MANILA, Philippines – Aside from reiterating that its ruling on the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) took effect immediately, the Supreme Court (SC) has acknowledged that the polls in the autonomous region cannot be postponed.
“‘Immediately executory’ means that the decision should be fully implemented despite the pending motion for reconsideration. There would be no reason for the Court to say it was immediately executory if it intended otherwise,” SC spokesperson Camille Sue Mae Ting told reporters on Tuesday, November 12.
“The Court, consistent with its prior rulings, issued the order making the decision immediately executory knowing that the election cannot be postponed,” she added.
In September, the SC announced that it has decided to affirm the constitutionality of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), but also ruled the exclusion of Sulu from the autonomous region since the province did not ratify the law during the 2019 plebiscite. The ruling was penned by SC Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen.
The BOL’s enactment paved the way for the creation of the BARMM, which replaced the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Originally, the ARMM included Sulu. The region’s first parliamentary elections will be held next year.
During the Senate plenary deliberations on the Department of Budget and Management’s proposed 2025 budget, Senator Grace Poe had said that the BARMM has not yet finalized its position on the postponement of the BARMM elections.
Earlier in November, Senate President Chiz Escudero filed Senate Bill No. 2682 seeking to postpone the 2025 BARMM parliamentary elections to May 11, 2026, to “allow the region to reconfigure its jurisdictions as well as reallocate the seats of its 80-member parliament following the High Court’s ruling cutting off Sulu from the BARMM.”
Reporters have asked Commission on Elections to comment on the SC’s reiteration that the BARMM polls can’t be postponed. We will update this story once they respond.
The big picture
In 2018, then-Sulu governor Abdusakur Tan II filed a petition before the High Court seeking to declare the BOL unconstitutional, saying that province’s automatic inclusion in the region erased their identities and was against their rights.
Even though Sul did not vote to ratify the law, the province still became part of the BARMM because the former ARMM ratified the BOL by majority votes as one geographical unit.
In granting Tan’s petition, the SC agreed with his argument that “only provinces, cities, and geographic areas voting favorably in such plebiscite shall be included in the autonomous region,” citing Section 18, Article 10 of the Constitution.
Right after the SC’s announcement of its ruling, Muslim Mindanao leaders warned of “far-reaching consequences” and “political tremors” that may arise from Sulu’s exclusion. Deputy Minority Leader and Basilan Representative Mujiv Hataman said the decision has an impact on the peace in the region since it excluded Sulu and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), which Hataman said were vital to peace.
Sulu is the birthplace and bailiwick of the MNLF, the rival group of the Moro International Liberation Front (MILF). The peace negotiations between the government and the MILF paved the way for the BOL.
The exclusion of Sulu also meant the removal of Tan as a top challenger for the leadership post in BARMM, curently held by Chief Minister Ahod “Al-Hajj Murad” Balawag Ebrahim of the MILF. Tan was earlier designated by four political parties to be the unified candidate against Ebrahim. – Rappler.com