BARMM assures continued aid in Sulu

LIFE GOES ON In this photo taken during flag retreat at the Sulu Provincial Capitol on May 23, 2025, provincial employees listen as then outgoing Gov. Abdusakur Tan lauds their proactive work ethic and commitment to public service. Tan, succeeded by son Abdusakur II who won in last May’s midterm polls, initiated the petition that led to the Supreme Court’s decision separating Sulu from the Bangsamoro region. Sulu is now part of Region 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula). —PHOTO FROM PROVINCE OF SULU/FACEBOOK

COTABATO CITY—Despite Executive Order No. 91 placing Sulu province under Zamboanga Peninsula (Region 9), the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) will continue to work and strive to find ways of extending its services and assistance to the province, Bangsamoro Interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua said.

Macacua stressed the BARMM would continue to ensure that health and other social services would not get disrupted in Sulu despite EO 91, which President Marcos signed on July 30 implementing the Supreme Court decision separating Sulu from the BARMM.

“This development, though difficult and emotional for many of us in the Bangsamoro region, is part of the democratic and constitutional process of which we remain committed,” Macacua said in a statement on Sunday.

He said Bangsamoro would work with the national government to ensure a smooth transition, “and our foremost priority is to ensure that services will be unhampered,” he added.

Macacua assured the 1.15 million people of Sulu (based on 2024 census of population) that education, health care, social assistance and all other government support must continue without interruption in the province.

Door stays open

Macacua and most of the BARMM leaders have desired, through legislation, to bring back Sulu into the BARMM after the high court severed the province from the regional jurisdiction.

“Our door will never close,” Macacua said. “We call for calm, unity and understanding, as we navigate this new chapter. The ties of history, culture and kinship between Sulu and the rest of the Bangsamoro remain strong.”

“Even with these changes in administrative boundaries, BARMM would continue to work and strive to find ways of extending its services and assistance to the province pursuant to pertinent provisions of RA 11054,” he said, referring to the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), which created the BARMM after it was ratified in plebiscites in January and February 2019.

Upon hearing of the Supreme Court’s decision on Sept. 9 last year, former Bangsamoro Interim Chief Ahod Ebrahim said the regional government would carefully study the high court’s decision, with the “commitment to explore all avenues to hold fast to the dream of a united Bangsamoro.”

“Sulu is not only an essential component of the Bangsamoro by virtue of law but also by its deep historical and cultural ties to the Bangsamoro identity and struggle,” Ebrahim said. “The Bangsamoro will never be the same without Sulu and its people.”

The Supreme Court’s decision declared Sulu not part of the BARMM due to the outcome of the 2019 plebiscite, where 54 percent of Sulu’s voters rejected the BOL. While the court upheld the validity of Republic Act No. 11054, also known as the BOL, it ruled that Sulu’s exclusion was the result of the plebiscite.

Redistricting

This developed as the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), the region’s interim governing body, revised the proposed district boundaries in the region as it endorsed the amended redistricting bill based on the updated demographic data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Although the proposed districts remain at 32, these are to be distributed to include nine in Lanao del Sur; five each in Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur; four each in Basilan and Tawi-Tawi; three in Cotabato City; and two in the Special Geographic Area.

The revisions in the amended bill include changes in district boundaries in seven districts of Lanao del Sur, three in Maguindanao del Norte, two in Maguindanao del Sur and all three districts in Cotabato City.

According to the BTA media office, these revisions are based on the latest population data from the PSA, which reports the BARMM’s population at 4.5 million in 2024, excluding those in the province of Sulu.

Incorporating the desire of the BARMM leaders to reintegrate Sulu back to the regional government, the committee included in the bill a transitory provision addressing the possible return of the province of Sulu to the BARMM. “If Sulu rejoins, Congress may allocate additional parliamentary seats based on its population and other legal considerations.”