No stopping BARMM polls preps despite reset CALLS
Election officials from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) began arriving at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) central office in Manila on Friday to submit certificates of candidacies (COCs) and other documents of parties and individuals running for seats in the Bangsamoro parliament.
The COCs as well as certificates of nomination and acceptance will be posted on the Comelec’s website soon as part of the poll body’s transparency measures for the first parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro region scheduled to be held simultaneously with the national and local elections on May 12 next year.
The Comelec has continued preparations amid discussions on whether to push through with the BARMM elections following a Supreme Court ruling in September removing Sulu province from the autonomous region.
The parliament earlier passed a resolution urging Congress to reset the regional polls to 2028 to give it time to make the necessary legal adjustments to deal with, among others, the removal of Sulu from the BARMM.
The Senate and the House of Representatives are also pushing for the rescheduling of the parliamentary elections.
Commission on Elections Chair George Erwin Garcia had asked leaders of Congress to decide on the fate of the regional polls before Dec. 13, when the poll body finalizes the ballots to be printed for next year’s national and local elections.
Male-dominated
On Friday, the Comelec’s Election Records and Statistics Department (ERSD) released its preliminary report on the number of aspirants who filed their COCs and nomination papers during the Nov. 4 to Nov. 9 filing period for the Bangsamaro parliamentary elections.
The ERSD data showed male nominees to party seats and candidates for district seat significantly outnumbering females.
Forty of the parliamentary seats will be filled by nominees of regional political parties through a system of proportional representation. The ERSD said of the 279 party nominees, 178 or 63.8 percent are male and 101 of 36.2 percent are female.
Eight accredited regional political parties are joining the elections: Moro Ako, Progresibong Bangsamoro Party, Bangsamoro Party, United Bangsamoro Justice Party, BARMM Grand Coalition, Mahardika Party, Raayat Democratic Party and United Advocates for Settler Communities.
Meanwhile, for the 25 available parliamentary district seats, 111 filed COCs, of which 103 are male and eight female. In Cotabato City, which has two district seats, all 10 who filed their COCs are male.
There is one female candidate each in Basilan, Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Tawi-Tawi and the Special Geographic Area.
Lanao del Sur has the most female candidates, with three.
