Women on the rise in BARMM: More seats in parliament ahead
MANILA, Philippines — Two legislators in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) are keen on having more women in parliament, pushing to amend the region’s electoral code to make it more inclusive.
Members of the Parliament (MP) Amir S. Mawallil and Rasol Y. Mitmug Jr. aim to increase female nominees for parliamentary elections.
According to Mawallil, Parliamentary Bill No. 29 or the Bangsamoro Electoral Code already has a provision that 10 percent of nominees should preferably be women, but this is still insufficient.
“While the above-cited provision of PB No. 29 speaks of a minimum number of women nominees, it is our position that the same is not sufficient. To put it in perspective, in a list of 40 nominees, the provision only calls for four nominees out of the 40 names, or ten percent of the nominees, to be women,” Mawallil said.
Mawallil is eyeing an increase in the number and making the provision mandatory, not just preferable.
Meanwhile, Mitmug is proposing a “zipper rule” in nominations.
“Parties should nominate men and women in an alternating sequence. If your first nominee is a man, then the second nominee should be a woman, and so on and so forth. This way, we can achieve an almost equal number of men and women in Parliament, as envisioned by the [Bangsamoro Organic Law],” Mitmug stated.
Mitmug believes that female representation should also be extended to political party committees, not just nominees.
“If we were to truly have effective women’s representation in the Bangsamoro Government, it should start in the political party committees, deeply ingrained in the machinery of where leadership training really begins,” Mitmug said.
