Bill pushing March BARMM elections filed

Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri has filed a bill seeking to ensure that the first Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) parliamentary elections will be held on 30 March 2026.

Senate Bill No. 1587 proposes amendments to the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) to move the elections and set the start of terms at noon on 30 April following the polls.

The elections have remained uncertain after the passage of a districting measure reallocating the seven parliamentary seats originally assigned to Sulu.

Under the measure, the next BARMM parliamentary elections will then be synchronized with the 2028 national elections and held every three years thereafter.

“It has been more than six years since the BARMM was established, and the Bangsamoro people have yet to exercise their power to elect their own leaders,” Zubiri said.

“The core principles of BOL are self-governance and self-determination, and these cannot be achieved without the people’s right to vote,” Zubiri said in a statement.

The bill directs the Commission on Elections, through the Bangsamoro Electoral Office, to issue and implement the rules for the conduct of the elections consistent with national laws, the BOL, and the Bangsamoro Electoral Code.

Zubiri said the proposed reset follows recent Supreme Court rulings affecting BARMM’s electoral setup, including the decision excluding Sulu from the autonomous region and the ruling nullifying the Bangsamoro Parliament’s 2025 redistricting law, which ordered a new and valid apportionment before elections may proceed.

“We’re filing the bill so that BARMM’s first-ever parliamentary elections this March will be mandated by the law,” he added.

The measure also provides that the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) will remain as the interim BARMM government during the extended transition period, unless the President replaces members or they are elected to another post.

BTA members will serve until their successors are elected and duly qualified.