Comelec asked to extend orgs’ registration period for BARMM 2025 polls

MANILA, Philippines — A coalition of major political parties in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) has urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to extend the June 7 deadline for the registration and accreditation of sectoral organizations vying to participate in the region’s first parliamentary elections in 2025.

In a statement on Tuesday, BARMM Grand Coalition (BGC) said that its Chairperson, Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan, wrote a letter to Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia on May 27 asking for the extension.

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“BGC is making this request to Comelec so that more sectoral groups are allowed to register and participate in the assembly to choose their sectoral representatives,” Tan said in the letter.

Tan added that a certification from the appropriate ministry, regional offices, or agencies of the Bangsamoro government is one of the conditions for sectoral groups under Comelec Resolution No. 10987.

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This resolution sets the activities related to the first parliamentary elections in the BARMM, along with corresponding periods within which to comply.

Tan noted that the Bangsamoro Youth Commission, the Bangsamoro Commission for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, the Office for Settler Communities, and the Bangsamoro Women Commission have just released their respective guidelines for certification.

The Darul Ifta, or Bangsamoro’s Islamic advisory council, has not yet even issued guidelines on the certification of Ulama sectoral representatives.

“As the 7 June 2024 deadline to file the Petition for Registration or Accreditation before the Honorable Commission is fast approaching, the BGC foresees that sectoral organizations in the BARMM may not be able to file their respective Petitions within the given period considering that they are still in the process of applying for the required certifications before the appropriate ministry, commission or regional office,” Tan explained in the letter.

“Considering the foregoing, the BGC respectfully believes that there is an urgent need to extend the period within which to allow sectoral organizations in the BARMM to file their respective petitions for registration or accreditation before the Honorable Commission in relation to the first parliamentary elections,” he added.

Tan said the request does not violate any provision of Resolution No. 10984 or the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Bangsamoro Electoral Code.

“More importantly, allowing the prayed-for extension will prevent the massive disenfranchisement of sectoral organizations in the BARMM from participating in the first parliamentary elections,” he added.