Bangsamoro Parliament convenes on Monday, January 12, for a special session to deliberate on BTA Bill No. 417 as called by Speaker Ustadhz Mohammad S. Yacob per request of BARMM Chief Minister Abdulraof A. Macacua
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COTABATO CITY — Amid the cloud of uncertainties still hanging over the holding of the first parliamentary polls in the Bangsamoro region, a member of the Parliament (MP) has revealed a “promise” that Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III’s made to Education Minister Mohagher M. Iqbal.
But, first: Remember the three failed schedules for the regional elections: May 9, 2022, May 12, 2025, and October 13, 2025. Nada!
Remember still: the Supreme Court had directed the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in a decision on September 30, 2025, to hold the elections not later than March 31, 2026. Is this still workable? You have to ask the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) Parliament.
For the desire to hold the parliamentary polls as soon as possible have many proponents. but, obviously, there are those who do not want it held soon. Guess the reason/s.
Incidentally, tomorrow, Monday, the Parliament will be convening for a special session to deliberate solely on the BTA Bill No. 417 that seeks to re-apportion the seven district seats left vacant after Sulu’s departure from the BARMM family.
Parliament Speaker Ustadhz Mohammad S. Yacob called the session on the request of BARMM Chief Minister Abdulraof A. Macacua.
Back to the “promise”. According to MP Atty. Lanang Ali, Jr., this about the conduct of the much-anticipated and thrice-postponed political exercise in the region, the election that would produce the first regular and democratically elected officials of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Ali said the Senate leader made the vow during meetings between leaders of both the Senate and the House of Representatives with MPs of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), the Government of the Day running the BARMM government.
In the meeting, Ali said, one lawmaker (he did not say whether a congressman or a senator), raised the issue of holding the parliamentary polls in 2028, instead of 2026 as the Supreme Court has ruled in its decision declaring Bangsamoro Autonomy Acts (BAA) No. 77 and 58 “unconstitutional”.
But Sotto right away opposed the idea of further delaying the political exercise, Ali said, at the same time emphasizing Congress’s position the parliamentary elections must be held in 2026.
Ali also clarified that neither the Senate nor the House supports the deferment of the election to 2028, denying contradicting narratives being peddled on social media.
“Senate President Sotto stated plainly — he made a promise to Minister Mohagher Iqbal that elections will take place in 2026, and he will fulfill it,” Ali insisted in a statement reported on social media.
Ali urges fellow Parliament lawmakers to let the Bangsamoro voice be heard
Ali shutdown any idea that the Bangsamoro Parliament can reorganize the composition of the BTA, saying this job solely lies with President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., not the BARMM Parliament.
“Under the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), the BTA must remain MILF-led, with 41 nominees from the MILF Central Committee and 39 from the national government,” he pointed out.
With the Supreme Court-required “redistricting law” still under consideration by the Parliament, he cited what he described as “serious legal concerns” that have emerged, recalling the Supreme Court’s directive on the BTA Parliament passing the bill. It was not met, he said.
This is where Ali mentioned about “legal experts” who reportedly indicated the continuing delay of a redistricting law “could form grounds for indirect contempt of court. Any Bangsamoro individual, he explained, possesses the right to file a case in that nature, citing Zaoawi Buludan as having done exactly.
According to Ali, legal experts have indicated that the ongoing delay could form grounds for indirect contempt of court. He added that any Bangsamoro individual has the right to file such a case, as Zaoawi Buludan did, to enforce compliance with the high court’s decision.
“If the Supreme Court’s deadline is not met, it may fall under the elements of indirect contempt,” he clarified.
He said Buludan, said to from the Bangsamoro League of Organizations (BLO) already filed a contempt petition recently against 10 MPs arising from the delay.
“Harassment”, some of the MP respondents cried.
Ali acknowledged the challenging process of making laws because of “competing interests among districts, provinces, and sectors.” In relation with this hurdles, Ali suggested that the only just path forward passing a fair, constitutional, and equitable redistricting law that ensures all the Bangsamoro people have equal opportunities to participate in the first-ever parliamentary elections.
“Let the people decide. Pass the law fairly, in accordance with the Constitution and the Bangsamoro Organic Law,” he pleaded.
In a related development, Assistant Secretary Jordan S. Bayam, executive director of the Office of the Bangsamoro Transformation Cluster at the Office of the President Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU-OBTC), has urged the Parliament to pass the districting bill this month.
The OPAPRU official described the parliamentary polls as not just a deliverable of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) and the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), but a “moral obligation” of the BTA.
“Let the voice of our be heard,” Bayam pleaded to the Parliament solons.
The Bangsamoro region, established in 2018 by the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) to implement the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), is made up of the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, and Tawi-Tawi, the cities of Cotabato, Lamitan, and Marawi, as well as the Special Geographic Area’s (SGA) 63 barangays or villages — now eight new municipalities — that voted “Yes” in a plebiscite in February 2019 to be under the BARMM jurisdiction.
According to the Philippine Atlas, BARMM has 4,404,288 people. It has 116 municipalities: Basilan, 11 municipalities; Lanao del Sur, 39; undivided Maguindanao, 36; Sulu, 19; and Tawi-Tawi, 11. Its component cities are Cotabato (the regional center and capital) in Maguindanao; Lamitan in Basilan; and Marawi in Lanao del Sur. 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. (®)
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Source:
TMA News TV Online