Sep 11, 2024 - 19:46
By manilatimes.net

BARMM CoC filing moved

THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) has moved the period of filing of certificates of candidacy (CoCs) and the manifestation of intent to participate (MIP) for the first parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to November 4 to 9 from October 1 to 8.

The commission en banc on Wednesday promulgated Resolution 11051, amending some sections of Resolution 11045, which sets the filing of CoC on Oct. 1 to Oct. 8, 2024, and other periods for other related activities.

Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said the move was in response to the Supreme Court's ruling dated Sept. 9, 2024, declaring that Sulu province is not part of the Bangsamoro Region.

Comelec Chairman George Garcia

«We were surprised by the Supreme Court's decision regarding the removal of Sulu from the Bangsamoro, thus the decision of the Comelec en banc to move the filing of CoC in the entire Bangsamoro,» Garcia said in Filipino.

He explained that the exclusion of Sulu from the BARMM has a huge impact on the ongoing pre-election activities of the Comelec, and there is a need to accommodate several adjustments in the commission's administrative jurisdiction over Sulu, allocation of parliamentary districts and membership to Regional Parliamentary Political Party and Parliamentary Sectoral Organization.

The high court's ruling penned by Senior Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen is immediately executory.

The creation of the BARMM was anchored on the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, which the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front signed in 2014 after 17 years of negotiations.

Under the Bangsamoro Organic Law that created the BARMM, 80 seats will be available in the Parliament, composed of 40 party representatives, 32 district representatives and eight sectoral representatives.

The first parliamentary polls in the BARMM will be held alongside the national and local elections on May 12, 2025.

Elected BARMM officials will assume office on June 30, 2025. They will succeed the interim Bangsamoro Transition Authority Parliament, whose members are all presidential appointees.

The BARMM chief minister will be