BARMM body asked to pass districting law by year-end
COTABATO CITY—Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua has asked the parliament to convene a special session on Dec. 29 or up to the year end if necessary to continue their deliberation and pass the measure creating 32 single-member parliamentary districts.
The establishment of parliamentary districts is a requirement for the holding of the first Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections on March 30, 2026, as set by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) through Resolution No. 11181, in deference to a Sept. 30 Supreme Court ruling invalidating Bangsamoro Autonomy Act (BAA) Nos. 58 and 77.
In his letter dated Dec. 22, Macacua urged Parliament Speaker Mohammad Yacob to convene the regional legislature to continue discussing the redistricting measure, with the end-view of passing it before the year ends.
“I respectfully request your approval for the convening of a special session on 29 December 2025, and if necessary, on 30 and 31 December 2025,” Macacua asked Yacob.
Yacob is yet to respond to the Chief Minister’s request as of Tuesday.
The parliament adjourned for the holiday break last Thursday with session expected to resume in January 2026, leaving the districting measure, which is crucial to holding the first BARMM elections by March next year, pending at the committees on rules and local government.
Constitutional challenge
The BARMM Parliament had passed a redistricting law last August that reallocated the seven seats earlier meant for Sulu province, which was separated from the region. But the Supreme Court invalidated the law due to several infirmities, such as putting under one district noncontiguous areas.
According to Deputy Speaker Nabil Tan, Parliament Bill No. 415 has become the working draft for a consolidated version of six districting bills after public consultations and discussions with members.
Macacua earlier vowed to have the measure passed by Dec. 12, and then by Dec. 31.
Macacua’s request for special session came despite the legal opinion issued by the Bangsamoro Attorney General’s Office (Bago) that passing the measure within the Comelec’s prohibition period “risks rendering the first Bangsamoro Parliamentary Election legally infirm and vulnerable to nullification.”
Bangsamoro Attorney General Bantuas Lucman noted that existing election law and jurisprudence “categorically prohibit any alteration of districts, precincts, or territorial configuration 120 days before Election Day.”
Lucman said the prohibition period commenced in late November 2025.
“The passage of such a (districting) law would expose the entire electoral exercise to serious constitutional challenge and near-certain invalidation,” Lucman pointed out.
“Thus, the BTA is confronted with a legal reality where both inaction and belated action on districting carry grave constitutional consequences,” Lucman added.
Earlier, Member of Parliament Naguib Sinarimbo said that one way to ease the tight legal space surrounding the districting legislation is for the Comelec to lift Resolution No. 11181.
Reschedule polls?
With the resolution lifted, parliament will not be constrained, for one, with the 120-day prohibition period, Sinarimbo explained.
At present, the BARMM has no parliamentary districts to speak of after the Supreme Court’s decision last September.
Bangsamoro Autonomy Act (BAA) 58 included Sulu in the allocation of the district seats. BAA 77 redrew the districts in light of Sulu’s exit from the BARMM based on a high court ruling. But BAA 77 created districts in Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte and Cotabato City that were not adjacent and adjoining.
In the 80-member legislature, 40 are party representatives, 32 district representatives, and eight sectoral representatives.
The Supreme Court, in invalidating BAA 77, also directed the Bangsamoro Parliament to enact another districting law by end of October and for Comelec to hold the first regional elections before March 31, 2026.
The Comelec earlier said it would be difficult to hold the BARMM elections by March if a new districting law is not passed by end of November this year.
