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MANILA, January 17, 2026 (SDN) — While people of the Bangsamoro have welcomed the passing of Parliamentary Bill (PB) No. 415, not all are happy about it, though.

For one, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) headed by Central Committee (CC) Chairman Al-Haj Murad Ebrahim is certainly not happy, not welcoming the just-passed districting measure which the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) Parliament had crafted on January 13.

A districting law was a requirement by the Supreme Court contained in its decision on September 30, 2025, that declared Bangsamoro Autonomy Acts (BAA) Nos. 58 and 77 as “unconstitutional”.

Following the High Tribunal’s order, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Chief Minister Abdulraof A. Macacua requested Parliament Speaker Ustadhz Mohammad S. Yacob to conduct a special session in December last solely about the cited bill. The special session was held on January 12 to 13 as the regional solons finally were able to comply with the directive.

A districting law is a pre-requisite for the holding of the first-ever but already thrice-postponed inaugural parliamentary polls in the Bangsamoro region for the 80 regular members of the Parliament (MPs) who, once an election is consummated, will have the BARMM people’s mandate.

Unlike today, since January 2019 when all of them, including the interim chief minister were appointed by the then President Rodrigo R. Duterte and then by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.

But does a petition against the PB No. 415, once it officially becomes law, expected at the Supreme Court, which may again be a cause for further delay of the election in the region?

No one knows for now.

Read: As Supreme Court Requires, BARMM Body Passes PB Bill No. 415 on Districting for Regional Polls; Comelec Now in Quandary over March 30 Elections

Suffice to say the MILF, once a separatist armed revolutionary group fighting an independent Mindanao, issued on January 14 an “Offcial Statement on the Enactment of the Districting Bill based on Parliament Bill No. 415”.

While it reaffirms support for the conduct of the parliamentary polls in 2026, the MILF has reservations on PB No. 415. The bill passed on its third reading with 48 yes votes, 19 no, and four abstentions.

Ebrahim, the first BARMM interim chief minister for some six years before Marcos appointed Macacua in his stead, said the MILF “notes with deep concern that the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) Parliament’s enactment of the districting bill based on Parliament Bill No. 415, entitled ‘An Act Providing for the Apportionment of Parliamentary District Representative Seats in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’, failed to reflect the clamor of the Bangsamoro for fair and equitable representation.”

Clouds of uncertainty still hanging over conduct of first Bangsamoro parliamentary polls

He said in the MILF statement that the legislative measure “raises serious constitutional questions” which he deemed similar to what he called “defects” that made the High Tribunal to declare BAA No. 77 unconstitutional.

Ebrahim, who refused his re-appointment by Marcos as MP, cited what he thought are key issues that include “potential violation of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL)-mandated criteria for districts, such as contiguity, compactness, adjacency, and population distribution.”

The MILF concerns continued, raising more issues: “More importantly, this new law utterly disregards and refuses to honor existing boundaries, and ignores historical and shared cultural origins, which were repeatedly emphasized during public consultations.”

Towards the end of the statement of the MILF, which on September 23, 2024, formally transformed itself into a social movement, disavowing armed struggle, urged the Bangsamoro public “to actively participate in dialogues and continue to be vigilant, BARMM’s transition to full autonomy demands legislation beyond reproach, prioritizing the rule of law over expediency.”

The parliamentary political exercise was supposed to be held in May 2022, then May 2025, then October 13, 2025. Now, as the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has noted recently, the March 30, 2026, schedule has gone in the realm of doubts whether it could be held or not, because of the proximity of the bill’s passing — and is still yet to be signed and published — to the schedule that complies with the Supreme Court’s directive.

Probably not.

Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia at the poll body’s Stakeholders’ Briefing in Cotabato City, the BARMM capital, cited challenges the electoral exercise may face if its held manually.

He said as quoted in news reports that he prefers holding an automated BARMM election to ensure an orderly political exercise. On the other hand, Garcia assured a transparent and honest parliamentary polls in the region.

The passing of PB No. 415 was ably steered by MP Attorney Naguib G. Sinarimbo, chairman of the Parliament’s Committee on Local Government, defending, parrying, and enjoining his fellow legislators to give the bill a chance to sail through, and it did.

On the other hand, clouds of uncertainty still hang over the  holding of the country’s unique parliamentary polls, especially that congressional fiat is needed through a legislation setting new date for the first Bangsamoro regular elections.

Well, hope springs eternal! — EDD K. USMAN (®)