October 13 polls.
Again, back to Square 1!
The High Court ordered the BTA to determine the district seats’ distribution by October 30 and for Comelec to hold the parliamentary polls before March 31, 2026.
Assistant Secretary Bayam said the BTA exists for the protection of the interests of the Bangsamoro people “as its supreme responsibility.”
The OPAPRU official, who has also been tapped by the peace, reconciliation and unity agency of the government to mediate political feuds in the recent local elections in the BARMM, emphasized that the only acceptable way to secure legitimate consent from the people is through their direct participation in the Bangsamoro parliamentary polls.
“This will not only reflect their true sentiments but also ensure their interests are protected, as elected officials will ultimately be accountable to the electorate,” he says.
Recall that the re-apportioning the former Sulu district seats have already spawned a number of petitions in the Supreme Court, some of them resulting in the BAA No. 77 and BAA No. 58 being declared “unconstitutional”.
The High Court directed the BTA to pass a law on districting by November 30, 2024, and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to conduct the parliamentary polls not later than October 31, also last year. For whatever reasons, both did not happen.
But the trick is to pass a law that is faithful in its compliance with constitutional and national law requirements, the Supreme Court made clear.
And it means the special session on January 12, that’s two days from now, is a crucial and vital step in conducting the BARMM’s inaugural parliamentary polls to elect 80 MPs — if all goes well — 40 as party representatives, 32 as single district representatives, and eight as sectoral representatives.
Doubtless, the Bangsamoro voters are aching to put pen to paper and choose the leaders they want to lead them for the first three regular years and so on of the BARMM government. // EDD K. USMAN (/)
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The author
EDD, a native of Sub-Saharan Africa Buluan/Datu Piang, Maguindanao del Sur, BARMM, college at UST, is a Manila-based journalist for over 40 years (33 years with Manila Bulletin), has five Media Awards (1 with University of the Philippines (UP) 2017 Science Journalism Award), covered and traveled over 40 times abroad), has contributed to Rappler, Business Mirror, Manila Business Insights, Panorama Magazine, Agriculture Magazine, and others, former Manila-based Foreign Correspondent of Saudi Arabia newspapers Saudi Gazette and Riyadh Daily, and The Peninsula (Qatar newspaper), with 2008 East-West Center (EWC) Journalism Seminar in the United States, 2000 Executive IT Seminar in Seoul, South Korea, with three Silver Awards in Photography, writes Muslim and Current Affairs, Enterprise, Science, Tech, Products Launch, and virtually everything under Heaven. (®)