Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Garcia speaks in an interview on Wednesday, September 11, 2024, at the Comelec office in Intramuros, Manila. INQUIRER.net / Dianne Sampang
MANILA, Philippines — The filing for the certificate of candidacy (COC) for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) parliamentary elections is rescheduled to November 4 to 9, 2024, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Garcia announced on Wednesday.
According to Garcia, the Comelec en banc unanimously decided on the reschedule in BARMM because the poll body cannot postpone the election.
“Nagdesisyon ang Comelec en banc na ipagpaliban ang pagfile ng certificate of candidacy sa buong Bangsamoro kasama na rin po ‘yong manifestation of intent to participate at ‘yong mga nominees ng mga political party,” Garcia said in an ambush interview.
(Comelec en banc decided to postpone the filing of certificates of candidacy in the whole Bangsamoro [region], including the manifestation of intent to participate and the nominees of the political parties.)
The poll chief said that it will now be moved to November 4-9, 2024 from its original schedule of October 1-8, 2024.
This is after the Supreme Court ruled that Sulu province is not part of the BARMM. The court granted Sulu’s petition for its non-inclusion in the region after rejecting the Bangsamoro Organic Law in their plebiscite.
READ: SC: Sulu not part of BARMM
Garcia said that the elections in Bangsamoro will push through despite the rescheduling of COC filing and the order from the Supreme Court.
“Tuloy-tuloy po ang halalan sa Bangsamoro… Sapagkat ‘yan ay bilang pagpapatupad ng commitment sa peace process and at the same time, ‘yan po ang nakalagay sa organic law na sinabi ng Korte Suprema na ito ay constitutional,” Garcia added.
(The elections in Bangsamoro will continue… Because this is in accordance with our commitment to the peace process and at the same time, this is what is stated in the organic law that the Supreme Court declared as constitutional.)
Further, the poll body chief said that they need to act on the order because the court decision is executory.
“We will have to comply because the decision is immediately executory at dahil po dyan, kinakailangan namin agad gumawa ng aksyon para hindi magkaroon ng agam-agam ang ating mga kababayan sa Bangsamoro kung talaga bang itutuloy o ipopostpone ang eleksyon unless there is an act of Congress or unless something will come out from the Bangsamoro tungkol sa bagay na ‘yan,” he noted.
(We will have to comply because the decision is immediately executory and because of that, we will have to immediately act so the citizens of Bangsamoro will not have any doubts if the elections will push through unless there is an act of Congress or unless something will come out from the Bangsamoro regarding that matter.)
The BARMM parliamentary elections were originally set to fill 80 seats in the parliament. However, only 73 members will be left due to the non-inclusion of Sulu province.
Garcia clarified that filing for local positions in the Bangsamoro region will still push through on October 1-8. This will also not pose an effect to the schedule of COC filing for the local candidates of Sulu province.
Garcia also said that the rescheduling of COC filing will not bring that “much” delay to their preparations for the 2025 elections. He also explained that the ballots for the parliamentary elections will include the members of the parliament of the districts and the political party they want to elect.
“Hindi naman po iimprenta ‘yong pangalan ng mga nominado sa balota kaya hindi po kami gano’n madedelay kaya pwede na namin pasimulan kaagad ang printing ng national and local elections ballots at ihuhuli na lang nang kaunti ‘yong ballots for Bangsamoro,” he added.
READ: BARMM voters unaware of region’s polling system – study
(The names of the nominees will not be printed on the ballots, that’s why we will not have that much of a delay. We can proceed right away with the printing of ballots for the national and local elections, while we can print the ballots for Bangsamoro a little after.)
The poll body chief said that the commission is eyeing to clear nuisance candidates before November 30 so they can start printing ballots in the last week of December.