BARMM leaders shocked as Sulu cut from region

SEAT OF POWER Sulu province, its capitol in Patikul town shown in this 2022 photo, has played a vital role in the struggle for Bangsamoro autonomy, according to political leaders in the region. —Bong Sarmiento

COTABATO CITY, BARMM, Philippines — The Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutionality of the law that created the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) but cutting out the province of Sulu from the area of autonomy has shocked the region’s leaders who have started discussing the ruling’s implications on Tuesday.

The decision, penned by Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen and concurred in by 14 other associate justices, said Republic Act No. 11054, or the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), “deprived the constituent units of their local autonomy, which ironically is what the legislation champions” and “illegally included” Sulu in the autonomous region.

The BOL provided that the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) votes on the proposed regional charter as one geographic area.

READ: SC: Sulu not part of BARMM

“In considering the ARMM as one geographical area, the Bangsamoro Organic Law transgressed the Constitution and disregarded the autonomy of each constituent unit of what used to comprise the ARMM. The Province of Sulu, as a political subdivision under the ARMM, did not lose its character as such and as a unit that was granted local autonomy,” the ruling said.

“The Constitution and the Local Government Code provide for how political entities may be abolished. The Province of Sulu cannot be deemed abolished upon its rejection of the Bangsamoro Organic Law,” said the ruling on cases G.R. Nos. 242255, 243246, and 243693 (Province of Sulu v. Executive Secretary et al.; Philippine Constitution Association v. Senate et al.; and Dimaporo v. Commission on Elections (Comelec)).

‘Deep void’

The high court pointed out that “only provinces, cities and geographic areas voting favorably in such plebiscite shall be included in the autonomous region.”

Several Bangsamoro leaders on Tuesday said they were saddened by the decision.

Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong said the loss of Sulu “leaves a deep void in the Bangsamoro homeland.”

“These are political tremors that endanger the very foundation of a unified Bangsamoro,” he said.

“With the departure of Sulu, the remaining provinces must now ask themselves whether the door has been opened for their own departure. The cracks in this collective struggle for autonomy may undo the decades of effort that brought us to this point. We all find ourselves back in square one,” Adiong further said.

“Even if we revisit our history countless times, it will show that Sulu is the cradle of the struggle for an independent Bangsamoro. Then as now, it will remain the symbol of the Moro’s fight against repression,” House Deputy Minority Leader Rep. Mujiv Hataman said in a statement in Filipino.

“The story of the valiant warriors of Sulu is part of the Bangsamoro narrative. Many of the Moro National Liberation Front’s heroes and mujahideen come from this province,” Hataman, who represents Basilan, stressed.

Deputy Speaker Omar Yasser Sema of the Bangsamoro Parliament said: “It appears that the court decided based on their limited notions of democracy. They failed to consider that what the people of BARMM consented to was the abandoning of the armed struggle and placing their hopes and aspirations for genuine self-governance in peaceful democratic processes and the preservation of the gains of the peace process.”

Former BARMM Interior Minister Naguib Sinarimbo said the ruling “has far-reaching consequences.”

“As a result of this, other provinces and cities may now entertain, and even pursue, the idea of opting out from the autonomous region. In the end, we will be left with no provinces and cities. The consequence of this will be the death of the Bangsamoro idea, where a single identity unites all the 13 ethnolinguistic groups of Muslims who have stood against all forms of colonialism over the centuries,” Sinarimbo said.

2025 elections

In Manila, the Comelec on Tuesday said it would push through with the parliamentary polls scheduled in the region next year despite the ruling that excluded Sulu from BARMM.

Comelec Chair George Erwin Garcia said that the poll body would meet on Wednesday to study the Supreme Court’s decision and will make the “necessary adjustments.”

“The Comelec at this point is hell-bent [on] proceeding with the election in the Bangsamoro, no matter what, subject to our final disposition by tomorrow (Wednesday),” Garcia said. “The commission en banc is not thinking about postponing or resetting the BARMM elections.” —with reports from Sheila Mae dela Cruz, Krixia Subingsubing and Jerome Aning