Comelec preps for historic BARMM polls

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) began rolling out its preparations Monday for the first-ever parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) scheduled for 14 September.

During a walkthrough of the poll body’s Data Center 3 in Makati City, Comelec chairperson George Garcia said officials are currently reviewing guidelines to accredit local media organizations based in the autonomous region, known as BARMM.

“We’re looking into how to accredit media organizations in Bangsamoro because we want to give them priority for their elections,” Garcia said.

The Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) has traditionally served as Comelec’s primary media partner for election coverage.

Data Center 3 houses the servers dedicated to the dominant majority and minority political parties, citizens’ watchdog arms, and the media. These servers allow stakeholders to monitor automated election results as they are transmitted.

Garcia noted that Comelec is working to determine which regional political parties qualify as the dominant majority and minority inside BARMM to grant them server access.

While Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats and the Nacionalista Party were declared the dominant majority and minority parties during the 2025 midterm elections, Garcia clarified that these national parties are not participating in the BARMM parliamentary polls.

Comelec aims to begin transmitting automated election returns as early as 7 p.m. on election day.

To mitigate potential technical issues, the commission will deploy 10 contingency voting machines per municipality across the region. In total, 6,500 machines will be delivered to 5,212 precincts.

Officials are also continuing to assess infrastructure safety after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck offshore near Maasim on 8 June.

“We continue to monitor conditions because there may be other developments,” Garcia said. “An earthquake is not the only thing that can affect places where elections will be conducted.”

According to data from the Department of Education, approximately 3,500 schools in the neighboring Davao and SOCCSKSARGEN regions remain closed following the quake due to safety concerns and structural damage.

While 5,590 affected schools have managed to resume classes, thousands of students are still displaced as engineering assessments continue.