MANILA, Philippines — The Fee on Elections (Comelec) has suspended the submitting of certificates of candidacy (COC) for the 2026 Bangsamoro Autonomous Area in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) parliamentary elections amid the absence of a parliamentary redistricting legislation.
Underneath the Comelec Decision No. 11181 dated November 19, 2025, the ballot physique initially set the interval of COC submitting on January 5-9, 2026 because the Supreme Courtroom (SC) postponed the Bangsamoro parliamentary elections (BPE) set on October 13, 2025 after it declared that the redistricting legislation Bangsamoro Autonomy Act (BAA) No. 77, and its predecessor BAA No. 58 are each unconstitutional.
The decision additionally units the election interval from January 29, 2026 to April 14, 2026 with the marketing campaign interval scheduled from February 12, 2026 to March 28, 2026.
READ: BARMM misses ballot physique’s deadline on redistricting legislation
In its decision dated Monday, the Comelec famous that the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) has not but complied with the SC’s directive to move a brand new redistricting legislation by October 30, 2025. The SC additionally directed the Comelec to carry the elections not later than March 30, 2026.
“[T]he Fee HEREBY RESOLVES to SUSPEND the January 5-9 interval of submitting [of] certificates of candidacy for the 2026 BARMM Parliamentary Elections and to repair the submitting of the certificates of candidacy in due time after the enactment of the parliamentary districting by the BTA,” the two-page decision learn.
The media workplace of the BTA mentioned that the parliament’s session ended final Thursday and can resume its common session in January subsequent 12 months. Nevertheless, the parliament didn’t enact into legislation the BTA Invoice No. 45, which offers for the 32 single-member parliamentary districts and units the elections on March 30, 2026.
BAA No. 77, signed into legislation final August 28, is the legislation that redistributed seven seats initially allotted to Sulu. The SC earlier dominated to exclude Sulu from the area after the province rejected the ratification of the BOL in a plebiscite. In the meantime, the BAA No, 58 created the parliamentary districts within the area.
The BARMM Parliamentary has 80 seats, of which 40 seats are allotted for get together representatives, 32 for single-member parliamentary districts, and eight for sectoral representatives.
READ: Supreme Courtroom pushes again BARMM parliamentary polls
‘BARMM polls eyed in November 2026’
Comelec Chairperson George Erwin Garcia mentioned that the ballot physique might need a “drawback” as the BTA is but to move a redistricting legislation that may present for the conduct of the elections.
With this, he mentioned that the ballot physique is planning to conduct the elections in November 2026, simultaneous with the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE).
“If the elections on March 30 gained’t push by, the Comelec can be supporting and actually endorsing a invoice that if the polls won’t occur on March 30, then no less than conduct them concurrently with the BSKE.,” Garcia informed reporters in an interview final Friday.
Garcia additionally mentioned that because the parliamentary elections can be automated, the ballot physique desires the BSKE in BARMM to be automated too. /mr
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