BARMM spox: First parliamentary polls to be ‘inclusive’

The Bangsamoro region’s parliament will have seats for non-Muslim sectors as it gears up for its first-ever parliamentary elections in May next year. 

“Yung atin pong gaganapin na first parliamentary elections ay very inclusive,” said Mohn Asnin Pendatun, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) cabinet secretary and spokesperson, in an interview in Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon on Tuesday. 

(Our first parliamentary elections will be very inclusive.) 

“Itong mga reserved seats ay para sa mga sektor ng lipunan po, na based on history, ay nahihirapan makakuha ng representation sa Bangsamoro parliament or in the Bangsamoro legislative space. Ito po yung mga non-Moro indigenous peoples, mayroon po tayong reserved seats for Christian settlers, sa atin pong youth,” he added. 

(These reserved seats are for the sectors that are not usually represented in the Bangsamoro parliament or in the Bangsamoro legislative space. These are the non-Moro indigenous peoples, we also have reserved seats for Christian settlers, and our youth.) 

Under the Bangsamoro Organic Law, a total of 80 parliamentary seats are at stake in the first-ever parliamentary elections.

The allocations of the parliamentary seats are as follows:

• 40 from the representatives of Regional Political Parties
• 32 from representatives of Parliamentary Districts
• 8 seats are reserved for sectoral representatives

But with the Supreme Court decision excluding Sulu from the BARMM, the Commission on Elections said that it would remove seven parliamentary seats allotted for the province, reducing the total number to 73. 

Meanwhile, BARMM is expecting higher voter turnout for the parliamentary elections. 

“So kaliwa’t-kanan po yung ating mga information, education campaign, at ilan pong mga fora kung saan ine-explain natin yung importansya ng pagkakaroon ng ating first parliamentary elections sa ating electorate,” said Pendatun. 

(We have information and education campaigns, and we also conducted several fora to explain the importance of our first parliamentary elections.) 

The Comelec earlier moved the filling of certificate of candidacies for BARMM’s parliamentary polls to Nov. 4-9. 

In March 2023, the Bangsamoro Transition Authority passed the Bangsamoro Electoral Code, which will allow democratic participation in the local and regional elections. It would also open the creation of political parties in the region with representations from women, youth, indigenous people, settler communities, traditional leaders, and the Ulama.

The BARMM’s parliamentary polls were supposed to happen last May 2022, but it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. —Vince Angelo Ferreras/ VAL, GMA Integrated News