Mixed reactions greet SC’s exclusion of Sulu from BARMM territory

COTABATO CITY — Residents of the Bangsamoro provinces have mixed feelings over the Supreme Court ruling that Sulu is not part of the autonomous region, released on Monday, September 9.

It was the administration of the governor of Sulu, Hadji Abdusakur Mahail Tan Sr., no less, who questioned, four years ago thereabouts before the Supreme Court the inclusion of their province in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao despite their having voted against it in a plebiscite for the creation of BARMM in early 2019.

The Supreme Court had said the Bangsamoro Organic Law is constitutional because it does not make BARMM a separate state from the Philippines but clarified, at the same time, that it does not in any way cover Sulu province in the country’s south.

“As Sulu rejected the Bangsamoro Organic Law in the plebiscite, it was wrong to include the province in the BARMM,” the Supreme Court said.

The Bangsamoro Organic Law also known as the Republic 11054, is the charter of the now five-year BARMM that replaced in 2019 the then 27-year, now defunct Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

A member of the 80-seat Bangsamoro parliament, the lawyer Laisa Masuhud Alamia, on Tuesday, September 10, described the issue as something like a “pivotal moment” in what is for her "complex history" of the Bangsamoro people’s struggle for meaningful autonomy.

She said the Supreme Court decision, premised on a petition by Tan, has political, administrative and security implications and has bearing on next year’s first ever parliamentary elections in BARMM.

“For political leaders and peace advocates, the (Supreme Court's) decision serves as a reminder of the importance of dialogue, inclusivity, and strategic thinking in navigating the challenges ahead,” Alamia said, apparently referring to Bangsamoro governance in Mindanao.

Tan is supposedly the anointed bet of the influential Bangsamoro Grand Coalition for chief minister if the 2025 regional parliamentary elections proceed as scheduled.

Other members of the regional parliament told reporters on Tuesday that the Supreme Court ruling virtually disqualified Tan to become regional chief minister, with Sulu being no