Filing of candidacy for seats in BARMM parliament begins

COTABATO CITY — Members of the Philippine Marines and policemen are securing the Bangsamoro capitol in Cotabato City as part of the security measures for the November 4 to 9 filing of candidacy for next year’s parliamentary elections in the autonomous region.

Regional officials of the Commission on Elections for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao told reporters on Monday, November 4, that next year's first BARMM parliamentary elections can only be postponed through a congressional measure. Additionally, any appointment of members to the 80-seat regional lawmaking body would need to be made by Malacañang.

The first set of 80 BARMM lawmakers who served from 2019 to 2022 were appointed by then-President Rodrigo Duterte. The incumbent regional parliament members were appointed in August 2022 by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Officials of the pioneer and largest regional political party in BARMM, the Serbisyong Inklusibo, Alyansang Progresibo, or SIAP, told reporters on Monday that they are ready for the 2025 parliamentary elections in all five provinces and three cities in the region.

“Our party is all set for next year’s first-ever Bangsamoro parliamentary elections,” Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Alonto Adiong Jr., a senior SIAP official, said.

Lawyer Ray Sumalipao, regional director of Comelec for BARMM, said they have started accepting certificates of candidacy for representatives to the parliament at their office at the Bangsamoro capitol in Cotabato City on Monday morning.

“The filing of COCs shall be from November 4 to November 9,” Sumalipao told reporters in Cotabato City on Monday morning.